by Marita Vera
Fewer people believe that global warming is real, according to the most recent survey of the Pew Research Center for the People & the Press.
Nov 10, 2009
At the Climate Change Symposium hosted by Northwestern University Thursday, scientists showed how dramatically shrinking glaciers and rising carbon dioxide levels document a warming planet.
Keynote speaker Lonnie Thompson, a leading glaciologist and Ohio State University professor, said that many people have yet to witness an immediate change in their environments. “Temperatures have risen by 0.75 degrees Celsius in the last hundred years,” he said. That may not sound like much but it means that glaciers across the world are receding, with rising coastal waters and severe storms demonstrating the impact.
Yet a recent survey of the Pew Research Center for People & the Press shows that 57 percent of Americans, compared to 71 percent a year ago, think there is solid evidence that the average temperature on earth has been getting warmer over the past decades.
