User:IsaiahH-S18/sandbox

Africa
People in Africa are relatively concerned about climate change compared to the Middle East and parts of Asia however they are less concerned than most of Latin America and Europe. 61% of people in Africa consider climate change to be a very serious problem and 52% believe that climate change is harming people now. While 59% of Africans are concerned about droughts or water shortages, only 16% are concerned about severe weather, and 3% are concerned about rising sea levels. Countries in subsaharan Africa are especially concerned with increasing desertification even as they account for .04% of global carbon dioxide emissions. However only 34% in Sub-saharan Africa consider climate change to be a "very" or "somewhat serious issue". In Uganda, 76% of people consider climate change to be a very serious problem and 68% in Ghana consider it to be a very serious problem with the lowest percentage in the Pew Research Center 2015 Global Attitudes Survey, in Ethiopia where 40% consider climate change to be a very serious issue and in South Africa at 45%.

Latin America
Latin America has a larger percentage of people concerned with climate change than much of the rest of the world. 74% consider climate change to be a serious problem and 77% say that it is harming people now which is 20 points lower than the global median according to the Pew Research Center. 63% of people in Latin America are very concerned that climate change will harm them personally. When looked at more specifically, Mexico and Central America are the most concerned at 81.5% believing that climate change is a very serious issue, South America is slightly less concerned at 75% and the Caribbean is the least concerned but still heavily in the majority at 66.7%. Brazil is an important country in global climate change politics because it is the eleventh largest emitter and unlike other large emitter countries, 86% consider global warming to be a very serious problem. Latin America in general is more consistent with high amounts of concern about climate change and personal responsibility about it as 67% say that people will have to make major lifestyle changes.

Europe
Europeans have a tendency to be more concerned about climate change however there is a divide from Eastern Europe which is less concerned and Western Europe which is more concerned. In Europe, there is a range from 97% to 88% of people feeling that climate change is happening and similar ranges are present for agreeing that climate change is caused by human activity and that the impacts of it will be bad. Generally Eastern European countries are slightly less likely to believe in climate change or the dangers of it. When asked on a scale of one to ten if climate change is a very serious issue, 63% said it was while 24% consider it fairly serious and only 10% do not consider it to be a serious problem. When discussing if Europeans feel a personal responsibility to deal with climate change on a scale of 0, not at all, to 10, a great deal, the average score was 5.6. When looked more specifically, Western Europeans are closer to 7 while Eastern European countries were lower than 4. When asked if Europeans are willing to pay more for climate change, 49% are willing, however only 9% of Europeans have already switched to greener energy supply. Thus, while a large majority of Europeans believe in the dangers of climate change, their feelings of personal responsibility to deal with the issue are much more limited. Especially when looked at actions that could already be taken such as having already switched to greener energies, one can see it is more limited.

Asia/Pacific
Asia and the Pacific have a tendency to be less concerned about climate change, except small island states, with developing countries in Asia being less concerned than developed countries. In Asia and the Pacific, around 45% of people believe that climate change is a very serious problem and similarly 48% believe that it is harming people now. Only 37% of people in Asia and the Pacific are very concerned that climate change will harm them personally. There is a large gap between developing Asia and developed Asia. Only 31% of developing Asia considers global warming to be a "very" or "somewhat" serious threat and 74% of developed Asia considers global warming to be a serious threat. One reason for this, that could be argued, is that people in more developed countries in Asia simply are more educated on the issues especially given that developing countries in Asia do face significant threats from climate change. The most relevant views on climate change are of the citizens of the countries that are emitting the most. When looking at China, the worlds largest emitter, 68% of Chinese people are satisfied with efforts to preserve the environment. In contrast India, the worlds third largest emitter, where 77% of Indian people are satisfied with their country's efforts to preserve the environment.

Middle East
While increasing severity of droughts and other impacts is and will be a future problem in the Middle East, the region has one of the smallest rates of concern out of many in the world, 38% believe that climate change is a very serious problem and 26% believe that climate change is harming people now. Of the four Middle Eastern countries polled on what is their top concern in a Pew Global Study, Israel, Jordan, Lebanon said ISIS and Turkey said United States encroachment. 38% of Israel considers climate change to be a major threat to their country, 40% of Jordan, 58% of Lebanon and 53% of Turkey. This is compared to relatively high numbers of residents who believe that ISIS is a major threat to their country ranging from 63% to 97%. 38% are polled to be concerned about droughts and 19% are concerned about long periods of unusually hot weather. 42% are satisfied with the current efforts to preserve the environment.

North America
North America has mixed perceptions on climate change ranging from Mexico and Canada which is more concerned and the United States, the worlds second largest emitter, which is less concerned. Mexico is the most concerned about climate change of the countries in North America, 90% consider climate change to be a very serious problem and 83% believe that climate change will harm people substantially now. However Canadians are also seriously concerned, 20% are extremely concerned, 30% are definitely concerned, 31% are somewhat concerned and only 19% are not very/not at all concerned about climate change. While the United States which is the largest emitter of CO2 in North America and the second largest emitter of CO2 in the world has the lowest degrees of concern about climate change in North America. While 61% of Americans say they are concerned about climate change, that is 30% lower than Mexico and 20% lower than Canada. 41% believe that climate change could impact them personally however 70% of Americans believe that environmental protections are more important than economic growth according to a Yale climate opinion study.

Differences between regions
While climate change will affect the entire world, opinion differences between regions of the world on these affects vary significantly. The Middle East has one of the smallest rates of concern in the world, especially compared to Latin America which has one of the highest rates of concerns. Europe and Africa have mixed views on climate change but lean towards action by a significant degree. Europeans are much more concerned about climate change then United States residents, which are less concerned than the global median, even as the United States is the second biggest emitter in the world. Droughts/water shortages are one of the biggest fears of affects of climate change especially in Latin America and Africa. While developed countries in Asia have levels of concern about climate change similar to Latin America, one of the highest rates of concern, developing countries in Asia have levels of worry similar to the Middle East, one of the areas with the lowest levels of concern. Large emitter countries tend to not be as concerned about climate change such as China which has very low levels of concern about climate change with the significant exception of Brazil, the eleventh biggest emitter in the world, which is a country that has high levels of concern similar to much of Latin America. Source: Pew Research Center's Spring 2015 Global Attitudes Survey - Q32, Q41 & Q42 Source: Pew Research Center's Spring 2015 Global Attitudes Survey - Q32

Developing Countries vs Developed Countries
Awareness of climate change is higher in developed countries than in developing countries. Majorities in Indonesia, Pakistan and Nigeria had not heard of climate change before which implies that particularly in Muslim countries, there is a lack of awareness about climate change. There still can be awareness over environmental changes in developing countries but a framework for understanding it is more limited. However when respondents are asked about the level of seriousness of climate change, risk perception, it is more mixed. When asked if climate change is to be considered a serious problem, developing countries tend to be more concerned. In developing and developed countries, people similarly believe that poor countries also have a responsibility to act on climate change. Since the 2009 Copenhagen summit, concern over climate change in wealthy countries has gone down. In 2009, 63% of people in OECD member states considered climate change to be "very serious" but by 2015, it had gone down to 48%. Support for national leadership to create action on climate change has also gone down. Of the 21 countries surveyed in GlobeScan's 2015 survey, Canada, France, Spain and the UK are the only ones that have the majority of the population desiring their leadership to take further action to meet the emission targets set by the Paris climate accord. While concern and desire for action has gone down in developed countries, awareness over it is higher. Since 2000, twice as many people will connect extreme weather events with human caused climate change.