Our World in Data: More people care about climate change than you think

 Excerpt from a Hannah Ritchie climate perception reality check (her latest book, Not the End of the World, is also a timely reality check):

People across the world, and the political spectrum, underestimate levels of support for climate action.

This “perception gap” matters. Governments will change policy if they think they have strong public backing. Companies need to know that consumers want to see low-carbon products and changes in business practices. We’re all more likely to make changes if we think others will do the same.

If governments, companies, innovators, and our neighbors know that most people are worried about the climate and want to see change, they’ll be more willing to drive it.

On the flip side, if we systematically underestimate widespread support, we’ll keep quiet for fear of “rocking the boat”.

This matters not only within each country but also in how we cooperate internationally. No country can solve climate change on its own. If we think that people in other countries don’t care and won’t act, we’re more likely to sit back as we consider our efforts hopeless.

Third Act + some personal updates

 Hey, is this thing still on?...

A few quick personal updates:

• I recently retired -- had some great opportunities to apply conceptual and logical data modeling over the last ~4.5 years at Bose and CarGurus, but decided it was time for a new chapter
• I'm revisiting blogging and other info resource sharing options -- restarting this blog, my Medium quasi-blog, and/or other options
• I'm kinda drowning in high-quality info resources and trying to get into a new routine for reading, harvesting, and sharing

In the meantime, here's a good restart post to consider: Third Act Endorses Joe Biden for President; excerpt:

"In some ways, it’s almost pro forma for Third Act to endorse Joe Biden for another term as president. Our tens of thousands of supporters, organized in chapters across the U.S., campaign to protect the climate, and to protect our democracy, the two issues where Biden may present the greatest contrast with his opponent.

Donald Trump pulled America out of the Paris climate accords; Joe Biden not only put us back into the international talks but instructed every agency to consider the climate in its work, passed the Inflation Reduction Act to build clean energy across the nation, and just weeks ago ignored the shrieks from Big Oil and paused the granting of new permits for liquefied natural gas, as big a blow as any president has ever delivered to dirty energy. On the democracy front, Donald Trump attempted a coup to overturn the results of the 2020 election; Joe Biden has tried throughout his career to expand voting rights and to protect the civil rights of every American. 

A vote is not a valentine, it’s a chess move.

– Rebecca Solnit

Even in the places where we want Biden to pursue different policies––Gaza, Mountain Valley Pipeline, Willow project––we think his opponent would be far worse. And our members find dozens of other places—from a woman’s right to control her own body to a teacher’s right to pick books for his classroom—where we favor Biden’s leadership. We bear constantly in mind our board member Rebecca Solnit’s advice that “a vote is not a valentine, it’s a chess move.” And in 2024 that move for us is obvious: four more years for Joe Biden, to advance the work he’s already done to heal our planet, our economy, and our polity. So we’ll not just vote for Joe; we’ll work hard to see that Trumpism is defeated."