Climate change has meant global warming for most Americans, making them less inclined to see the need for action on the issue, so says a new study by researchers at two U.S. universities. By the time the public feels the sting of climate change later this century, it will be too late to put policies in place that will have any effect.
Patrick J. Egan, an associate professor in NYU's Wilf Family Department of Politics, authored the study with Megan Mullin, an associate professor at Duke University's Nicholas School of the Environment. The results were published in the journal Nature.
Internationally, experts echo the warnings as set out in the study. Leaders and representatives from more than 170 countries gathered at the United Nations headquarters in New York City on Friday to sign the Paris accord on climate change, but scientists and climate change experts warn that it may already be too little, too late, adding that many world leaders have yet to produce any concrete plans for a future beyond fossil fuels.