Map: Countries most (and least) interested in climate change

Tuesday, June 16, 2015, 6:51 PM - Mashable has used search data from Google Trends to see which countries are the most (and the least) interested in climate change.

The data represents climate change-related search terms over the past year.

Canada ranked 82 out of 210 countries on the subject of climate change, not that far ahead of the U.S., which took the 98th place.

Canada's interest in the environment doesn't appear to be that high either, ranking 96 out of 210 countries.

According to the statistics the country is far more concerned with health matters, ranking 35 out of 210 in that category.

Tuvalu, Samoa, Vanuatu and Fiji are among the countries most concerned with climate change, according to the Google Trends map.

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All four are located in the South Pacific and vulnerable to rising sea levels and are often plagued by drought.

"The top search terms for these countries include 'sea level,' 'adapting climate change' and 'water scarcity,'" Mashable writes.

Russia and Iraq were among two of the countries the least interested in climate change, based on Google search results.

WHAT IS CLIMATE CHANGE?

When scientists refer to 'climate change', they're talking about a change in climatic norms.

In other words, warm climates could get even warmer and drier, or they could get colder and wetter.

While this occurs naturally, scientists say humans play a role as well.

Burning fossil fuels contributes to the production of greenhouse gases, which get trapped in the atmosphere and can lead to temperature fluctuations.

Here's an explanation from The Weather Network's Chris St. Clair: 

Source: Mashable