Year 3, Month 7, Day 16: I Do Not Think About Things I Do Not Think About.

The Washington Post notes that people don’t seem to care all that much:

Climate change no longer ranks first on the list of what Americans see as the world’s biggest environmental problem, according to a new Washington Post-Stanford University poll.

Just 18 percent of those polled name it as their top environmental concern. That compares with 33 percent who said so in 2007, amid publicity about a major U.N. climate report and Al Gore’s Oscar-winning documentary about global warming. Today, 29 percent identify water and air pollution as the world’s most pressing environmental issue.

Still, Americans continue to see climate change as a threat, caused in part by human activity, and they think government and businesses should do more to address it. Nearly three-quarters say the Earth is warming, and just as many say they believe that temperatures will continue to rise if nothing is done, according to the poll.

The findings, along with follow-up interviews with some respondents, indicate that Washington’s decision to shelve action on climate policy means that the issue has receded — even though many people link recent dramatic weather events to global warming. And they may help explain why elected officials feel little pressure to impose curbs on greenhouse gas emissions.

“I really don’t give it a thought,” said Wendy Stewart, a 46-year-old bookkeeper in New York. Although she thinks warmer winters and summers are signs of climate change, she has noticed that political leaders don’t bring up the subject. “I’ve never heard them speak on global warming,” she said. “I’ve never heard them elaborate on it.”

But noticing the media’s irresponsible coverage of this issue is terribly uncivil. Can’t have that, now, can we? Sent July 5:

If climate change has lost its first-place position among Americans’ environmental worries, that’s because politicians and media figures would rather ignore any problem that can’t be resolved within an election cycle or two. After all, since rising temperatures are probably irreversible at this point, we’re probably better off focusing on problems we know we can fix, like air and water pollution. No politician craves electoral martyrdom, even in the service of a noble cause.

The problem with this attitude, of course, is that the unfolding disaster of global warming remains the preeminent environmental concern of our century. Colorado’s metastasizing wildfires and the country-wide heat wave are just two symptoms of a crisis that is planetary in scope and multi-generational in timespan — something which requires political will and genuine leadership, rather than the evasions and platitudes which have persuaded millions of Americans that there’s really nothing much to worry about.

Warren Senders