Emily Auger, Rowena Gan, Christine Zhang
Ocean acidification is the absorption of atmospheric carbon dioxide caused by the burning of fossil fuels, which is resulting in the lowering pH of the world’s oceans. We are interested in the public opinion on climate change and ocean acidification issues on a global scale and the correlation between the awareness of ocean acidification and perceptions of global warming. To answer these questions, we designed a comprehensive survey testing knowledge and awareness of climate change and distributed our survey on Mturk to collect responses from participants worldwide. A statistical analysis of this data provides useful information on the relationship between perceptions of global warming and ocean acidification. Considering demographics may help us to understand the dynamics that form public perception of ocean acidification. This survey offers us useful information which we can use to inform more people of ocean acidification, one of the more urgent environmental issues of the 21st century.