(Angus Reid Global Monitor) – The vast majority of people in Spain think global warming is a major international issue, according to a poll by Instituto Opina released by Cadena Ser. 86.2 per cent of respondents disagree with opposition leader Mariano Rajoy, who recently said jokingly that climate change is not a global problem.
(Angus Reid Global Monitor) – The vast majority of people in Spain think global warming is a major international issue, according to a poll by Instituto Opina released by Cadena Ser. 86.2 per cent of respondents disagree with opposition leader Mariano Rajoy, who recently said jokingly that climate change is not a global problem.
The term global warming refers to an increase of the Earth’s average temperature. Some theories say that climate change might be the result of human-generated carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases. Earlier this year, the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) released a report which states that global warming has been "very likely"—or 90 per cent certain—caused by humans burning fossil fuels.
On Oct. 23, Rajoy, leader of the opposition conservative Popular Party (PP), said climate change is not "a big global problem," adding, "No scientist has guaranteed to me what the weather will be like tomorrow in [the southern Spanish city of] Seville. (…) How can anyone know what will happen in the world within 300 years? We have to pay a lot of attention to this matter, but we cannot turn it into a big global problem."
On Oct. 29, Spanish first vice-president María Teresa Fernández de la Vega referred to Rajoy’s comments, saying that those who choose to "close their eyes" to the reality of climate change "show not only short-sightedness but also an enormous clumsiness that is so irresponsible no responsible politician should allow himself to think this way and no citizen should endorse it."
Polling Data
The leader of the Popular Party (PP), Mariano Rajoy, said jokingly that we cannot turn climate change into a "global problem." Do you think climate is a global problem?
|
Yes |
86.2% |
|
No |
6.7% |
|
Not sure |
5.7% |
|
No reply |
1.4% |
Source: Instituto Opina / Cadena Ser
Methodology: Telephone interviews with 1,000 Spanish adults, conducted on Oct. 23, 2007. Margin of error is 3.1 per cent.
