Houston residents are worried about climate change
A majority of Houstonians are worried about climate change amid the city's vulnerability to natural disasters and intensifying heat.
The big picture: Climate anxiety is concentrated in many large U.S. metros and some coastal regions.
About 63.3% of U.S. adults overall are "somewhat" or "very" worried about global warming as of 2024, per Yale Program on Climate Change Communication estimates based on survey data.
Zoom in: Harris County residents are slightly more concerned about climate change than the national average, with 64.5% of Houstonians saying they are "somewhat" or "very" worried.
Fort Bend County is slightly more worried than the national average, while Waller, Austin, Liberty, and Chambers county residents are less worried than the national average.
More than 70% of adults in Austin's Travis County and San Antonio's Bexar County said they were worried.
Context: Green in the map above represents counties with a larger share of adults worried about global warming than the national average.
Purple represents counties with fewer adults with climate anxiety.
Zoom out: Some of the counties with especially high shares of adults worried about global warming — like Queens, New York (79.8%) — are coastal areas vulnerable to climate-driven threats like flooding.
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Yahoo
28-05-2025
- Yahoo
Homeowner in NW Houston shares harrowing moments when tree fell during Monday nights storms.
The Brief Ms. Penny, the homeowner, says she was asleep when a tree fell on her home during Monday night's storms. She says the tree partially came through her roof, and now she is working with insurance to start a claim. Richard Johnson, Director of Communications with the Insurance Council of Texas, discusses how homeowners should prepare ahead of the Hurricane season. HOUSTON - A northwest Houston homeowner is speaking with us about the storms Monday night that left a tree on top of her home. The homeowner, who wants to be known as Ms. Penny, tells FOX 26 she is still in shock. The backstory "It's still mind-boggling, mind-blowing and, of course, it's raining and, around midnight, I heard this extremely loud boom, but I assumed it was a transformer or something. Then seconds later, my daughter ran downstairs, and she was like, mom, the roof collapsed," said Ms. Penny. "So I went to the stairs. When you look straight up the stairs, the ceiling is still intact, but as I got up the stairs, I could see to the right, which is the game room. My grandson plays his PlayStation there." Thankfully, he was not sitting there, she says. She called 911 and officials came who told her it was not safe to stay Monday night, so she reached out to her insurance. "This is one of those times where an automated system did not work. I needed a live person to talk to because me and my family was displaced last night," said Ms. Penny. "So for this to happen and to be in the house and to live that, yeah, that was definitely an experience. I am still shaken. Ms. Penny said she has been in the home for three years, and she thought about cutting down her pine trees, but after this storm she says she is getting rid of all of them. The tree that fell on her roof was taken down just after 4 p.m. on Tuesday. Why you should care Richard Johnson, Director of Communications Insurance Council of Texas spoke with us about what you need to know. "The first thing is to go ahead and check your insurance policies, make sure that everything is up-to-date, check your deductibles, make sure that you can afford them, make sure you have the right coverage," said Richard Johnson, Director of Communications, Insurance Council of Texas. Johnson adds that Houstonians need to look into getting flood insurance, but also start doing a home inventory. That means taking pictures of your belongings and keeping a record of them should the worst happen. So, for wind insurance, do you need a TWA policy, which is the Texas Wind Association, or a Fair Plan Policy. Right now in the Houston area and along the coast, you may need that other policy for wind and hail coverage. If you don't, and if it's your typical homeowners' policy, ask about your deductible. You might have a different deductible for fire than you do for wind and hail," Johnson added. Johnson adds if you find yourself in a situation like this homeowner, and you need a contractor, be careful because contractors use opportunities like this to prey on homeowners. "Sometimes, deals could be too good to be true. Get with friends, family and roofers to ask for recommendations and if they ask you or tell you they can wave your deductible, that is a huge red flag. It's something that we can't do in Texas, so if somebody starts talking to you like that, you should move onto the next contractor," Johnson said. The Source FOX 26 Reporter Leslie DelasBour spoke with the homeowner about the incident.
