Almost everywhere in the world, it is more or less the same factors that explain the slowness of the various governments to deploy concrete measures to fight against climate change. In North America, we must also count on the misinformation that has undermined public debate for decades.
Posted at 6:42 a.m.
“Resistance to climate change science persists in the public domain in North America, despite expert scientific consensus,” the report released Monday said. It is said that the “rhetoric and [les efforts de] undermining science” have contributed to uncertainty and led to “polarized public support, delaying mitigation and polarization action.”
In the most recent report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), it is a comprehensive section that addresses misinformation and polarization in the North America document.
We refer in particular to ExxonMobil and its double discourse. Like other major oil companies, the company knew that climate change is man-made. But ExxonMobil has helped sow doubt in the public debate for several decades.
The document mentions that “rhetoric about climate change and the weakening of science have contributed to misperceptions of the scientific consensus”. This polarization is particularly present in the United States, but Canada is no exception either, particularly in the Prairies and in Alberta.
It is in fact in the United States where doubts about climate change are the greatest, according to a study carried out in 2018. “Political affiliation and partisanship contribute to polarization on the causes and the state of climate change, particularly in the United States,” the IPCC report states.
But the situation could change. According to the report, millennials are much less affected by polarization, at least when it comes to climate change. “They show relatively higher levels of concern and acceptance of climate change science than older age groups. Political affiliation does not have such a strong effect on their climate change beliefs. »
Quebec, Ontario and British Columbia apart
Moreover, it is in Quebec, Ontario and British Columbia where the population is most convinced of the existence of climate change. No US state, even a Democrat, has such an adherence to global warming.
In Canada and Mexico, climate change ranks first among “planetary threats”, recalls the IPCC, while it ranks third in the United States.