American Meteorological Society Member Survey on Global Warming: Preliminary Findings

The report details a 2011 survey of AMS members, finding that 89% believe global warming is happening and 59% attribute it primarily to human activity. While 53% perceive internal conflict within the society, a majority support the AMS playing an active role in educating the public and policy makers.

• A vast majority of survey respondents (89%) believe global warming is occurring, with 41% being 'Extremely sure' and 33% 'Very sure'.
• Among those who acknowledge global warming, 59% identify human activity as the primary cause, while 11% believe it is caused by both human activity and natural events in roughly equal amounts.
• Respondents generally view global warming as a threat, with 76% stating that if left unaddressed over the next 100 years, it will be 'very harmful' (38%) or 'somewhat harmful' (38%) to society.
• There is a perceived internal divide within the AMS, with 53% of respondents indicating that conflict exists regarding global warming. Of those who see conflict, 26% view it as primarily unproductive and 27% view it as both productive and unproductive.
• There is strong support for the AMS to engage in external communication, with 82% of respondents supporting a role in educating the public and 85% supporting a role in educating policy makers.
• The survey sample consisted of 1,862 respondents (a minimum response rate of 26.4% of the 7,062 valid voting members), who were predominantly male (85%), PhD-educated (52%), and identified as liberal (48%) more often than conservative (21%).

APA

Maibach, E., Stenhouse, N., Cobb, S., Ban, R., Bleistein, A., Croft, P., Bierly, E., Seitter, K., Rasmussen, G., & Leiserowitz, A. (2012). American Meteorological Society Member Survey on Global Warming: Preliminary Findings. Center for Climate Change Communication. https://climatecommunication.gmu.edu/wp-content/uploads/2023/06/February-2012-American-Meteorological-Society-Member-Survey-on-Global-Warming-Preliminary-Findings.pdf

Chicago

Maibach, Edward, Neil Stenhouse, Sara Cobb, Ray Ban, Andrea Bleistein, Paul Croft, Eugene Bierly, et al. American Meteorological Society Member Survey on Global Warming: Preliminary Findings. Center for Climate Change Communication, 2012. https://climatecommunication.gmu.edu/wp-content/uploads/2023/06/February-2012-American-Meteorological-Society-Member-Survey-on-Global-Warming-Preliminary-Findings.pdf.

Wikipedia

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BibTeX

@techreport{maibach2012american, author = {Maibach, Edward and Stenhouse, Neil and Cobb, Sara and Ban, Ray and Bleistein, Andrea and Croft, Paul and Bierly, Eugene and Seitter, Keith and Rasmussen, Gary and Leiserowitz, Anthony}, title = {{American Meteorological Society Member Survey on Global Warming: Preliminary Findings}}, institution = {Center for Climate Change Communication}, year = {2012}, month = feb, url = {https://climatecommunication.gmu.edu/wp-content/uploads/2023/06/February-2012-American-Meteorological-Society-Member-Survey-on-Global-Warming-Preliminary-Findings.pdf}, urldate = {2026-10-23}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }