Just over half of people in Wyoming believe the climate is changing, according to a new study from the Yale Project on Climate Change Communication.
The study examines climate change beliefs on a county and state level, including whether global warming is caused by humans, whether it will harm future generations and whether there should be policies in place to curb carbon emissions.
While 55 percent of Wyomingites believe the climate is changing, according to the study, just 42 percent believe it's human-caused. MattoMildenburger, a PhD student at Yale and a co-author of the report, says the results also show belief in climate change and support for solutions are not necessarily linked.
“Even in Wyoming, if you look at policy supports—funding research into renewable energy sources, regulating carbon pollution—there are strong majorities of Wyoming residents who support those policies, even as there’s more confusion about climate science,” he said.
According to the researchers' model, 74 percent of people in Wyoming support funding renewables research and 64 percent support regulating carbon as a pollutant.
The study also finds that Casper has among the lowest percentage of adults who believe in climate change of metropolitan areas in the country.
You can see maps illustrating the study results and a description of the methodology here.