Giving up flying to solve climate crisis

The annual exodus of ‘Brits abroad’ is under threat, as a third of Britons claim they would give up flying if it solved the global climate crisis, according to new research released today by the Dana Centre in London.

The nation is also facing a ‘North-South’ divide over the issue as only 28% of Londoners claim they would ditch the jet-set lifestyle, compared to 41% of Northerners who would give up flying abroad in an instant.

The Science Museum’s Dana Centre survey of visitors to the website also found that:
· 35% believe climate change is the biggest threat to humanity
· 75% believe government is not doing enough to counter the threat of climate change
· 34% would give up flying to solve climate change
· Only 2% are concerned about the threat of ‘cosmic collisions’ eg meteorites hitting earth
· Terrorism seems to be off the radar

The research was conducted as part of a series of debates exploring climate change and other global concerns at the Science Museum’s Dana Centre in London.

“We were astounded that a third of all our survey respondents would give up flying to reduce their contribution to climate change,” said Lisa Jamieson, Dana Centre Programme Manager.

“It demonstrates how important this issue is becoming to people: only last year Sir David King, the UK’s chief scientific advisor claimed that climate change is the most severe problem that we are facing today, more serious even than the threat of terrorism, and it seems that our audience agrees with him.”

Biggest Threats to humanity
Over a third of those surveyed believed climate change is the biggest threat to humanity.

Lowest on the respondents’ concerns were cosmic collisions, such as meteorites hitting earth (2%). Natural disasters such as earthquakes were also low down on the list (6%), despite the recent Tsunami and tremors in Asia.

Surprisingly, terrorism was also low down with only 11% believing it proposed a real threat to humanity.

Government and big business
Three quarters of people surveyed believe that the UK government is not doing enough to fight climate change. Business is also perceived negatively as 86% of respondents argue that business is shirking its green responsibilities.

However, 31% of respondents believed that lack of essentials such as food, water and housing was the most important issue for the government to solve.

Over 350 people responded to the online poll on the Dana Centre website. The survey is a precursor to the final event in a series of three discussing environmental issues at the Dana Centre – the UK’s only venue to discuss controversial and contemporary science.