Climate Attitudes Differ in Rural, Suburban, and Urban Living

By Meighen Speiser
Climate change impacts all Americans, but presents itself differently in every corner of the U.S., ranging from hurricanes to droughts, superstorms and Nor’easters. To inspire more Americans to engage on the issue, we need to meet them where they live — and relate the issue to the things they care about in their Urban, Suburban, or Rural living. Our new research uncovers similarities in American climate perspectives, and important key differences, depending on the type of community in which they live. The similarities help us to understand the promising areas of common ground for engaging broad constituencies on climate change impacts and solutions. A large majority of Americans, 88% for instance, believe we have a moral responsibility to create a safe and healthy climate for ourselves and our children (87% Rural, 87% Suburban, and 90% Urban agree). But there are key differences to heed when communicating and engaging Americans on the issue — spanning perception of harm, levels of concern, and propensity to advocate. ecoAmerica and Lake Research Partners’ 2018 American Climate Metrics Survey identifies opportunities to specialize outreach in each community. See the full results of the survey HERE.

Subscribe

Stay connected and get updates from Path to Positive.

Subscribe

You May Also Like

November 27, 2023

From time to time, I get asked: what’s the most important thing I can do to address climate change? I always answer with two suggestions:...

Read More

November 1, 2023

You might have heard climate advocates sing the praises of heat pumps. They’re incredibly efficient climate-friendly devices that can keep your home cool in the...

Read More

October 2, 2023

In a historic moment, today 31 US denominations and faith organizations have joined together to launch One Home One Future, a multi-faith campaign to strengthen vitality,...

Read More
positive-white

 

Path to Positive is a program of ecoAmerica

 

© ecoAmerica 2006 – 2022 The contents of this website may be shared and used under a Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial No Derivatives 4.0 International License.