Public Resource
Support for climate justice across Global Warming’s Six Americas
Jennifer Carman, Leah Ndumi Kioko, Matthew Ballew, et al. Yale Program on Climate Change Communication

Support for climate justice and recognition of climate disparities vary widely across global warming’s “Six Americas”. More climate-conscious Americans are both much more likely to recognize existing climate disparities and much more likely to support the goals of climate justice than Americans who are less concerned about global warming. However, even among the segments who are most attuned to the issue of climate change, most are not hearing about “climate justice” as a concept. The Alarmed and Concerned segments (who make up 56% of the U.S. population) are most likely to think that global warming is happening and are the most worried about it. By contrast, the Doubtful and Dismissive (who make up 23% of the U.S. population) are the least likely to think that global warming is happening and are the least worried about it. Despite high levels of support among the Alarmed and Concerned, current awareness of climate justice among these groups is relatively low. Our recent research found similar gaps between awareness of and support for climate justice among adults in the U.S. who are Black, Hispanic/Latino, women, or who have lower incomes. Moreover, most of the Alarmed and many of the Concerned recognize that global warming disproportionately harms people based on income and race, but few recognize that global warming also disproportionately harms women.