[Act-ma_discuss] Guardian: Eco-anxiety over climate crisis suffered by all ages and classes

[Amy Hendrickson]

Eco-anxiety over climate crisis suffered by all ages and
classes


Poll finds most Britons believe global warming will have far
greater effect on humanity than Covid-19

 

A fire rages in the Eldorado National Forest in the Sierra
Nevada mountain range in California in August. Photograph:
Noah Berger/AP

 <https://www.theguardian.com/profile/tobyhelm> Toby Helm

Sun 31 Oct 2021 03.45 EDT

*          

A clear majority of people believe that climate change will
have a more significant effect on humanity than will
Covid-19, which has already claimed about five million lives
worldwide, according to a new poll conducted ahead of
<https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2021/oct/11/what-is
-cop26-and-why-does-it-matter-the-complete-guide> the Cop26
summit being held in Glasgow this weekend.

The survey, carried out as part of a study into
"eco-anxiety" by the Global Future thinktank in conjunction
with the University of York, also finds that concern about
global warming is almost as common among older and
working-class people as it is among those who are young or
middle-class. Overall, 78% of people reported some level of
eco-anxiety.

The authors of the report say that their findings should
serve as a warning to politicians who may believe that
worries about the climate emergency
<https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2021/oct/30/cop26-w
ill-be-whitest-and-most-privileged-ever-warn-campaigners>
are confined to younger, middle-class and metropolitan
voters.

The YouGov poll of more than 2,100 people found that 56%
believe the implications of climate change will be greater
for the world than will those of the coronavirus pandemic,
with a majority of all age groups and social classes holding
this view.

Similarly, climate change is considered a top global
priority among people of all age groups and backgrounds, and
across all regions of the UK.

Despite this widespread concern about the climate crisis -
with some 42% of middle and upper-class people reporting
high eco-anxiety against 39% of working-class voters -
people lack faith in political leaders to act. Some 31% of
those questioned believe that the
<https://www.theguardian.com/environment/cop26-glasgow-clima
te-change-conference-2021> Cop26 summit will have little or
no effect, 32% think it will have a moderate effect, while
only 18% think it will have a big effect.

The polling found that the biggest difference in levels of
eco-anxiety was not between rich and poor or
<https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2021/sep/15/generat
ional-conflict-over-climate-crisis-is-a-myth-uk-study-finds>
young and old, but between men and women. Some 45% of female
participants reported high levels of worry about climate
change compared with 36% of men.

Rowenna Davis, author of the report and director of Global
Future, said: "Everyone - rich and poor, young and old,
north and south, men and women - is suffering eco-anxiety.
Therefore, some cynical politicians who seek to use wedge
issues like petrol prices to divide the public are not only
wrong, they are also making a strategic error.

"Whoever hopes to win the next election will need to win the
'red wall'. This will mean responding to concerns these
voters actually hold rather than perceptions of them. From
our research, this must include a meaningful response to
climate change."

Pavlos Vasilopoulos, politics lecturer at the University of
York, added: "These findings contest commonly held views
that the environment is only an issue for the southern
middle class. Instead, climate change appears to be becoming
more similar to issues such as unemployment or crime, which
are recognised as priorities by the majority and are used to
evaluate government performance."



 

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