Analysis: Concern over climate change

By KRISTYN ECOCHARD Most Americans are not satisfied with the Bush administration's efforts on climate change and are concerned about human-caused change to Earth's climate, according to a new UPI/Zogby Interactive poll.

More than 52 percent of respondents rated President Bush's handling of environmental issues as poor and, in varying degrees, nearly 57 percent of people said that the United States is not doing enough to prevent climate change.

Of those polled, more than half responded that they believe there is some connection between human behavior and global climate change. But whether or not human behavior is a factor, when asked to rate their concern about global climate change 60.5 percent said they were moderately to highly concerned. Also in varying degrees, 62 percent agreed the climate issue is a legitimate problem.

The poll of 8,300 people over three days this month has a margin of error of 1 percentage point.

More than half who took part in the poll, 62 percent, thought that the United States should cooperate internationally on global climate change and should work with groups such as the United Nations or the European Union to address the issue. However, on the question of whether the United States should ratify the Kyoto Protocol on Global Warming, more people, 47.7 percent, felt signing the treaty would put the U.S. economy at a disadvantage to China and India.

Under the treaty, the United States and European countries would have to reduce emissions at a faster rate than China and India, and some have argued U.S. efforts will be in vain until developing nations contribute to the fight against emissions.

While about 50 percent of the respondents recognized that solving global climate change will require considerable economic sacrifices, there were still 26.5 percent who said they would not be willing to pay a higher rate for electricity generated from renewable sources like wind and solar.

Though 67.5 percent said they would be willing to pay more for clean, renewable energy, most of those said they would only accept a price increase of between 1 percent and 10 percent.

While lawmakers have been pushing for alternative fuel sources like biofuels or ethanol from corn, when poll respondents were asked if they would accept an increase in the cost of food due to demand for ethanol, 34.6 percent said no. Of those polled, nearly 94 percent drive their cars on a daily basis and would be impacted by the higher cost of fuel.

(Comments to energy@upi.com)

WASHINGTON, June 25

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