April 20, 2024
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How McHenry County feels about climate change

By Stacker
FILE - Steam billows from a coal-fired power plant Nov. 18, 2021, in Craig, Colo. The Supreme Court on Thursday, June 30, 2022, limited how the nation’s main anti-air pollution law can be used to reduce carbon dioxide emissions from power plants. By a 6-3 vote, with conservatives in the majority, the court said that the Clean Air Act does not give the Environmental Protection Agency broad authority to regulate greenhouse gas emissions from power plants that contribute to global warming. (AP Photo/Rick Bowmer, File)

FILE - Steam billows from a coal-fired power plant in Craig, Colo. (Rick Bowmer/AP)

According to the Pew Research Center, about two-thirds of Americans feel the federal government is not doing enough to counteract the effects of climate change. While a majority of U.S. adults acknowledge climate change to be a real issue, there is less consensus in regards to what measures to take to address the worsening climate crisis.

Solutions such as planting more trees to absorb carbon emissions garnered widespread, bipartisan support. Approval for taxing corporations based on their emissions output or introducing stricter emissions standards for vehicles, on the other hand, seemed to fall along party lines, with 86-89% of Democratic-leaning respondents supporting those measures, versus 52-55% of Republican-leaning respondents. Attitudes toward climate change policies are split by more than mere political party affiliation, however. Other important demographic factors include generational differences, gender, race, ethnicity, socioeconomic situation, and proximity to a coastline where natural disasters have increased in frequency. Economic reliance on fossil fuels also plays a large role in whether people support or oppose climate change measures on both a local and federal level.

In order to parse how people in McHenry County feel about climate change policies, Stacker compiled statistics using data from the Yale Program on Climate Change Communication. The data is from a survey conducted in 2021.

Nationally, 71.8% of people think climate change is happening. Illinois has the sixth highest percentage of residents in the country who think their governor should be doing more to address global warming. McHenry County has the 18th highest percentage of residents in the state who are worried about global warming.

McHenry County climate change opinions by the numbers

People who think global warming is happening: 71.9%--- 2.6% lower than state average--- #10 highest in the state

People who do not think global warming is happening: 15.6%

People who think global warming is caused mostly by human activities: 50.2%

People who agree that global warming is affecting weather in the United States: 62.1%

People who believe global warming will harm them personally: 41.9%

People who support regulating CO2 as a pollutant: 71.5%- People who think Congress should be doing more to address global warming: 55.5%

People who say a candidate’s views on global warming are important to their vote: 47.7%

Counties with the most people who think climate change is happening in Illinois

#1. Cook County: 79.7%

#2. DuPage County: 78.8%

#3. Lake County: 78.0%

#4. Champaign County: 77.6%

#5. St. Clair County: 74.7%

Counties with the most people who think climate change is not happening in Illinois

#1. Jasper County: 27.9%

#2. Wayne County: 27.7%

#3. Hancock County: 27.3%

#4. Clay County: 26.7%

#4. Edwards County: 26.7%

https://stacker.com/illinois/mchenry-county-il/how-mchenry-county-il-feels-about-climate-change