Floods, wildfires and hurricanes are emptying bank accounts are being affected by weather that feels extreme, in part because that weather is causing lasting problems for millions of families. Studies that examine people's climate-related views based on objective measures of extreme weather, such as temperature or flood depth, have produced mixed results.īut the survey makes clear that most people in the U.S. And people who are already more concerned about climate change may be more likely to attribute a hot day to the effects of global warming. That's because many surveys, including the latest one, rely on the subjective experiences people have with the weather: Judging whether a string of hot days was "extreme" is left up to the person answering the survey question.
"It's hard to disentangle exactly which one is influencing the other." "Is it that people's experience of extreme weather is influencing their attitudes about ? Or is it the other way around?" he says. However, he says, there are still a lot of questions about what's going on below the surface. People rest at the Oregon Convention Center in Portland, Ore., in June 2021 during a record-breaking heat wave that killed hundreds of people in the Pacific Northwest. Severe heat waves, floods, wildfires and hurricanes are all happening more frequently because of human-caused climate change. Nobody wants to have a wildfire encroaching on their home." People see a link between extreme weather and climate change "Nobody wants to have their house flooded. "It doesn't surprise me that there's a high level of support for policies to protect against future weather disasters," says John Kotcher, a professor at the Center for Climate Change Communication at George Mason University. The survey also found widespread support for state efforts that would protect people from extreme weather, such as making electrical grids more resilient to storms and heat waves and upgrading infrastructure to prevent floods. Wildfires were particularly dangerous: 38% of households affected by wildfires had someone with a serious health problem, most often from smoke exposure. Nearly one-quarter of those who experienced extreme weather in the last five years said someone in their household had a serious health problem as a result. cities.Įxtreme weather is also hurting people's health. Just last week, a heat wave tied or broke temperature records in dozens of U.S. More than half of the survey respondents say they personally experienced extreme heat.
Heat waves affected the most people by far. Blendon, co-director of the survey and professor of health policy and political analysis emeritus at Harvard T.H. "Facing extreme weather has had a substantial impact on millions of Americans, who have had serious property damage, health, and financial consequences," said Robert J. The results underscore how ubiquitous and dangerous climate change is for Americans, as the hottest part of the year gets underway, and people across the country gird themselves for another year of severe hurricanes, floods, fires and heat waves. People who experience extreme weather are also more likely to consider climate change a crisis or major problem, according to the survey, titled "The Impact of Extreme Weather on Views About Climate Policy in the United States." And most people who suffer major weather damage or financial problems do not receive money from the federal government. More than three-quarters of adults in the United States say they have experienced extreme weather in the last five years, including hurricanes, wildfires, floods and heat waves, the survey found. A new survey finds that most Americans say they have experienced extreme weather in the last five years.Ī great majority of Americans have been affected by extreme weather in recent years, and many suffer long-term financial problems as a result, according to a new nationwide survey conducted by NPR, the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and the Harvard T.H. A woman reacts to seeing the remains of her mother's home destroyed by the Marshall Wildfire in Louisville, Colo., in 2021.
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