密歇根新闻广播 多数美国人都希望各州能带头对抗气候变化

A majority of Americans believe states should take the lead to address climate change if the federal government fails to act.

That’s one of the findings of the latest in a series of National Surveys on Energy and Environment.

Sarah Mills is with the Center for Local, State and Urban Policy at the Gerald R. Ford¹ School of Public Policy at the University of Michigan.

She and her team conducted this survey before President Trump² announced the U.S. would withdraw from the Paris climate agreement. Mills notes that Trump demonstrated early on in his presidency³ that the federal government was going to step back on environmental policy.

“The [survey] question was, ‘if the federal government fails to act, do you believe it’s your state’s responsibility to take the lead?’” says Mills. “And we found 66% said that they should be taking the lead. And that holds up - there’s majorities of Democrats⁴ and Republicans who believe that it’s their state’s responsibility to step in and act on climate change.”

Mills says that for the most part, people were supportive of steps that had previously⁵ been taken by states, such as renewable energy mandates⁶ that require a certain percentage of energy from solar or wind.

“We also see that a number of other policies that some states are considering, a carbon tax or a cap and trade where people buy or auction⁷ permits to emit carbon, are less popular. People just don’t know about them,” she says.

And sometimes, support of an issue is simply a matter of phrasing. When asked about energy mandates, Mills says some people were less supportive than when they were simply asked if more wind and solar should be used in the U.S.

Views on climate change

For a number of years now, the survey team has been asking questions about climate change.

In this survey, they found 70% of Americans believe that there is solid evidence of climate change. Mills says that’s the same as the group’s 2016 findings, and matches the high from 2008.

She says they found even climate change deniers largely support renewable energy.

“So obviously, it’s not for environmental reasons,” says Mills. “One of the questions that we asked on this survey is whether they think that these renewable technologies create jobs, and we see that even if you don’t believe in climate change, a wide majority say that they do think that wind and solar energy do create jobs.”

1 Ford   

n.浅滩，水浅可涉处；v.涉水，涉过

参考例句：

• They were guarding the bridge,so we forded the river.他们驻守在那座桥上，所以我们只能涉水过河。
• If you decide to ford a stream,be extremely careful.如果已决定要涉过小溪，必须极度小心。

2 trump   

n.王牌，法宝；v.打出王牌，吹喇叭

参考例句：

• He was never able to trump up the courage to have a showdown.他始终鼓不起勇气摊牌。
• The coach saved his star player for a trump card.教练保留他的明星选手，作为他的王牌。

3 presidency   

n.总统(校长，总经理)的职位(任期)

参考例句：

• Roosevelt was elected four times to the presidency of the United States.罗斯福连续当选四届美国总统。
• Two candidates are emerging as contestants for the presidency.两位候选人最终成为总统职位竞争者。

4 democrats   

n.民主主义者，民主人士( democrat的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The Democrats held a pep rally on Capitol Hill yesterday. 民主党昨天在国会山召开了竞选誓师大会。
• The democrats organize a filibuster in the senate. 民主党党员组织了阻挠议事。 来自《简明英汉词典》

5 previously   

adv.以前，先前（地）

参考例句：

• The bicycle tyre blew out at a previously damaged point.自行车胎在以前损坏过的地方又爆开了。
• Let me digress for a moment and explain what had happened previously.让我岔开一会儿，解释原先发生了什么。

6 mandates   

托管（mandate的第三人称单数形式）

参考例句：

• Individual mandates would require all people to purchase health insurance. 个人托管要求所有人都要购买健康保险。
• While I agree with those benefits, I'm not a supporter of mandates. 我同意上述好处，我不是授权软件的支持者。

7 auction   

n.拍卖；拍卖会；vt.拍卖

参考例句：

• They've put the contents of their house up for auction.他们把房子里的东西全都拿去拍卖了。
• They bought a new minibus with the proceeds from the auction.他们用拍卖得来的钱买了一辆新面包车。