Majority of islanders believe climate change down to human activity
NEARLY all Guernsey people believe that human activity is having an impact on the world’s climate, according to figures released by Island Global Research.
And three quarters of islanders believe the government could be doing more to tackle the issue.
Nearly 2,400 people across the Crown Dependencies answered the survey, of which more than 830 were from Guernsey. Nearly 60% of Sarnians believe that human activity is mainly responsible for climate change, while 38% said human activity was partially responsible. Just 4% said human activity was not to blame, putting Guernsey ahead of Jersey and the Isle of Man when it comes to people believing in human-driven climate change.
Jersey saw 64% blaming humans, and 31% partially blaming them, while the Isle of Man had 51% and 40% respectively. In the UK 51% said human activity is mainly responsible and 37% partially responsible.
The Isle of Man had the largest number of climate change deniers, with 2% believing the climate is not changing and 7% saying that any changes were not caused by human activity.
When it came to those islanders who do believe the climate is changing, 74% believed it was still possible to avoid the worst effects of climate change, but only if drastic steps were taken. However 12% believe it is already too late to avoid the worst effects.
When it came to how much the government and individuals could do to deal with climate change, four out of 10 islanders said they were doing as much as they reasonably could.
This compares with 22% thinking the government was doing enough. That left 60% of islanders thinking individuals could do more, while 76% thought the government could do more.
Islanders have been using a variety of ways to do their bit to tackle climate change. This includes reducing, reusing and upcycling their goods, trying to use the car less and plan their journeys to reduce fuel usage, turning the heating down and reducing their consumption of meat and dairy.
The UK details come from a YouGov survey last September, which surveyed 1,633 British people.
Environment & Infrastructure is set to bring a policy letter on climate change to the States before the end of this political term.
