Americans are talking about climate action

Americans are talking about the need for action on climate change.

Why it matters: Texas Tech climate scientist Katharine Hayhoe says simply talking about climate change is among the most powerful things individuals can do to address it.

Context: A new Pew survey released Wednesday finds that a majority of Americans — 56% — have talked about climate change at least sometimes in recent weeks. (Perhaps not surprisingly, younger Americans are more likely to discuss climate action.)

By the numbers: The poll found that during the past few weeks, 18% of U.S. adults said they’ve discussed the need for action on climate change at least a few times, and another 38% said they’ve discussed this once or twice.

• 43% said they never discussed this topic.
• Interestingly, 26% of U.S. adults said a friend or family member has encouraged them to get more involved with efforts to combat climate change, while fewer said they'd been discouraged to take action.
• When it comes to age range, 24% of Gen Z adults (born after 1996) said they had talked about climate action at least a few times each week, compared with just 14% of baby boomer and older adults.
• Democrats were also more likely than Republicans to be talking about this topic, which is in keeping with the partisan divide on the issue.

Of note: The poll was taken from April 20-29 of this year. The margin of error is ±1.4%.