followed a record-breaking heat wave which ravaged the provinces of BC and Alberta, killing nearly 500 people and over one billion marine animals within a period of one week. Most experts agree that climate change has been a major contributing factor to these extreme weather conditions and a recent report has revealed that there is growing consensus among Canadians that this global crisis need to be urgently addressed.
According to a results of a recent poll conducted by multinational market research and consulting firm Ipsos published on Wednesday (28 July), 49 per cent of people in the North American nation the recent disasters have made them feel strongly about the need to urgently fight the climate crisis. Among them are younger Canadians and those with university degree who believe the situation must be considered an emergency.
“For younger people, climate change has become one of those existential issues of our age — and there’s a unanimity among younger people as to the importance of the issue and the need to do something about it,” Darrell Bricker, chief executive of Global Public Affairs at Ipsos, said.
On the other hand, of those who participated in the poling which was done online, 4 in 10 said the recent weather conditions had not changed their opinion, and even of those who are concerned over the climate crisis, a majority are less willing to do anything about it financially. Of those who participated in the poll, one in five said they are willing to spend between $1 and $100 per year to address the situation, while four in 10 willing to spend $1-$500 per year. Only 10 per cent of the participants were more generous, willing to spend $500 or more a year.
