Americans believe in climate change but are less concerned about it, study finds
More Americans believe in climate change than they did two years ago, according to a new study done by Zebra.com. That same study also found less are concerned about it and nearly a third of Texans do not believe climate change is a problem.
AUSTIN (KXAN) — More Americans believe in climate change than they did two years ago, according to a new study done by Zebra.com. That same study also found less are concerned about it and nearly a third of Texans do not believe climate change is a problem.
Meteorologist Nick Bannin spoke with the team at Zebra about its findings and what they could mean for your insurance. Read the transcript below or watch the video above to learn more.
NICK BANNIN, KXAN NEWS: You've done some research about people's changing beliefs on climate change.
MEGAN TULLOS, THE ZEBRA: Belief in climate change has gone up, but concern about climate change has gone down. So what we're seeing is that about 74% of our respondents believe in climate change, but deep concern about climate change has actually decreased.
People are about 20% less worried about it than they were two years ago. So that is a little bit of a surprise, those two things kind of contrast each other.
BANNIN: What about the numbers for here in Texas?
TULLOS: Three in 10 Texans do not believe in climate change. So about 30% of Texans do not believe in climate change.
BANNIN: Tell us about the the breakdown of demographics of those that believe in climate change versus don't.
TULLOS: So it's actually surprising. Belief in climate change actually decreases with age. So the younger you are, the more likely that you are to believe in climate change. And women are actually more likely to believe in climate change that men.
Only about two in three baby boomers believe in climate change, so a little bit more than a majority.
BANNIN: We're starting to see more natural disasters, of course, yet the concern is going the opposite direction.
TULLOS: We were really interested to see this as well. You can attribute it potentially to a lot of different things. We, as an American public have had a lot of things on our minds with the pandemic over the last couple of years. But it certainly is interesting, because as you said, severe weather is becoming more and more frequent. So that concern decreasing about climate change can be really dangerous.
BANNIN: Why should people care about the increases in natural disasters when it comes to their insurance and whether they're insured enough?
TULLOS: So it's really important for people to know the types of natural disasters that may happen where they live, because not all insurance policies cover damage from natural disasters. So for example, if you're in a car accident caused by, you know, a severe weather event, it's going to be harder for you to get coverage for that accident than if it was just an accident that happened normally.
And it's important that you know whether or not you want to add on these policies, because it usually takes about 30 days for them to become active. So if you wait for a storm to be coming and try to add on protection, it's going to be too late, and you're going to be left unprotected.