More Europeans are taking climate change seriously

More Europeans are taking climate change seriously. In the United States, not so much

In some countries, the number of people "extremely concerned" about the personal impact of climate change has more than doubled. In the United States, the situation is flat.

Severe concern about climate change is growing among people in many significant economies; according to a survey published by the Pew Research Center that found 72 percent of those surveyed are concerned about climate change.

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The survey was conducted in the spring, but its release came after a series of extreme weather events — from devastating floods in Germany, China, and the United States to intense heatwaves across the northern hemisphere.

In Germany, for example, 18 percent of people expressed "extreme concern" in 2015, compared to 37 percent this year. Australia saw a similar rise, with 34 percent of people saying they were "very concerned" about climate change, up 16 points from 2015.

Only Japan saw a significant decrease in those who are very concerned about climate change. Pew researchers found a drop of 8 points, to 26 percent, from 2015.

In the United States, they said, these views have not changed significantly since 2015.

The Pew report found that 80% of people surveyed were willing to change how they live and work to help reduce climate change. However, reviews of current efforts have been more mixed, with only 56 percent of people answering that society is doing a "very good" or "fairly good" job dealing with global warming.

The survey also found that 94 percent of those sympathetic to the United States' ideological left say they would be willing to do "some" or "a lot." There are changes in the way they work and live, compared to 45 percent who identify with the ideological right.

Survey respondents spanned the United States, Canada, Belgium, France, Germany, Greece, Italy, the Netherlands, Spain, Sweden, the United Kingdom, Australia, Japan, New Zealand, Singapore, South Korea, and Taiwan.

In the study, young adults tended to be more concerned about global warming than older adults. In the United States, 71 percent of 18- to 29-year-olds were "very concerned" or "somewhat worried" that climate change would personally affect them in their lives, compared with 52 percent of those 65 or older.