United States adults in the 6 Americas, March 2012

(992 people surveyed by Yale/George Mason University)

How do our class data compare to the national data?

Americans believe that climate change will be harmful to……

March 2012 data from Yale Project on Climate Change Communication

Do Americans believe that climate change is happening?

Data from Yale Project on Climate Change Communication

Do Americans believe that climate change is caused mostly by humans?

50%50%

November 2011

climate change is caused mostly by human activitiesclimate change is not caused mostly by human activities

March 2012 data from Yale Project on Climate Change Communication

Mitigation Adaptation

Working to reduce Working to adjustthe severity of a to an unavoidableproblem/issue. problem/issue.

Example: the aging movie starFrom ages 20-35, the actress was offered many leading movie roles.

She continued auditioning for these roles, but starting around age 40, she noticed that she was being offered fewer and fewer leading roles.

She is now 50 years old and has not been offered a leading role in over 5 years. Her agent suspects that she is not being offered these parts because she looks older than the other younger actresses who are auditioning.

• What could the actress do to attempt to mitigate this situation?

• What could the actress do to attempt to adapt to this situation?

• What are the pros and cons of mitigation?• What are the pros and cons of adaptation?

Climate change mitigation: working to decrease greenhouse gas emissions in an attempt to reduce the severity of future climate change

Climate change adaptation: working to adjust to the unavoidable aspects of climate change that we are already experiencing and may experience in the future

Data from NOAA

Scientists believe that the number of 100 degree days per year will increase during the next century, depending on greenhouse gas emissions.

Cool roofs

NYC Cool Roof program