Take a quick look around you. According to an estimate in recently updated results on Canadian Climate Opinion Maps as part of the Yale Program on Climate Change Communication, just a hair more than one in two (51%) of those folks in Brandon-Souris would go as far saying that humans are contributing in whole or in part to the warming of the Earth.
The number is notably lower than the national average of 60% on the question of whether âEarth is getting warmer partly or mostly because of human activity.â
The data behind the results and map are based on phone surveys conducted between 2011 and 2018, which were then combined with demographic data from Statistics Canada to arrive at the various regional estimates.
Results are presented based on federal riding, with other Brandon-Souris opinion estimates including:
- Earth is getting warmer (73% Yes versus 83% nationally)
- Climate change will harm you personally (39% Yes versus 47% nationally)
- My province has already felt negative effects from climate change (64% yes versus 70% nationally)
- Instead of trying to stop climate change we should focus on adapting (33% yes very 38% nationally)
- Support cap and trade system (54% versus 58% nationally)
- Increase taxes on carbon based fuels (52% yes versus 54% nationally)
- When do you think climate change will start to harm people living in Canada (57% said Now/Within 10 years, 15% said Never/In 100 Years)
The maps make clear regional disparities in opinion, with Alberta having an estimated 42% saying that earth is warming in part or whole from human activity compared to 61% in British Columbia and 67% in Quebec. Manitoba as a province is estimated at 57% in response to the same question.
In many cases opinions locally and nationally contradict science. According to the Canadaâs Changing Climate Report released earlier this year by Environment and Climate Change Canada, from 1948 to 2016 Canadaâs average annual temperature over land has warmed by a best estimate of 1.7 degrees. The Prairies are among areas with higher-still increases observed.
The same study cites global emissions and carbon dioxide from human activity as contributing to the countryâs warming climate. Both human activities and natural climate variations are noted as contributors, with the human factor being the dominant contributor to what is said to likely be more than half of temperature warming. From the study, effects of widespread warming are projected to intensify in the future including more extreme heat, less extreme cold, longer growing seasons, shorter snow and ice cover season, thawing permafrost and rising sea level.
The full opinion map with results can be viewed at:
https://climatecommunication.yale.edu/visualizations-data/ccom/
Canadaâs Changing Climate Report can be viewed at:
https://changingclimate.ca/CCCR2019/
Image: Yale Program on Climate Change Communication