‘Green’ is new socially acceptable norm.
Being ‘green’ is seen as the socially acceptable norm, rather than an ‘alternative’ way of life, according to the Department of the Environment's latest survey of Attitudes and Behaviours in relation to the environment.
However, few are willing to make major changes to the way they live. Findings include
• One in five of those interviewed claimed to know a lot or a fair amount about carbon off-setting. However, the latter seemed to hold rather negative views about it, with nearly six in ten agreeing that ‘carbon off-setting encourages people to carry on doing things that harm the environment’. A small minority of people, just over one per cent, had used a carbon off-setting scheme, most often to off-set flights or other forms of travel. Around one in ten claimed that they definitely or probably would do so in the future.
• Young people, readers of tabloid newspapers and those in lower social grades were most likely to say that the environment was a low priority for them, and to offer a range of reasons for not changing their lifestyle.
• Seven in ten people are already recycling more, six in ten wasting less food and cutting down on electricity and gas and over half are cutting down on water usage. Just over a third said they were buying food produced locally.
• Less than three in ten said that they were using a more fuel efficient car, using a car less or taking fewer flights. The last two types of behaviour change were those to which people were most resistant – over a quarter said they didn’t really want to make these changes.
• Twice as many people (53 per cent compared to 25 per cent) are against rather than in favour of paying higher taxes for the environmental impact of car travel causes. Six out of ten admitted that when they get ready to go out they didn’t usually consider alternative forms of travel, they just got in the car. Moreover, 54 per cent endorsed the statement, ‘I would like to reduce my car use but there are no practical alternatives’. Only a minority (17 per cent) felt guilty about taking short haul flights – 55 per cent disagreed with this, with half of these people disagreeing strongly.