According to the results of a survey by the Századvég Foundation, most Hungarians view climate change as a serious problem, but only half consider it to be a risk to their immediate futures.
In a discussion on Hungarian State Media channel M1, Századvég analyst Áron Hidvégi discussed the results of the survey. In their responses, roughly half of those surveyed felt that climate change would be an issue fifty years from now, while the other half felt that it is an issue whose effects can already be felt.
Annual changes in average temperature by region, 1990-2009 (Hungarian National Meteorological Service).
According to Hidvégi, this sense of climate change as a problem of the somewhat-distant future is due to the fact that it is an issue that generally doesn’t impact the average person’s “everyday routine,” and as a result they tend not to worry about it all that much.
The overwhelming majority of respondents- 90% – said that climate change is a problem for all of society; survey respondents living in the countryside said that they could already feel its effects.
In total, 75 percent of those who responded to the survey felt that climate change was irreversible, while one-fifth felt that it could be stopped and reversed.
When asked who it is that should bear responsibility for fighting climate change, 43 percent felt that the state should handle the issue, 27 percent responded that it should fall to businesses, and 18 percent said that such a push should be led by individual households.
Via MTI and Hungary Matters
Images via Time Magazine and the Hungarian National Meteorological Service