Resource Type: Research & Articles

Research finds that Americans are more confident blaming climate change for extreme heat and wildfires than for other types of extreme weather such as flooding, tornadoes, and hurricanes. The recent study found that politics and personal experience played significant roles in people’s responses: Self-identified Republicans were less likely than Democrats to attribute extreme weather events to climate change, though Republicans who had personally experienced negative impacts from extreme weather events were more likely to link them to climate change than those who hadn’t. Looking at extreme weather events across the board, 83% of survey respondents said there is some link between these events and anthropogenic, or human-caused, climate change. About 17% thought climate change had nothing to do with extreme weather. More than 47% of people were “very” or “extremely confident” in linking increased wildfires to climate change, and roughly 42% of people were very or extremely confident linking extreme heat to climate change.

This post includes climate and environment headlines, data points, and key takeaways from recent public polls – including new national polling on Americans’ climate attitudes, climate change and energy policy as factors in the presidential race, and extreme weather + new statewide polling in Georgia and North Carolina.

This newsletter, we hear from Kyle Crider, Program and Policy Director at Alabama Interfaith Power & Light and The People’s Justice Council. These organizations bring together faith based communities to organize for “environmental justice, energy conservation, energy efficiency, and renewable energy from a faith perspective.”
The People’s Justice Council was a 2023- 24 Climate Justice Micogrant. They are featuring their Resilience to Restoration toolkit showcasing the powerful work and lessons learned across faith communities in the South!