[Image: Wikimedia Commons]
Turns out, nearly 9 out of 10 people across the globe are screaming internally for stronger climate action, but thanks to a wildly wrong assumption that they’re the odd ones out, most are stuck in a depressing little echo chamber known as the “spiral of silence,” according to new research.
Apparently, the majority is walking around thinking they’re the minority, which is hilariously tragic. The truth is that if folks realised their thinking is similar to most others when it comes to the climate crisis, it might just light the fire needed to force leaders out of their comfy status quo, finally making climate action unavoidable, as The Guardian reports.
“One of the most powerful forms of climate communication is just telling people that a majority of other people think climate change is happening, human-caused, a serious problem and a priority for action,” said Anthony Leiserowitz, a professor of climate communication at Yale School of the Environment.
This is a fine time for some good old-fashioned peer pressure. As it turns out, telling people “Hey, everyone’s on board with this” is more effective than a thousand depressing graphs.
This isn’t just guesswork. The data’s rock-solid: a globe-spanning survey of 130,000 people in 125 countries found that a jaw-dropping 89% want their governments to grow a spine and do more to combat global warming.
“Currently, worrying about climate change is something people are largely doing in the privacy of their own minds – we are locked in a self-fulfilling spiral of silence,” said Cynthia Frantz, a professor of psychology and environmental studies at Oberlin College.
Basically, it’s like the whole planet is at a party where everyone wants to leave, but no one wants to be the first one to say it.
In an effort to break this maddening quiet, The Guardian has kicked off The 89 Percent Project – a global team-up with media outlets like Covering Climate Now (CCNow) and Agence France-Presse – designed to blast the truth: most people do want action. Big, bold, overdue action.
Backed by studies that show 80 to 90 percent of humanity is begging for stronger climate measures, the project is cutting through the noise to confront one of the biggest obstacles, like the myth that nobody else gives a damn.
“If you were to unlock the perception gaps, that could move us closer to a social tipping point amongst the public on climate issues,” said Dr. Niall McLoughlin with the United Kingdom’s Climate Barometer research group, as reported by The Guardian.
So yeah, if you think you’re alone in caring about the climate, plot twist: you’re not. You’re in the massive, fed-up majority, and that fact could be the wrecking ball that finally breaks the silence.
“If, in fact, a majority of people in your community care about climate change, and yet elected officials aren’t responding to that, that’s a deficit in democracy,” Kyle Pope, co-founder of CCNow, told Common Dreams.
The 89 Percent Project launched this past week in sync with Earth Day, aiming to crank up the volume ahead of COP30 in Brazil this fall. Between now and then, expect a flurry of joint reporting, climate deep-dives, webinars, and journalistic soul-searching.
The Guardian’s deep dive into the data unearthed something spicy: support for action isn’t just high in stereotypically “green” nations. Even heavy-hitters like the US, Saudi Arabia, and China – aka the big dogs of carbon emissions – are home to overwhelming support for tougher policies.
“The world is united in its judgment about climate change and the need to act. Our results suggest a concerted effort to correct these misperceptions could be powerful intervention, yielding large, positive effects,” said Teodora Boneva, a University of Bonn professor who was on the 125-nation survey team.
Let’s talk emissions: the 125 nations surveyed pump out 96% of the world’s carbon. And the people living in them are beyond worrying and ready to act. In China, the world’s top polluter, a staggering 97% said their government needs to step it up, and 80% would literally put their money where their mouth is, donating 1% of their income to the cause.
Over in the US, the second biggest polluter, 74% want more action, and nearly half are willing to chip in from their paychecks.
“People deeply understand we are in a climate emergency,” said Cassie Flynn, global director of climate change at the UN Development Programme, which conducted the 2024 People’s Climate Vote.
“They want world leaders to be bold, because they are living it day to day. World leaders should look at this data as a resounding call for them to rise to the challenge.”
So yeah, world leaders, consider this your group chat blowing up, and no, ignoring it this time won’t make the problem go away.
