Arizona Public Radio | Your Source for NPR News
Play Live Radio
Next Up:
0:00
0:00
0:00 0:00
Available On Air Stations
KNAU's main phone line is experiencing technical difficulties. Click here to contact members of our team directly.

Survey: A third of Americans fear losing their homes to climate change

Sandbags barricade homes in a Flagstaff neighborhood
Melissa Sevigny
Sandbags barricade a house at the corner of Linda Vista and Grandview in Flagstaff

A new surveyshows widespread concern about climate change in the United States and globally. KNAU’s Melissa Sevigny reports, many people say they’ve already felt the effects of extreme weather events.

The marketing research company Ipsos surveyed more than 23,000 people in 34 countries.

In the United States nearly half of the people surveyed said climate change already has had a severe effect on the place where they live.

A third of the survey respondents believe it’s somewhat or very likely they or their families will be displaced from their homes as a result of climate change within the next 25 years.

People in all age groups have similar levels of concern about climate change effects, but those under the age of 35 were more likely to worry about losing their homes.

The results also show regional differences, with higher levels of concern in places like the Western United States that recently experienced heat waves, wildfire, and floods.

Melissa joined KNAU's team in 2015 to report on science, health, and the environment. Her work has appeared nationally on NPR and been featured on Science Friday. She grew up in Tucson, Arizona, where she fell in love with the ecology and geology of the Sonoran desert.