Climate Connection: A nation divided by a SASSY quiz
By Leah Mason
Yale University’s Climate Communications Survey results for 2021 have been released, revealing what the researchers have called ‘Six Americas’. This week we will see what this means and where Sitka fits into the picture.
The Climate Communications Survey takes place every year, and asks 25,000 people across the country about their beliefs, risk perceptions, policy support and behaviors regarding climate change. These results are organized into demographic categories (gender, race and ethnicity, and educational attainment). The results are applied to the entire country at the county level to give an estimate of how the United States is reacting! There are 36 questions in the survey, but we’ll focus on a few of the most interesting.
In 2020, the first year of the global COVID-19 pandemic, it’s estimated that 72% of adults in the United States thought that global warming was happening, and affecting the weather (64%). The number estimated to think that global warming will harm plants and animals was 71%, and 61% were likely to think that it will harm people in the US. People were the least convinced about climate change harming them personally, but less than half are estimated to think that there is little or no chance of this happening.
In comparison, Sitka is more likely to think that climate change is happening (77%) and that it is affecting the weather (68%). We are also more likely to think that climate change will harm plants and animals (76%) and people in the U.S. (66%). In line with the general view that Sitka is the best place on earth, Sitkans believe that they are even safer when it comes to climate change harming them personally - half are estimated to think that there is little or no chance of personal harm from climate change.
Policy-wise, Sitkans are just as likely as the rest of the U.S. to support funding for research into renewable energy resources (86%), slightly more enthusiastic about regulating CO2 as a pollutant than Alaskans more generally (74% versus 72%) and slightly less enthusiastic than the US in total (75%). The picture is quite similar when it comes to a carbon tax - at 67% we are slightly more interested than the rest of Alaska (64%), and a smidgeon less than the lower 48 (68%).
Sitkans may just be the least enthusiastic about drilling in the ANWAR, but at 32% support in Alaska and the U.S. we aren’t in the minority. Interestingly, it is estimated that only 16% want local officials to do less to address climate change, with more than half wanting to see more done. We’re on par with Alaska with this and only 1% ahead of the United States as a whole. You can play with the visualizations and see all the nitty-gritty details of how the estimates were made at Yale Climate Opinion Maps 2020 - Yale Program on Climate Change Communication.
The most recent results come from a shorter version of the survey which they call the “Six Americas Super Short SurveY.” SASSY focuses on how people in the United States are feeling about climate change. This survey found that the number of people who are alarmed about climate change has grown to 33% of the total, while the disengaged, doubtful or dismissive had a combined total of only 24%.
You can check it out and take the test yourself at https://climatecommunication.yale.edu/visualizations-data/sassy/
The SASSY Group tool also allows users to upload their own data (e.g., from a class, your own survey of members or employees).
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Leah Mason loves a good spreadsheet, and is a member of the Sitka Citizens’ Climate Lobby.
SAFV Board
Meets Jan. 25
Sitkans Against Family Violence board will meet online 5:15 p.m. Tuesday, Jan. 25. The meeting is open to the public. For the Zoom link, email to director@safv.org.
‘Fancy Taters’
Class to Run
Potato lovers looking for inspiration and a new way to eat their favorite food can join the Sitka Kitch as Kayla Caprice teaches how to make ‘‘fancy taters’’ as part of the Ginger Kitchen class series.
The class will run 5-7 p.m. Sunday, Feb. 6, via Zoom.
Caprice is from Florida. She has a background in early childhood development and school-age instruction, with an emphasis on cooking and nutrition.
She lived in Seattle for a few years to pursue her love of cooking, learning, teaching, and community involvement. She helped educate adults and youths on cooking, nutrition and the food system with The Beechers Foundation in Seattle for more than two years. There she ran before- and after-school programs with cooking and baking clubs, as well as the school garden. She also assisted in classes at Culinary Essentials in Ballard under Chef Nora Dummer, cooked at the Artist Home for the Doe Bay Music Festival on Orcas Island, worked at Firefly Kitchens (a fermentation company in Ballard), and taught the culinary summer camp at The Stroum Jewish Community Center on Mercer Island in Washington.
She has lived in Sitka full-time for two years, is the sous chef for Beak restaurant, and teaches classes on her own under ‘‘The Ginger Kitchen.’’ She taught a series of classes for the Sitka Kitch in the summer of 2019.
The class cost is $20, and at least eight people are needed to be registered to make the class happen. Ingredients are not provided; however, a list of ingredients and equipment needed will be sent to all who are registered. A link to the Zoom event also will be sent at that time.
The registration deadline is 11:30 p.m. on Thursday, Feb. 3. Register and pre-pay using credit/debit cards or PayPal on the Sitka Kitch EventSmart online registration page, http://sitkakitch.eventsmart.com (click on class title).For more information about the class, contact Jasmine Shaw at 747-9440.
