Back in 2009, America seemed to be obsessed with "going
green."
Products touting their friendly effect on the environment began
springing up on shelves in stores all over the country, television
shows devoted entire episodes to storylines about treating the
Earth better and we all started thinking about our personal carbon
footprints.
Could it all have been just a fad?
The results from a recent poll by Harris
Interactive point to the possibility of yes.
The results of The Harris Poll, which included 2,352 U.S. adults,
age 18 and over surveyed online between November 8 and November 15,
2010 show a decrease in effort to “go green” since
2009.
The turnaround
Some notable findings included:
- Making an effort to use less water (60 percent 2009 vs. 57 percent 2010);
- Purchasing locally grown produce (39 percent 2009 vs. 33 percent 2010);
- Purchasing locally manufactured products (26 percent 2009 vs. 23 percent 2010);
- Purchasing organic products (17 percent 2009 vs. 15 percent 2010); and,
- Composting food and organic waste (17 percent 2009 vs. 15 percent 2010).
And, U.S. adults are also less likely to have adopted certain environmental activities in the past year, including:
- Purchased Energy Star appliances (36 percent 2009 vs. 30 percent 2010);
- Donated or recycled electronics (41 percent 2009 vs. 32 percent 2010);
- Switched from bottled to tap water (29 percent 2009 vs. 23 percent 2010);
- Installed a low-flow showerhead or toilet (25 percent 2009 vs. 20 percent 2010); and,
- Purchased a hybrid or more fuel-efficient car (13 percent 2009 vs. 8 percent 2010).
Loss of influence
Not only are fewer consumers behaving in
environmentally-friendly ways, but many are now also less likely to
embrace, or be influenced by, "green" attitudes.
Just over one in three U.S. adults (36 percent) say they are
concerned about the planet they are leaving behind for future
generations, compared to more than two in five adults (43 percent)
who said so in 2009.
And, only 28 percent of adults say environmental issues are very or
extremely important to them when deciding how to vote for political
candidates, compared to more than 1 in 3 adults (36 percent) who
said this was important to them in 2009.
The perception
In a weird twist, the survey participants were more likely to
think of themselves as environmentally-friendly in 2010 than in
2009, despite the drop in environmentally-friendly behavior.
They were more likely to describe themselves as a conservationist
(20 percent 2010 vs. 17 percent 2009), "green" (18 percent 2010 vs.
13 percent 2009) and an environmentalist (16 percent 2010 vs. 13
percent 2009) than they were previously.
Harris Interactive said it’s difficult to draw conclusions
from these paradoxical results.
On the one hand, only minorities of U.S. adults -- even fewer now
than in 2009 -- think or act green. On the other hand,
though, still only a minority, more adults than before now label
themselves in environmental terms.
Only time will tell if we are just paying lip service to trendy
buzz words like "green" and "environmentalist," or if these are
signs of a gradually expanding small but vocal "green
movement."
A few positives
The results from the poll weren’t all negative.
Percentages for “green” activities such as carpooling
or taking public transportation to work (16 percent), walking or
riding a bike instead of using a car or public transportation (15
percent), and recycling (68 percent) remained unchanged from 2009
to 2010.
And couple of the percentages went up: 41 percent of Americans
surveyed said they switched to paperless statements for personal
financial accounts in 2010 as opposed to the 40 percent in
2009.
Harris Interactive says one point to consider regarding these
findings is the economy. It's possible that, in economic hard
times, environmental enthusiasm wanes as people face tougher
financial problems.
