{"id":41754,"date":"2021-06-12T16:37:05","date_gmt":"2021-06-12T20:37:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sciencebusiness.technewslit.com\/?p=41754"},"modified":"2021-06-12T16:37:05","modified_gmt":"2021-06-12T20:37:05","slug":"infographic-u-s-public-split-on-geoengineering","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/technewslit.com\/sciencebusiness\/?p=41754","title":{"rendered":"Infographic – U.S. Public Split on Geoengineering"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Geoengineering<\/a>
(Pew Research Center)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

12 June 2021. As climate change forecasts become increasingly dire<\/a>, so are calls increasing to consider measures that directly alter climatic conditions, called geoengineering or hacking the planet<\/a>. A recent survey by Pew Research Center<\/a> shows the U.S. public is divided on pursuing steps like cloud seeding or solar geoengineering that spreads reflective particles in the atmosphere to disperse direct sunlight.<\/p>\n

Policy makers are cautiously exploring these geoengineering steps. Cloud seeding projects that distribute in the atmosphere silver iodide particles simulating ice are already underway<\/a> in chronic drought-ridden Western states. And a report in March from the National Academies<\/a> recommends at least considering geoengineering to deal with climate change.<\/p>\n

Public opinion appears to reflect this cautionary approach. About half (50%) of the U.S. public believes cloud seeding can make a difference in affecting climate change, barely more than the 45 percent who feel cloud seeding will not make a difference. For solar geoengineering, more than half in the U.S. (53%) believes it can make a difference in addressing climate change, while about four in 10 (41%) feel it can help deal with climate change.<\/p>\n

Majorities of older Americans, those born in 1946 or before, are most willing to believe these geoengineering steps can make a difference in climate change, while similar majorities of Generation Z Americans, born in 1996 or before, feel these measures will not make a difference. And political party also affects views on geoengineering. Solid majorities of Republicans feel geoengineering can make a difference with climate change, while similar majorities of Democrats are skeptical of geoengineering.<\/p>\n

Pew Research Center polled online 13,749 adults representative of the U.S. population taking part in the center’s American Trends Panel. The sample includes an oversample of Gen Z adults from the Ipsos Knowledge Panel. The survey took place 20 to 29 April 2021.<\/p>\n

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