Miami Herald
20-05-2025
- Miami Herald
‘You are not alone': Most Nevadans worry about climate change, poll shows
LAS VEGAS – In the state with the nation's two fastest-warming cities, most residents believe in climate change and think officials should do something about it, new polling has found. Answers from Nevadans rank similarly to national averages, with more widespread belief in climate change in Clark and Washoe counties, where almost 87% of the state's population resides. For instance, in the Yale Program on Climate Change Communication's poll, 63% of Nevadans said they are worried about climate change - identical to the national average. That number was 1% higher in Clark County and 6% higher in Washoe County. "If you're worried about it, you are not alone," said Jennifer Marlon, senior research scientist and director of data science at the Yale School of the Environment. "The vast majority of people are worried about it, and it's many more people than you think. We're not talking about it, because everyone thinks they're going to end up picking a fight. But, by and large, that's not true." The idea of a warming climate - and the burning of fossil fuels as the main cause - is supported by more than 99% of peer-reviewed research. It was a science nonprofit's 2025 Earth Day analysis of temperatures that designated Las Vegas and Reno as the two fastest-warming cities in the United States for the third year in a row, when comparing annual average temperatures since 1970. Yale researchers based their poll numbers on surveys of more than 32,000 people from every state and 2,379 of the country's 3,144 counties. To map the whole country by county, they used a statistical model that considers location and sociodemographic factors like political affiliations, race, gender and age. Following are the highlights: Extreme heat potent example Scientists and officials have said Nevada is ground zero for human-caused climate change, perhaps most evident in the summer when temperatures regularly stay in the triple digits, even at night. Sixty-eight percent of Nevadans agree that climate change is affecting the weather, which is 3% more than the country at large. In Clark County, extreme heat's death toll last year was 527 - higher than it's ever been because of a record hot summer and the adapting standards of the county coroner's office. Tom Albright, Nevada's deputy state climatologist and a professor at the University of Nevada, Reno, is planning Northern Nevada's first extreme heat summit that will take place next month. In the absence of a coordinated response to extreme heat in the region, Albright said he hopes it can inform people and help them brainstorm ideas for local leaders. Helping find solutions for the one-third of Nevadans who aren't worried about climate change is a priority, too. Albright said using the words "climate change" or "global warming" can turn some people off because of politics - reflected in the polling results from some rural, deep red counties, where only half of the residents are concerned about it. "It doesn't matter if you call it 'global warming,' 'climate change,' 'drought' or 'extreme heat': These are issues that people experience," Albright said in an interview Thursday. "People don't talk about climate change that much, and they don't hear about it in the news as much as you might expect. They tend to underestimate the concern or interest of their neighbors." Next generation The strongest positive response the Silver State had to a question was whether schools should teach about climate change. More than three in four Nevadans feel it should be, and a similar amount of them agree that climate change will harm future generations. Dr. Debra Hendrickson, a board-certified pediatrician in Reno, is the author of "The Air They Breathe." The book is geared toward the challenges children and their parents will experience in the face of climate change, especially as it relates to air quality. Wildfire is a particular challenge in Washoe County, where smoke can come from the region's fires, as well as nearby ones from California. This year, the American Lung Association gave Clark and Washoe counties an F for particle pollution and days with high ozone levels. Whether it's extreme heat, allergies or wildfire smoke, Nevadans' health is directly tied to climate change that has made these issues more prominent, Hendrickson said. "These events that seem big and global are tied to why your kid is coughing and wheezing during a wildfire event," the pediatrician said in an interview Friday. "That's the message that people need to understand: Everybody in the state of Nevada has been affected by climate change. There's no one in the state who's been untouched by this." What Nevadans can do A broader section of the polling results focuses on policy solutions, with more than half in agreement that Congress, Gov. Joe Lombardo, local officials, corporations and private citizens should do more to address climate change. The country's transition to cleaner energy sources still remains highly popular, according to the poll. For those interested in doing something about their concerns on climate change, Hendrickson recommends taking an inventory of what in Nevadans' own lives may be contributing to greenhouse gas emissions, from the food they eat to the way they travel. Learning about local issues and solutions can be inspiring, she said, especially when residents can attend meetings for public utility commissions and city or county government. The best solution to inaction is getting educated without feeling responsible for solving the problem of climate change on a large scale, Hendrickson said. "If you can give people concrete steps that they can take, I think that really activates people," Hendrickson said. "There is such a sense of helplessness because it is such a huge problem." ___ Copyright (C) 2025, Tribune Content Agency, LLC. Portions copyrighted by the respective providers.
Axios
14-05-2025
- Axios
Richmond among the most climate-anxious cities in U.S.
Richmonders have some of the highest levels of climate anxiety in the country. But about two hours away, Buchanan County residents are among the least worried about the climate nationwide, per recent estimates. Why it matters: Despite extreme heat and flooding increasingly becoming Virginia's greatest climate threats, attitudes toward the issue vary depending on where you live. The big picture: There are higher stress levels about climate change in coastal communities and large cities, according to data from the Yale Program on Climate Change Communication. That tracks with the top 10 Virginia localities with the greatest climate anxiety, which are mostly cities in NoVa, with the exceptions of Richmond, Petersburg, Charlottesville and Hampton. Meanwhile, the 10 Virginia localities with the lowest climate stress are all rural counties in southwest Virginia. The intrigue: 74% of adults in the most-anxious Virginia localities were "somewhat" or "very" worried about climate change. In the least-anxious localities, that was 45%. The national average: 63%. Between the lines: Individual attitudes about climate change aren't primarily based on local risk, with politics and other factors playing major roles.
