A recent survey shows that though most Wisconsinites do not believe climate change will ever be extremely problematic, most still believe it is an important issue.
According to the Badger Poll conducted by the University of Wisconsin Survey Center, only 18 percent of Wisconsinites said they believed climate change would be extremely problematic, while a third said it would be slightly or not at all problematic.
However, Chad Kniss, project director of UW-Survey Center, said the more accurate interpretation of the survey is that two-thirds of Wisconsinites believe climate change will be moderately to extremely problematic.
UW-Madison assistant professor of geography John Williams said he believes climate change will be moderately problematic for the state and called the survey findings impressive. He said they indicate a lot of awareness among Wisconsinites of the issues of climate change.
According to Williams, a trend toward warmer winter temperatures could jeopardize industries that utilize the snow and normal Wisconsin winter conditions.
Williams said rainfall patterns and drought frequency would become more extreme and even a slight change in global temperature could cause species in Wisconsin's northern forests to decrease and species from southern areas to move in.
The challenge now is for scientists to take the issues of climate change down to a regional scale for political leaders and citizenry to plan and prepare for the impacts of climate change,"" Williams said.
John Imes, executive director of Wisconsin Environmental Initiative, said people are more concerned with economic issues than climate change.
""Folks are more concerned about the price of gas, food, the job climate and the economy in general,"" he said.
Imes said all of Wisconsin, especially businesses, have the opportunity to be a part of the solution to global warming by improving general efficiency.
He also said businesses could benefit by improving efficiency because there is an increased demand for this by consumers.
""Because we're incredibly inefficient in our commerce in terms of how we produce goods and services, there's an opportunity for businesses to do well financially by doing good environmentally,"" Imes said.
