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Russians Say Global Warming Happening
(Angus Reid Global Monitor) - More people in Russia believe that climate change is a reality now, according to a poll by the All-Russian Public Opinion Research Center. 51 per cent of respondents say global warming is already happening, up six points since May 2007.
Additionally, 57 per cent of respondents say the phenomenon is the result of human activity.
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. In 2007, 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.
In 1998, several countries agreed to the Kyoto Protocol, a proposed amendment to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC). The agreement commits nations to reduce their emissions of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases. Russia ratified the protocol in 2002, during the first term of then Russian president Vladimir Putin.
On Sept. 25, the Global Carbon Project, made of a group of scientists reporting on greenhouse gas emissions annually, released a report saying that carbon emissions rose in 2007, and that such emissions are growing at four times the rate in this decade than they were in the 1990s.
Pep Canadell, the group’s executive director, said that India will likely overtake Russia as the world’s largest emitter of toxic gases, adding, "What we are talking about now for the first time is that the absolute value of all emissions going into the atmosphere every year are bigger coming from less developing countries than the developed world."
Polling Data
Which of these opinions on global warming do you agree with most?
|
Aug. 2008 |
Mar. 2007 |
|
|
Global warming is already happening |
51% |
45% |
|
Global warming will happen soon |
17% |
17% |
|
Global warming will begin later |
11% |
21% |
|
Global warming not will never happen |
6% |
6% |
|
Hard to answer |
14% |
11% |
Many people consider that the planet’s climate has changed in recent years. What do you think about this?
|
Aug. 2008 |
Mar. 2007 |
|
|
This is the result of human activity |
57% |
59% |
|
This is a natural phenomenon |
29% |
30% |
|
No special climate variations have occurred |
5% |
4% |
|
Hard to answer |
9% |
7% |
Source: All-Russian Public Opinion Research Center
Methodology: Interviews with 1,600 Russian adults, conducted on Sept. 6 and Sept. 7, 2008. Margin of error is 3.4 per cent.