End Times vs Climate Change

More than one-third of Americans believe the recent crappy weather and natural disasters are a sign of the "end times."  Not to be outdone, two-thirds of white evangelical Protestants think so. 

This from a new survey by the Public Religion Research Institute of 1,018 U.S. adults, including a segment by cell phone.  There's a CNN version of the story here.

The good news, if there can be any good news?  Six-in-10 Americans think the recent weather is a function of climate change.  Some people, it seems, took science class.

It's a rather long breakdown of results, so take your time to work your way through them.  There's also a pdf of the results.  A few high points:

• Three-fourths of respondents think "there is solid evidence" the world is warming.

• Six-in-10 link such global warming to human activity.

• But 39 percent also agree "natural disasters are a sign from God."

Luckily only 2 percent think we're all going to die later this month when the Mayan calendar thing happens.  Take comfort where you can.

And the next question really gets at the crux of differences between religious beliefs and the environment.  People were asked which statement they agree with more, whether God gave us complete rights to use animals and nature to benefit humans first, or whether God wants us to "live responsibly" with animals, plants and resources not necessarily just for human benefit.  Thirty-eight percent believe nature is there for our benefit, 55 percent think it's there for us to nurture and maintain.  The difference, of course, comes down to whether you accept a literal interpretation of the Bible.  In fact, much of the results above can be traced to that.

Knowing When It's Warm, or Not

The Pew Center tries to tease out why there has been a significant drop in the sense of danger people feel about climate change.  In the report, one graph stands out:

Why do fewer Americans believe the earth is warming? No single factor emerges from Pew Research Center surveys, but rather a range of possible explanations, including a sour economy and, perhaps, a cooler than normal summer in parts of the United States.

Makes sense.  People know based in a large part on personal experience, so a cooler-than-normal summer means you'd have more doubts about global warming, at least enough of a doubt to say so in a survey.

And people engage in interesting mental calculus.  If the economy sucks, and global warming is going to cost us more to fix, then we can put off global warming until the economy improves.  Do the math and you're less concerned about global warming.  Bingo!

The table below includes the "intriguing finding" that maybe weather played a factor.  Decide for yourself, but there seems to be some small association here.  You'd have to track this over time to really tap into it.  An interesting idea.