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Report: Americans eager to crusade against climate change
The Yale Project on Climate Change reports that millions of Americans are willing to join a campaign to convince elected officials to reduce global warming.
Specifically, in the new report Americans’ Actions to Limit Global Warming, researcher say:
• Three in 10 have joined or would join a campaign to convince elected officials to take action to reduce global warming. Nearly four in 10 have joined or would join a campaign to convince elected officials to pass laws increasing energy efficiency and the use of renewable energy as a way to reduce America’s dependence on fossil fuels.
• 53 percent of Americans say they would sign a petition about global warming if asked by a person they “like and respect.” About four in 10 say that, if asked, they would sign a pledge to vote only for political candidates that share their views on global warming, attend a neighborhood meeting to discuss global warming and actions people can take and attend a public meeting or presentation about global warming.
• One in four Americans would support an organization engaging in non-violent civil disobedience against corporate or government activities that make global warming worse and about one in six say they would personally engage in such activities.
• The survey also found that many Americans have already or are willing to engage in purposeful consumer activism:
• Three in 10 say that, in the past 12 months, they have rewarded companies that are taking steps to reduce global warming by buying their products.
• About one in four report that in the past 12 months they have punished companies that are opposing steps to reduce global warming by not purchasing their products.
• About half of Americans say that they intend to engage in consumer activism over the next 12 months — rewarding companies by buying their products and/or punishing companies by not buying their products — based on whether or not companies have taken steps to reduce global warming.