December 16th, 2009

Green Right Now Reports

As the Copenhagen climate talks moved into high gear on Tuesday, preparing for the heads of state to join the talks, the AP released a poll showing that more Americans believe action on climate change will help the U.S. economy than hinder it.

The Associated Press-Stanford University Poll found that 40 percent of Americans said that action to slow global warming would create jobs, and 46 percent said it would “boost the economy.”

Less than one-third of respondents felt that controlling climate change would hurt the economy.

Republicans opposed to a national climate bill have argued that curbing global warming will be expensive, raise energy costs and hurt the U.S. economy. A delegation of these climate action opponents plans to visit the Copenhagen Climate Conference in Denmark this week.

The AP’s story about the poll quoted one responder as saying that the Republicans “are wrong.” Under climate action, Americans will shift to new jobs, the Seattle man said.

Another man, from Connecticut, told the AP that he saw a green revolution as promising jobs for those in need of work.

“I don’t know if anybody has looked around lately, but the economy is dead,” said Jake Berglund, a home-improvement contractor from Portland, Conn. “We are in a sinking ship, and Obama has bought us enough life rafts to keep on going. But we need to figure out how to build a new boat when we are still on the water.”

But while those polled were mostly in favor of green jobs, they were not as enthusiastic about  a carbon cap-and-trade market, if it meant their energy bills would be higher.

A majority of those polled, 59 percent, said they would not support a cap-and-trade system if it meant they would have to pay $10 extra a month for electricity.