Archive by date | July 2007

Understanding the Politics of Climate Change in the United States

Posted by Olive Heffernan on behalf of Roger Pielke Jnr. Writing last week in The American Prospect, Peter Teague and Jeff Navin explain the complexities of U.S. public opinion on climate change and its implication for climate politics and policy: Americans’ anxiety over rising energy costs is a serious challenge to anyone seeking a solution to global warming. The anxiety is real, and the vast majority of Americans perceive these costs as causing financial hardship for their families. Proposals that raise energy prices risk triggering populist anger; Americans uniformly reject government efforts to increase the cost of gasoline or electricity  … Read more