Global warming - who gets hurt?

 Short answer - Americans think that some people in the U.S. may be impacted by global warming. They think that future generations, people in developing countries, plants and animals will definitely be affected by global warming.

But they don't think that they, personally, will be affected.

In Pennsylvania, 53% of us think that we will feel the effects of climate change "little or not at all".

Sell the skis, turn up the A.C. - it's all good.

These maps are inspiring me to turn up the volume on climate communications. People need to understand the socio-economic implications of the changes that will be all too real, even for those of us who may be buffered from temperature and precipitation shifts.

Here's the data and it comes from Yale Climate Opinion Maps:

50% of Americans think global warming will harm them personally:

But these opinions flip around when we start asking if someone else will be harmed. 58% of Americans think someone else in the U.S. will be harmed by global warming - just not them or their neighbors.

And future generations? Absolutely, those poor people are definitely going to be harmed by global warming. 70% of Americans think this. (Incidentally, the map of opinion about harm to plants and animals is almost the same as this one about future generations.)