Americans are talking about climate action

- Andrew Freedman, author ofAxios Generate

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%.