Canadian women more concerned about climate change than men, new study says
· Toronto Sun
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Urban women, and women in general, are most likely to worry about climate change than any other segment of the Canadian public.
“Women were more likely to think that climate change would affect any of the multiple-choice categories than men,” a new Statistics Canada report said. “This result is consistent with other research on gender differences, which has found that women are slightly but consistently more likely than men to report belief in and concern about climate change.”
The reports says that 53% of Canadians are “very” or “extremely” concerned about climate change, with 59% of Canadians aged 64 and older and 59% of woman reporting higher levels of “concern than their counterparts.”
Titled Insights on Canadian Society: Feeling the heat: More than half of Canadians are highly concerned about climate change, the study was released on July 8.
Albertans were the least likely to believe future generations would be affected by climate change, with 75% saying they would be affected, while more than 85% of people in Newfoundland and Labrador, Nova Scotia, and Quebec said climate change would affect future generations.
Beginning of a mass extinction
Yet the report found that seniors worry more about climate change than younger demographics, despite doomsday predictions from then-teenage activist Greta Thunberg, who at the 2019 U.N. Climate Action Summit stated, “You have stolen my dreams and my childhood with your empty words. And yet I’m one of the lucky ones. People are suffering. People are dying. Entire ecosystems are collapsing. We are in the beginning of a mass extinction, and all you can talk about is money and fairy tales of eternal economic growth. How dare you!”
“Despite assumptions that climate change has stronger psychosocial effects on youth, seniors were the most likely age group to report high levels of concern about climate change in Canada,” wrote analysts. Rates were highest among retirees in British Columbia, Ontario, Nova Scotia and Prince Edward Island.
When considering the effects of climate change, university graduates and urban residents were more likely to believe that climate change would have an effect.
“Education continued to have a strong association with the belief that climate change would affect future generations of people, with 85% of university graduates selecting this response, compared with 78% of people without a high school diploma,” the release said.
According to the report, climate change also has greater mental health impacts on women than men, with some respondents reporting symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder.
“Climate-related hazards in Canada and abroad can have a mental health impact, with some people experiencing symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder, depression or anxiety related to ecological disasters and climate change,” the report noted. “Regardless of educational attainment, women aged 25 to 34 were more likely to report at least monthly stress about climate change than boys and men.”
Levels of distrust
There is also a level of distrust among Canadians who expressed skepticism about the government’s climate agenda and the legacy media’s reporting on it.
“This response may indicate some skepticism about the existence of climate change,” wrote analysts.
Overall, 53% of Canadians reported being concerned about climate change, while another 31% reported being somewhat concerned. Conversely, 16% said they were not concerned about climate change
“The findings revealed that women and university graduates were more likely to believe climate change would affect various groups of people, as well as plants or animals, and to express high levels of concern about climate change,” the report said. “Despite assumptions that climate change has stronger psychosocial effects on youth, seniors were the most likely age group to report high levels of concern about climate change in Canada.”