A new survey of members of the American Meteorological Society finds (PDF) that nearly all respondents think that climate change is happening and that a majority of respondents think that human activity is causing most of the changes in the climate over the past fifty years.
Presented with the AMS's definition of climate change and asked, "Regardless of the cause, do you think climate change is happening," 96% of respondents answered yes, 1% answered no, and 3% indicated that they didn't know. The AMS defines climate change as "Any systematic change in the long-term statistics of climate elements (such as temperature, pressure, or winds) sustained over several decades or longer. Climate change may be due to: natural external forcings, such as changes in solar emission or slow changes in the earth’s orbital elements; natural internal processes of the climate system; or anthropogenic forcing."
Asked to complete "Do you think that the climate change that has occurred over the past 50 years has been caused ..." and presented with various ranges, 29% of respondents selected "Largely or entirely by human activity (81% to 100%)," 38% selected "Mostly by human activity" (60% to 80%)," 14% selected "More or less equally by human activity and natural events," 7% selected "Mostly by natural events (60% to 80%)," 5% selected "Largely or entirely by natural events (81% to 100%)," and 6% indicated that they didn't know; 1% had already indicated their belief that there has been no climate change over the past fifty years.
Sponsored by the George Mason University Center for Climate Change Communication, the survey was conducted by e-mail in late 2016 and early 2016; the sampling frame contained 7682 people. The participation rate was 53.3% and the survey completion rate was 51.4%.