The World in 2030

The World in 2030 139
The Right Mindset
Even though some symptoms of climate change cannot,
now, be avoided our principal task in the 21 st century must
be to work to mitigate the worst effects that climate change
could bring and to avoid the human deaths, the misery and
the huge costs that would follow in their wake.
To do this, we need to change minds and lifestyles
around the planet. If this sounds like a tall order, I
would disagree. I have been speaking and writing about
the effects of climate change since the early 1990s (very
recently by some standards) and I have seen a shift in
public attitudes in Europe which can only be described
as extremely heartening. According to a 2006 Financial
Times opinion poll:
Europeans are overwhelmingly convinced that human
activity is contributing to global warming, and
a majority would be prepared to accept restrictions
on their lifestyle to combat it, according to a poll for
the Financial Times.
Research carried out this month by Harris Interactive
in Germany, France, the UK, Italy and Spain
found that 86 per cent of people believed humans
were contributing to climate change, and 45 per cent
thought it would be a threat to them and their families
within their lifetimes. 276
Then, in late June 2007, The Independent reported: