climate change, Copenhagen, EMC, Essential Media, Essential Report, ETS, global warming, Greens, Labor, Liberals, peter lewis, scepticism, The Drum
First Published on The Drum 07/12/2010
It was a year ago today that the hottest gig in global warming opened in Copenhagen, amidst expectations that the world’s leaders would rise above their geographical interests and make a stand for the future.
Twelve months on and the hopes of Copenhagen seem as retro as a Midnight Oil album, the world has opted to sleep even when our beds are burning.
While the lack of political action over the past year has been well documented, this week’s Essential Report picks up another dynamic that is both a response to and a driver for this inertia. For the first time, we have found less than 50 per cent of Australians think climate change is real.
| Dec 10 | Vote Labor | Vote Lib/Nat | Vote Greens | |
| Climate change is happening and is caused by human activity | 45% | 53% | 32% | 76% |
| We are just witnessing a normal fluctuation in the earth’s climate | 36% | 27% | 53% | 14% |
| Don’t know | 19% | 20% | 15% | 10% |