Regional public awareness surveys show community concern for climate change
Each year, MARC’s Air and Water Quality programs conduct public awareness surveys to evaluate the effectiveness of the programs’ annual public awareness campaigns and outreach initiatives. In the last few years, MARC staff have included several climate change questions in these surveys to identify overall trends in concern for climate change, level of priority placed on climate action and how well our region can respond to climate change and extreme weather. The surveys were conducted in the nine-county MARC region and have a 95% level of confidence with a precision of +/- 3.4%. Below are the survey questions that were asked of residents and the survey findings.
- How does the community rate climate resilience in the Kansas City area?
Thirty-six percent (36%) for residents surveyed said climate resilience in the region was ‘good’ or ‘very good.’ Forty-six (46%) said resilience was ‘adequate’ and seventeen (17%) said it was ‘poor’ or ‘very poor.’
- Is climate resilience a high priority?
In a list of possible priorities, climate resilience was ranked in the middle of the pack, but fourteen (14%) of residents surveyed chose this priority for either their first, second, or third priority. Top priorities included level of safety from crime in neighborhoods, public education and economic development and job creation.
- How much do you think climate change is impacting the weather in the Kansas City region?
Seventy-one percent (71%) of residents surveyed said that climate change is impacting the weather in the region ‘a lot’ or ‘a little’ with twenty-two (22%) saying ‘not at all’ and eight percent (8%) being unsure.
- How confident are you that the Kansas City region can respond to and bounce back from extreme weather events?
Seventy-two percent (72%) of residents surveyed said they were ‘very confident’ or ‘somewhat confident’ that the region can respond to and bounce back from extreme weather events. Twenty-four percent (24%) were ‘not confident.’
- How worried are you about the impact of drought and extreme rain events/flooding in the Kansas City region?
Seventy-three percent (73 %) of residents surveyed are ‘very worried’ or ‘somewhat worried’ about the impact of drought and extreme rain in the region. Twenty-four percent (24%) are ‘not worried’. Three percent (3%) are ‘unsure.’
- Do you support efforts by your city/county government to reduce greenhouse gas emissions?
Seventy-three percent (73%) of the residents surveyed supported efforts by the city or county government to help reduce greenhouse gas emissions; this was a decrease of 4% from 2022.
- Which of the following do you think should be the top strategies your city/county government should use to reduce greenhouse gas emissions?
The top three strategies that residents felt the government should use to help reduce greenhouse emissions were: using energy from renewable sources (72%), planting more trees (71%), and improving public transit (66%). Many greenhouse gas reduction strategies were significantly higher than in 2022.