From Benny Peiser's Global Warming Policy Foundation

UN Climate Talks In Bonn Fail

Americans List Climate Change As One Of Their Lowest Priorities

The UN Climate Circus met in Bonn, Germany last week, though with the exception of dedicated Green news outlets and blogs the whole event passed with no main stream media attention, such is the state of global warming fear fatigue these days. The UN backed Green Climate Fund (GCF) is still struggling for money and there is a GCF board meeting scheduled for May to decide how to distribute the money, always assuming that the GCF board members have decided whether to fly First or Business Class to Bali for the meeting. --Tory Aardvard, 17 March 2014

Levels of trust between leading developing countries and the USA and EU member states appears to have hit a new low after a week of UN climate talks in Bonn. India, China and 24 other countries in the Like-Minded Developing Countries (LDMC) group say the brunt of greenhouse gas cuts must be made by industrialised countries. The US, EU and Switzerland say the global climate deal scheduled to be agreed in Paris next year will only work if all countries make commitments, which they say was agreed in 2011 in Durban. --Sophie Yeo and Ed King, Responding to Climate Change, 17 March 2014

 

When it comes to climate change, Americans aren't exactly hot and bothered. A Gallup survey released Wednesday finds that climate change ranks almost dead last on a list of 15 national priorities, slightly ahead of "race relations." Just 24 percent of respondents said that they worry about climate change a "great deal," while 26 percent said they worry about it a "fair amount." A full 56 percent of respondents said they only worry about climate change "a little" or "not at all." According to the survey, the findings mark "the lowest level of worry about the environment more broadly since Gallup began measuring this in 2001. --Stephen Calabria, The Huffington Post, 12 March 2014

One of the most interesting, and to many most important, public opinion puzzles of our time is the evidence that the American public simply does not share a sense of urgency or a perception of the need for urgent action on the issue of climate change. Our recent report on how worried Americans are about a list of 15 issues shows that the quality of the environment and climate change were only one away from the bottom of the list. Almost no one mentions the environment or climate change in response to our question asking them to name the most important problem facing the country. This is puzzling to many people who believe that global warming is one of the most important issues facing humankind. --Frank Newport, Editor-in-Chief of Gallup, 14 March 2014

Despite the increasing vehemence of climate change alarmism, people stubbornly refuse to get alarmed and indeed, opinion poll after opinion poll finds that climate catastrophe is now firmly stuck at the bottom of their list of concerns. But why? --The Pointman, 20 February 2014
The world is at growing risk of “abrupt, unpredictable and potentially irreversible changes” because of a warming climate, America’s premier scientific society warned on Tuesday. In a rare intervention into a policy debate, the American Association for the Advancement of Scientists (sic!) urged Americans to act swiftly to reduce greenhouse gas emissions – and lower the risks of leaving a climate catastrophe for future generations. Despite “overwhelming evidence”, the AAAS said Americans had failed to appreciate the seriousness of the risks posed by climate change, and had yet to mobilise at a pace and scale needed to avoid a climate catastrophe. --Suzanne Goldenberg, The Guardian, 18 March 2014

The merchants of eco-doom who peddle their vision of apocalypse to a secular choir are just as self-rightous and scornful of humanity as the fundamentalist preachers who hawk their hellfire and brimstone sermons. --Keith Kloor, Discovery Magazine, 17 March 2014

Consumers could be spared further rises in energy bills, if the chancellor freezes his controversial carbon tax in Wednesday’s Budget. It is being widely predicted that George Osborne may decide to abandon any further increases in the Carbon Price Floor, introduced in April 2013. Any freeze in the tax could cut as much as £50 from consumer bills by 2020. Meanwhile, a BBC survey has suggested that energy bills are the biggest worry for households. --BBC News, 18 March 2014