Most Americans now worry about climate change—and want to fix it

New polls show recent disasters and personal experience have raised and widened global warming worries, but researchers warn of a huge gap between awareness and an adequate response.

This article was created in partnership with the National Geographic Society.

Two independent surveys of American attitudes on human-driven global warming, one focused on perceptions of risk, the other on possible responses, suggest a shift long sought by climate campaigners and scientists who’ve been pointing out rising danger for decades.

With a substantial surge in recent months, most Americans (outside of a small, but influential fringe, 7 percent, who dismiss the issue outright) have gotten well past the “is it happening” question on human-driven climate change. Nearly half in one survey said they would support a tax based on the amount of carbon in fuels that, when burned, generate the main climate-warming greenhouse gas emission, carbon dioxide.

The shift seems driven less by politician’s positions than recent disastrous heat-fueled wildfires,

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