Survey: Americans ready to take climate action
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Illustration: Sarah Grillo/Axios
Most Americans are willing to take steps to help address climate change, a new survey finds.
Why it matters: While some Americans still haven't accepted climate change's impact, most believe it's a major threat.
What they did: Environmental company Veolia and French research and consulting firm Elabe polled 2,000 U.S. adults online between Oct. 17 and Nov. 6, 2023, as part of their "Barometer of Ecological Transformation," a regular report on global views surrounding climate change.
What they found: 61% of Americans feel vulnerable to a lower quality of life due to climate change, while 57% worry about climate-related health risks, per the survey.
- 61% of Americans are open to drinking recycled wastewater in the face of water shortages, 74% would eat food grown using recycled water, and 82% would pay more to filter microplastics out of their drinking water.
- The margin of error for the U.S. data is 1-2.2 percentage points.
What they're saying: "If you had to retain one thing from this barometer, it's that Americans are craving action now — they're ready for it and looking for it," Veolia CEO Estelle Brachlianoff tells Axios.
Reality check: Personal behavior changes and interventions are great, but truly addressing climate change requires action on the part of governments and big corporations.
What's next: People may become even more likely to embrace climate adaptations as they see firsthand evidence of a changing planet, like hotter summers, more wildfire smoke and so on.
- "Maybe this is the one thing joining humanity across the globe," Brachlianoff says. "We've all lived it, you know — at times it takes shocks."
