Daily Mail – December 6, 2009
Almost half of people in Britain believe there is no proof that global warming is caused by humans, according to a new poll.
The survey revealed that 46per cent of those quizzed did not believe mankind was largely responsible for the global temperature rise.
Some 39per cent of those questioned said climate change was not proven to be man-made - and a further 7per cent of pollsters believed that climate change was not taking place at all.
And despite a contrasting message from many governments, less than one in four voters believe climate change is 'the most serious problem faced by man'.
The poll comes just before a meeting of world leaders next week in Copenhagen with the aim of securing a new deal to tackle rising temperatures.
On the other side were 23per cent of respondents, who said climate change was the most serious problem man faced, and 58per cent who described climbing global temperatures as one of a number of serious problems.
Less than a fifth (17per cent) of those asked in the poll, by ICM for the Sunday Telegraph, said global warming was not a very serious problem.
Despite the contrasting views, an estimated 50,000 people worried about climate change marched on Westminster yesterday to demand that the British Government 'make Copenhagen count'.
Gordon Brown invited protest representatives to a hastily arranged meeting at Downing Street after Parliament was encircled by protesters calling for the Prime Minister to make their voices heard at the summit.
Climate Change Secretary Ed Miliband also met protesters and told them: 'I will do my damnedest to get the best possible agreement we can.'
After the meeting at Downing Street, Mr Brown said he knew how serious the situation was and described those who doubted scientific evidence as a 'flat earth group'.
Mr Brown said he would try to persuade other world leaders of the need to back up environmental plans with the right finances.
Mr Miliband told a meeting at Westminster Central Hall after the march: 'My job is to get the most ambitious deal possible.
'I think we are reaching a stage where there are offers on the table but they are not enough.
'We need to use the next two weeks to push people up their ranges as far as they can go.'
Ocean Whitehawk, from the Women's Institute Girls in Colchester, told Mr Miliband the 205,000 WI members nationwide wanted to see a 'robust deal which reflects the challenges we face' and urged him to show leadership to the rest of the world.
The Women's Institute was just one of the groups represented at today's march which included aid agencies, wildlife charities, religious groups and trade unions.
Participants were urged to wear blue for the protest dubbed The Wave by organisers.
Among the crowd were Pip and Beryl Cartwright from Witney, Oxfordshire, who said they had not been prompted to protest since the miners' strike but wanted to make 'a positive statement'.
Mr Cartwright, 73, said: 'It's for the future. It's not my generation that's going to have the problem to solve.
'What annoys me in London and other big cities is all these offices leave their lights on all night when I try to turn mine off.
I was brought up in the war so things like turning lights off is second nature to me.'
Juliana Smith, 49, from Surbiton, Surrey, said: 'We are a normal family and this is our chance to say something,' she said.
'We feel powerless most of the time.'
Her husband Phil, 53, added: 'It's the biggest challenge humanity's ever been faced with.'
www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1233621/A-climate-doubt-Almost-half-Britain-believes-global-warming-caused-man.html
Last updated 08/12/2009
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