Posted on 11/20/2006 10:20:29 AM PST by presidio9
Europeans are overwhelmingly convinced that human activity is contributing to global warming, and a majority would be prepared to accept restrictions on their lifestyle to combat it, according to a poll for the Financial Times.
Research carried out this month by Harris Interactive in Germany, France, the UK, Italy and Spain found that 86 per cent of people believed humans were contributing to climate change, and 45 per cent thought it would be a threat to them and their families within their lifetimes.
ADVERTISEMENT More than two-thirds – 68 per cent – said they would either strongly or somewhat support restrictions on their behaviour and purchases in order to reduce the threat.
Climate change has been rising up the political agenda in Europe. The recent British government report by Sir Nicholas Stern, former chief economist of the World Bank, argued that the economic costs of global warming could be far greater than the costs of acting to limit it.
The poll also found Europeans were more willing to accept curbs on their lifestyles in principle than to endorse specific additional burdens.
Less than half – 43 per cent – either strongly or somewhat supported a charge on airline passengers to pay for environmental damage, while 36 per cent opposed it, either strongly or somewhat. Support was weakest in Italy and Spain, possibly because of fears about the effect on their tourist industries.
Only a minority were prepared to make significant financial sacrifices to eliminate the threat of global warming. A quarter said they would pay one week’s wages or more – roughly the 2 per cent of national income figure that Sir Nicholas Stern suggested rich countries might need to pay – but a third said they would not pay anything at all.
However, concerns about climate change and energy security have not translated into majority support for investment in new nuclear power stations.
Only 12 per cent of Europeans polled were strongly in favour of investment in new nuclear capacity, while a further 18 per cent were somewhat in favour – a total of 30 per cent. Almost as many – 29 per cent – strongly opposed new nuclear construction, with a further 17 per cent somewhat opposed.
There is also a remarkably deep gender divide, with a balance of men in favour of new nuclear building in France, Italy and the UK, but a majority of women opposed everywhere except the UK, where there is a large number neither for nor against.
Public opinion need not stand in the way of nuclear development. France is pressing ahead with a new reactor, which will go into construction next year, even though the poll shows just 29 per cent of the population supports it. But in Spain and Germany, where some in the industry hope government policy can be turned away from its official anti-nuclear stance, the high level of public opposition will provide a significant obstacle to a U-turn: 53 per cent of Germans and 62 per cent of Spaniards are against new nuclear building.
The answer, Europeans think, is renewables: 85 per cent believe their governments should spend more on renewable energy, while only a handful believe they should spend less. In France and Spain, more than 90 per cent backed more investment in renewables. The potential problem is the cost of that renewable energy.
Ahead of a summit of the leaders of the European Union and Russia at the end of this week, the poll also found widespread mistrust of Russia as an energy supplier. Only 21 per cent of Europeans believed Russia would be a reliable source of oil and gas in the future, while 35 thought it would not be.
FT have been relentlessly pushing climate alarmism. They have a major conflict of interest - they are in the thick of the carbon credit trading scam.
I thought the largest threat to climates was Karl Rove's racist weather machine.
But the economic suicide that will be the purported "cure" won't be the fault of Eco-fraud, right?
It's the dumbing-down of a Continent.
Quick! Dam up the Chunnel before it infects the sane Brits.
Breaking news! Vegetable matter turns into mineral matter! Details at 11...
Talk, as always, is cheap.
Kyoto is basically a money laundering scheme with some countries knowing exactly what to do to become profitable.
Example: Using 1992 as a basis gives Germany and Russia an advantage since they can tout extreme improvements over those levels. Remember, after the fall of the wall all inefficient industry was basically razed in East Germany as well as Russia. Now had they used 2000 as a measuring stick, it would not look as good.
Always follow the money. In the case of Germany they have in place an8% ecology tax and bombard their citizens on a daily basis with horror scenarios about global warming. Do you believe they would give up on that wonderful tax collection scheme by admitting that they could be wrong?
Think again!
"Show me just what Mohammed brought that was new, and there you will find things only evil and inhuman, such as his command to spread by the sword the faith he preached." -Manuel II Paleologus
Nope, climate change is caused by the sun.
The whole solar system out to Pluto has been documented as 'warming'.
Funny how humanity managed to get the other planets and moons to warm up.
http://www.space.com/scienceastronomy/pluto_warming_021009.html
Other planets warming up is just more evidence of the Rove Weather Machine's power, or possibly of a larger conspiracy.
Yeah, your wife was right. We have a compost bucket, and take it out to the compost pile. No meats, but fruits and vegetables and egg shells. It's not a big deal, but it won't do any good buried deep in the ground and sealed over in a landfill.
Clearly this is only a useful procedure if you have a garden or a yard or some place useful to put it.
dirt does not include mineral matter?
Anthropogenic effects on climate are small, and largely local. For example, the presence of an urban area causes the local atmosphere to be warmer than surrounding lesser-developed rural regions, because of the concentrated discharge of heat, both winter and summer.
Decentralize the population away from the urban centers, and much of this anthropogenic effect is attnuated or disappears altogether.
Or run off and go live in your cities.
Talk about good and efficient propaganda and disinformation..
Those URPeans are good at it.. The Poor URPeans are mental midget's evidently..
Proof: In URP there is zero outrage at this.. Just shut up and conform..
So. government replaces energy companies.
They'd accept Sharia law as well.
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