UN poll: Most see climate change as global emergency amid pandemic
27 January 2021
64% of people from around the world say climate change is a global emergency, a United Nations poll published Wednesday finds.
Why it matters: It's biggest global survey on climate change ever conducted, with some 1.2 million participants from 50 countries — including the U.S. where 65% of those surveyed view climate change as an emergency.
- The poll also shows there's widespread support for renewable energy, even in countries where fossil fuels are a major source of emissions — with 65% in favor in the U.S., 76% in Australia and 51% in Russia.
Of note: The findings come two days after Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) said it "might be a good idea for President Biden to call a climate emergency."
The big picture: The "People's Climate Vote" survey of people over the age of 14, organized by the UN Development Program and Oxford University, was conducted via ads distributed in mobile gaming apps from last October to December.
- Cassie Flynn, UNDP’s strategic adviser on climate change and head of its Climate Promise initiative, came up with the idea to advertise on apps like Angry Birds.
- Some 550,000 people aged 14 to 18 took part in the survey, which had a margin of error of +/- 2%.
The bottom line: "There is a groundswell of people that are saying even during a pandemic that climate change is an emergency and here’s how we want to solve it," Flynn told Al Jazeera.
- "Governments are facing extraordinary decisions that will affect generations to come, whether in dealing with COVID-19 or climate. The decisions about our future are being locked in now."
Read the full report, via DocumentCloud:
Transcripts show George Floyd told police "I can't breathe" over 20 times
Section2Newly released transcripts of bodycam footage from the Minneapolis Police Department show that George Floyd told officers he could not breathe more than 20 times in the moments leading up to his death.
Why it matters: Floyd's killing sparked a national wave of Black Lives Matter protests and an ongoing reckoning over systemic racism in the United States. The transcripts "offer one the most thorough and dramatic accounts" before Floyd's death, The New York Times writes.
The state of play: The transcripts were released as former officer Thomas Lane seeks to have the charges that he aided in Floyd's death thrown out in court, per the Times. He is one of four officers who have been charged.
- The filings also include a 60-page transcript of an interview with Lane. He said he "felt maybe that something was going on" when asked if he believed that Floyd was having a medical emergency at the time.
What the transcripts say:
- Floyd told the officers he was claustrophobic as they tried to get him into the squad car.
- The transcripts also show Floyd saying, "Momma, I love you. Tell my kids I love them. I'm dead."
- Former officer Derek Chauvin, who had his knee on Floyd's neck for over eight minutes, told Floyd, "Then stop talking, stop yelling, it takes a heck of a lot of oxygen to talk."
Read the transcripts via DocumentCloud.