Earth Equity News

77% of Americans Get a ‘D’ or ‘F’ in Climate 101. By Felicity Barringer, NYTimes, 10/14/10. “A new study [America’s Knowledge of Climate Change, PDF, 60 pp] by researchers at Yale University suggests that Americans’ knowledge of climate science is limited and scattershot, with some understanding of basic issues like the contribution of fossil fuels to global warming and some singular misconceptions as well… If letter grades were given by the survey’s authors (based on absolute scores, not grading on the curve), 1% would have received an A, 7% a B, 15% a C, 25% a D and 52% an F. Researchers said that the results ‘reflect the unorganized and sometimes contradictory fragments of information Americans have absorbed from the mass media and other sources.’

“Slightly more than half understand that energy in fossil fuels comes from photosynthesis by plants over millions of years; just 29% understand that the sun was the ultimate source of energy in these fuels. Almost half say that fossil fuels are the fossilized remains of dinosaurs. Three-quarters of those polled had heard nothing about coral bleaching or ocean acidification.”