89% of European citizens say climate change is a serious problem

Climate change doubters are vanishing quickly in Europe.

According to a survey released last Friday, the majority of people in the European Union now see climate change as a "very serious problem." In fact, EU residents see climate change as the second most serious problem facing the world, after poverty, hunger and lack of drinking water (which were all lumped together as a single issue).

The results of the recent European Commission-backed TNS Opinion & Social poll show that, of the nearly 27,000 interviewees, 68 percent consider climate change a "very serious problem," up from 64 percent back in 2009, while 89 percent consider the problem either "very serious" or "fairly serious."

The European Union's climate change commissioner, Connie Hedegaard, called the survey's results "encouraging" and, in what some may see as a direct reference to the U.S., stated:

Considering that in some countries there is still this debate whether climate change is happening at all, it is really reassuring to see that the European public understands the gravity of the climate challenge.

With this sort of agreement on the scope of the problem, will people be able to agree on which actions should be taken to alleviate the issue?