Mark Morford, a great SF Gate columnist asks: Behold, The Lost Americans / Who are the 13 percent of us who’ve never heard of global warming? And how can they be stopped?
He goes on to report that according to this same poll of 46 nations:
- The US ranks dead last in its concern for the issue (even though, as you must know, the US is the number one producer of greenhouse gases by far).
- Only 42 percent of Americans think the problem is very serious.
- Only 13% of congressional Republicans think global warming is man made (vs. 95% of Democrats).
This is indeed mystifying (and horrifying).
It’s enough to make your heart shudder as you wonder who the hell we are, really, as an ostensibly proud people, as a supposedly « unified » nation, a global leader, a role model to the planet. Is the great United States really just some sort of moral joke? Are we really leading the world in anything except warmongering and defense spending and sexual hysteria and cool iPod accessories?
Good questions indeed.