EVANSVILLE — Residents of Evansville are less likely to believe the climate is changing, and if it is, that humans are the cause, when compared to most of the rest of the state, according to an Indiana University survey.
The survey was conducted by IU's Environmental Resilience Institute between August and December 2019. It includes many of Indiana's most populated metropolitan areas, including Evansville.
Although 75 percent of Hoosiers across the state responded that they believed climate change is occurring, just 68 percent of Evansville residents surveyed said they believed climate change is happening, while 22 percent of Evansville residents thought human activities were the cause. That compares to 34 percent statewide.
Only the South Bend-Mishawaka area had fewer residents than Evansville who believed the climate is changing. By comparison, residents in larger metropolitan areas such as Northwest Indiana, closer to Chicago, and New Albany-Jeffersonville, part of the Louisville area, showed more belief that climate change is happening and that humans are causing or partly causing it.
Houser said he wasn't surprised at the low number of people skeptical that human's contributing to climate change.
"It wasn't shocking to me. This is a conservative state and we know politics is the most important factor driving people's attitude toward climate change," he said.
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The survey found Republicans were more likely to believe climate change is not happening than that humans were the primary cause.
Even so, the majority of Hoosiers across political parties, Republican, Democrat or independent, said they believed climate change is happening.
The survey results, according to the institute, are intended to help inform local efforts to address greenhouse gas emissions and boost community resilience.
The results also give an advance snapshot of how Evansville residents think about climate change as local officials tally their own survey results as part of an effort to draft official Climate Action Plan.as local officials tally their own survey results as part of an effort to draft official Climate Action Plan.
Matt Houser, an IU sociologist and research fellow who co-led the survey, said he was encouraged by the interest Evansville's residents — and all Hoosiers — showed in individual solutions.
For instance, 48 percent of Evansville homeowners said they would like to install solar panels to reduce carbon dioxide emission, with many answering that they supported public funding for solar panels. Statewide 53 percent of homeowners said they would install solar panels if they could.
"If you offer a policy, they will put solar panels on top of their house. That's what our survey results indicated. The need for a policy and the public support for it were significant," Houser said. "Even when participants were skeptical about climate change, if you asked them about solutions there was interest.
Timothy Weir, who is overseeing development of the Evansville Climate Action Plan, said its public survey results are not ready yet. However, the campaign has held multiple virtual town hall events.
"We do a flash poll at every town hall. Participants generally recognize that climate change is happening and is expected to continue," he said. "The majority of participants can give several indicators they are experiencing personally, such as more intense rainfall, extreme heat, more instances of flash flooding."
Weir said participants in the Climate Action Plan town halls have said they are doing things or are interested in doing more to alleviate the effects of climate change, such as walking and biking more, changing to a more plant-based diet, being more energy efficient and solar and renewable energy.
"I think there is a real individual interest. There is an appetite for information," Weir said. "A key part of the plan is going to be more education."
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