INTRODUCTION

The following results come from an International Survey on Climate Change And Local Responses To It, sent out earlier this year. I’ve collected the data from the responses and found a different outcome from what I was expecting.

The survey was emailed to three different groups across two-hundred and thirty-three countries and territories. The first group was made up of four thousand climate change professionals who are both trained and working in the field. The second group was made up of one thousand members of the international financial investment community. The last group was made up of two hundred members of the hi-tech sub-communities: open source, software, Eco-hackers, DIY and members of the Maker movements.

There were twenty questions in all, arranged into four groups: personal beliefs about climate and environmental changes, the state of local climate change monitoring and reporting systems, the need for local citizen involvement, and the types systems needed to monitor and report climate and environmental changes.

The responses from the climate change professionals were candid about worldwide civil and governmental unpreparedness, gaps in national monitoring and reporting systems outside Western countries, missing resources and the lack of a venue for civil involvement by local people.

However, what was most surprising was not how the questions were answered, but who did not even take part. Responses from the financial and hi-tech communities were extremely low, and as a result their portions of the survey have been removed. I have tried to understand why there was so little response from both these groups. Unfortunately, all I can put it down to is that they are happy with the status quo of hubris, indifference, ignorance and apathy, and that they believe that the party will never stop for them.

In a very real sense, climate change and global warming are the end to a party that has gone on for hundreds of years. Those who think they can avoid that end because of who they are or what the own will mean nothing in the end. No one can dodge the bill for climate change that is coming due; everyone will have to pay one way or the other.

Part 1. Personal beliefs about climate and environmental changes

1. Do you believe the effects of global climate change will play out for years to come?

2. As climate change becomes more visible, do you believe it will manifest as a series

of local climate and environmental changes in your area?

3. Do you believe climate and environmental changes in your area have not received the same attention as those in other areas of the world?

4. Do you think climate and environmental

change will be a multi-generational problem in years ahead?

Part 2. Climate change monitoring and reporting systems

5. Do you believe your country relies too much on the efforts of international organizations for climate change protection, information and news?

6. Do you believe that current international monitoring resources (e.g., satellites, planes, ships, people) will also be available to you in the future if needed?

7. Would you say there are currently gaps in your country’s environmental and climate change monitoring and reporting systems?

8. In your opinion, are there adequate resources available to monitor changes that are currently happening in your area, or which could happen in the future?

9. In your opinion, is there a need for a unified system to collect precise readings on local climate changes in your area?

Part 3. Local involvement

10. Do you believe the effects of global warming and environmental changes in the years ahead can be easily handled by local emergency services only?

11. Do you believe your area would have a more common set of goals related to dealing with climate change if more of your country’s citizens had hands-on involvement in monitoring and reporting those changes?

12. Do you believe a united effort by your country’s citizens would help address climate change in your area?

13. If there were more personal involvement by citizens of your country, do you think it would translate into willingness to take part in climate mitigation actions?

14. If someone tried to build a climate volunteer network, do you believe that there would be enough local support for it to succeed?

Part 4. System Units

15. Do you think an independent campaign by local citizens, using
international standards and reporting techniques, would be useful in
climate and environmental work?