With stronger hurricanes and longer wildfire seasons, Americans saw the impact of the climate crisis firsthand last year. Furthermore, the report noted that 11 percent of Americans have considered moving to avoid the impacts of global warming, which includes threats such as wildfires in Southern California and sea level rise on the Gulf Coast. The survey stated that 64 percent of Americans say that they are at least “somewhat worried” about global warming.
![[Scientists have found that climate change is making hurricanes stronger. That includes Hurricane Helene, which killed more than 100 people in North Carolina last fall]](https://static.independent.co.uk/2025/02/14/21/28/GettyImages-2174266006.jpeg)
Unfortunately, scientists have made it clear that more greenhouse gas emissions produced by the industry spell disaster for everything on Earth in the long term. The number of Americans who understand that global warming is mostly human-caused is up by a percentage point. Whereas, the number of those who believe it is caused mostly by natural changes in the environment is down by one. More than 1,000 adults were surveyed last December, ahead of January’s deadly and devastating Los Angeles County wildfires. The Palisades and Eaton fires took the lives of at least 29 people.
The blazes were worsened by dried-out vegetation, low rainfall in the region and the overlap between drought conditions and hurricane-force Santa Ana winds, according to the group World Weather Attribution. Climate change has made hurricanes stronger, adding 16 and 24 mph to Hurricanes Helene and Milton in September, according to non-profit Climate Central. “The storm has this speed limit at which it can spin based on its environmental conditions. And, the warmer the sea surface temperatures, the faster a hurricane can spin,” Daniel Gilford, a meteorologist and atmospheric scientist with Climate Central, told The Independent in January.
