Overcoming Misinformation to fight climate change

Around three-quarters of Americans don’t think eating meat and dairy would have any impact on climate change, according to a new survey, compared to 6 out of 10 who believed recycling is a key climate action. This is despite multiple studies proving otherwise.

SOURCE; Green Queen HK

Conducted by the Washington Post and the University of Maryland last month, the poll found that only a small majority of Americans believe their individual actions can reduce their impact on climate change, with most highly uninformed about which actions are the most impactful.

The poll highlights a gap in American public thinking about the impact of their actions on climate change, and proven climate science that says otherwise. For instance, 74% of consumers believe cutting out meat won’t alter their impact on climate change, and 77% feel the same about dairy consumption. This thinking is in line with a Newsweek poll that showed 40% of Americans don’t believe eating less red meat would reduce their greenhouse gas emissions.

But all this is in contrast with numerous reports that show that we can avoid 100 gigatons of emissions if three-quarters of people adopt plant-rich diets by 2050, and that veganism can reduce emissions by 75% compared to meat- and dairy-heavy diets.

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