Question

For this article write two paragraphs on what your personal thoughts are about this article. Do you agree with the article or not. Is there anything in this article that relate to you about your community? Please do not summarize

Global warming has significant negative consequences for human health, with some groups at greater risk than others. The extent to which the public is aware of these risks is unclear; the limited existing research has yielded different findings. Our new peer-reviewed paper describes Americans’ awareness of the health effects of global warming, levels of support for government funding and action on the issue, and trust in different information sources. We also investigate the discrepancy in previous research results based on open- versus closed-ended questions.

Overall we found that most Americans report a general sense that global warming can be harmful to health, but relatively few understand the types of harm it causes or who is most likely to be affected. Perhaps as a result, there is only moderate support for an expanded public health response. Primary care physicians and public health officials appear well positioned to educate the public about the health relevance of climate change.

Specifically, most respondents (61%) reported that, before taking the survey, they had given little or no thought to how global warming might affect people’s health. In response to a closed-ended question, many respondents (64%) indicated global warming is harmful to health, yet in response to an open-ended question, few (27%) accurately named one or more specific type of harm. In response to a closed-ended question, 33% indicated some groups are more affected than others, yet on an open-ended question only 25% were able to identify any disproportionately affected populations. Perhaps not surprising given these findings, respondents demonstrated only limited support for a government response: less than 50% of respondents said government should be doing more to protect against health harms from global warming, and about 33% supported increased funding to public health agencies for this purpose. Respondents said their primary care physician is their most trusted source of information on this topic, followed by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the World Health Organization, and their local public health department.

Methods

A nationally representative survey of US adults (N = 1275) was conducted online in October 2014. Measures included general attitudes and beliefs about global warming, affective assessment of health effects, vulnerable populations and specific health conditions (open- and closed-ended), perceived risk, trust in sources, and support for government response.

Answer 1

Hi,

The global warming is of serious concern among scientific communities and policy makers. The evidence gathered so far indicate different ways in which global warming might proceed, it's effectiveness, impact and scale of destruction. It Aptera from the article that public awareness about global warming is less accurate and detailed.

The article points out that only 25-30%of the population had some specific ideas about how global warming might affect sections of society. Majority population accept that it is a problem but do not understand that scale and vast zone of influence it might have on human lives. Americans also tend to be ignorant how the effect of global warming on lives of millions of life forms and crops. The author argues that primary health officials are best places to educate the public about global warming. The public remain ignorant of government policies towards mitigating global warming. The articles argues that public health officials in different capabilities can increase public awareness about global warming.