How do Brits like to be green, and what green behaviors do they still avoid?
That’s what a new survey by the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC), the Institute for Social and Economic Research (ISER), and the National Centre for Social Research (NatCen) is showing us by examining the environmental actions and preferences of 100,000 British people from 40,000 households.
The findings presented below are the first from a new annual household survey in Britain named Understanding Society. The environmental topics are one subset of the whole survey, which also examines the “working lives, relationships, health, finances, neighbourhoods, education, transport and more” of Brits.
What are the main findings thus far?
Initial findings indicate a strong preference for environmental actions costing the least money and requiring the least effort, not necessarily the most important for protecting the environment, “despite the fact that 59 per cent of people think that if things continue on their current course we will soon experience a major environmental disaster.”
Some main findings show that 70% of households separate their trash in order to recycle some of it, but only 2% buy energy on a green tariff.
[social_buttons]
Presenting some of the other initial findings, ESRC states:
“Preliminary results from 1500 respondents show that those who own their own home are more likely to separate their rubbish (83 per cent) than those in rented accommodation (59 per cent), whilst less than one in a hundred households have solar water heating (0.5 per cent) or solar energy panels (0.5 per cent). Initial findings also show that switching off the lights in unused rooms (82 per cent) and not leaving the television on standby (67 per cent) are significantly more popular than taking fewer flights (16 per cent), car sharing (15 per cent) and not buying items because they have too much packaging (8 per cent).”
Currently, Brits’ favorite green behaviors (or behaviours) are:
* Switching off lights in unused room – 82%
* Not leaving TV on standby – 67%
* Take own bag when shopping – 55%
* Don’t keep tap on when brushing teeth – 55%
* Putting more clothes on when cold – 45%
* Walk or cycle on short journeys – 40%
* Use public transport rather than car – 29%
* Buying recycled paper products – 28%
* Taking fewer flights where possible – 16%
* Car sharing – 15%
* Not buying items due to too much packaging – 8%
These are the first findings from this initial study, but more will be published at a later date as well. A key advantage of this study, overall, is the longitudinal nature of it — we will be able to see changes in Brits’ beliefs and behaviors over the course of time.
As Professor Nick Buck of the Institute for Social and Economic Research (ISER) says: “One of the unique features of Understanding Society is that we speak to the same people each year, which means we can see how people’s behaviours and attitudes change over time. The information we collect about how ‘green’ people are will play a key role in informing the ongoing debate about environmental issues.”
The Chasm Between Awareness and Action
I think the link here that is missing between awareness of the environmental situation we are in and action to change it is more than a British issue, but rather one on all continents and all countries now. How do we move from only a simple thought that if we do not change, the world will force major and perhaps truly catastrophic change on us to ‘I will change, because it’s high time and I can do it’?
This is the big question of our time…
It seems that people are beginning to move in this direction, but maybe it’s time for the next big steps (rather than all of the little ones) — more people using clean, renewable energy; more people biking or using mass transit; more people switching over to vegetarianism. These are big steps for many people. But as people seem to be aware, we are facing big environmental challenges that require such behavior changes.
It will be interesting to see how attitudes and behaviors change in Britain (and all over the world) in the coming years.
It will be something I think all generations will look back on. Hopefully, with admiration.
Related Stories:
1) Taking Personal Responsibility for Climate Change
2) How to Become Vegetarian: 5 Key Steps (& Famous Vegetarian Celebrities)
3) Environmentalists Should Give Up Meat: Cows Worse than Cars for Global Warming
4) Environmental Defense Fund: Reinventing Transit – 11 Innovative Solutions in Communities Across America
5) Baby Power! U.K. Companies Convert Diapers to Energy
Image Credit 1: Anirudh Koul via flickr under a Creative Commons license
Image Credit 2: ~izz~ via flickr under a Creative Commons license
Image Credit 3: Anguskirk via flickr under a Creative Commons license