Yesterday, I said that convincing American’s to do something about global warming is the biggest marketing problem in history. Beloved readers emailed that they thought the problem is convincing the public that global warming exists. I disagree.
Look at the numbers below from an Environmental and Energy Study Institute factsheet:
According to an April 7, 2006 Gallup poll–
- 58% believe climate change as a result of global warming has already begun
- 58% also believe that increases in Earth’s temperature over the last century are due more to human activities than natural changes
According to a March 26, 2006 Time Magazine/ABC News/Stanford University poll–
- 85% say global warming is probably happening
- 88% think global warming threatens future generations
Most Americans believe there is global warming and that’s good news, right? Of course, it is.
But now take a glimpse at these numbers on voter priorities from a CBS News poll taken in September, 2007 (via PollingReport.com) . The numbers are in answer to the open-ended question “What do you think is the most important problem facing this country today?”
28% say War in Iraq
16% say Economy/Jobs
8% say Health care
6% say Terrorism (general)
5% say Immigration
4% say Foreign policy
3% say Poverty/homelessness
3% say Defense/military
3% say Misc. social issue
3% say Misc. government issues
16% say Other
5% say Unsure
Notice any issue missing like, um, say, the environment or global warming?
The problem, I think, is not so much getting people to believe that there is a climate crisis. It’s getting them to care enough to change their lives and their voting patterns. That is what I meant yesterday when I said that what we faced is history ‘s biggest ever marketing problem.