Well, my computer went to hell, courtesy of AVG antivirus (a faulty update killed a system file giving me the dreaded blue screen of death, and forcing me to reinstall everything), so it is a bit since the last post. But better late than never, so here it is:
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I recently came across a whole lot of information from a major study undertaken in the European Union, which included also Turkey, Macedonia, Croatia, and the Turkish Cypriot Community in the north of Cyprus. It consisted of face to face interviews with 30170 citizens, so, a pretty broad sample evenly distributed throughout the 30+1 countries, which took place between between the end of March and the beginning of May 2008. The idea was to take the pulse of European environmental awareness and point some areas where work needed to be done.
For a while I debated with myself whether to put some of the data here or not, since it does not exactly fit into the concept of hints and ideas on how we can do our share to fight global warming and other environment problems. In the end, however, I figured I might as well, since the study does provide some important conclusions, and show clearly that there is a lot of work ahead for each one of us just to get through to our fellow citizens, let alone to stop global warming.
The main findings I take from the study can be summarised, as follows:
- Europeans remain mostly optimistic, in fact unreasonably so I think, and believe climate change is not unstoppable
- They rank global warming / climate change, as one of the most important global issues, though not the main one
- Most claim to have already done something to address climate change.
- Yet, they find that the EU, governments, industry and also citizens as a whole could do more. 76% think the industry is not doing enough to fight climate change, 67% that citizens are not doing enough (which is a surprisingly positive element coming out of the study). Governments (64% think they could do more) and the European Union (58%) rank slightly better but still pretty miserably.
- Importantly, there is a great deal of confusion regarding what can be done, leading to strange, misdirected views and a shortage or lack of proper action. For example, when asked what they have done to fight global warming, the most common action cited is 'Waste separation'. This is a worthy goal in itself, but hardly addresses the core of the problem when it comes to global warming.
Yet, there is a certain level of receptivity, as indicated by the perception no one is doing enough to deal with the problem. And this is where I decided that this did fit into the Blog.
After all, it's all very nice and good that individuals do their best to decrease emissions in their personal lives, be it by cutting down on energy use, travel, meat eating, buying of unnecessary products, which on top of everything come from the other side of the World, or simply walking to the supermarket.
But, it is even better if, next to this, each concerned citizen engages in a personal effort of awareness raising and education of our circle of acquaintances, family and friends.
Now, I am not asking that we all become environmental supernags, making everybody's life miserable every time someone fails to do the absolute environmental best.
No, what is necessary is to be a good influence, so to speak.
To start, we should lead by example, instead of being covert environmentalists afraid people will think we're odd because of actually bothering making the extra effort. We need not be saints, but we can still make sure we always try to do better and show how we are able to better. I find if we are environmentally aware we need to work at making this awareness the norm. Right now it is still a sort of exception. The more people act environmentally aware, the more difficult it will be for everyone to continue pretending we can go on with our devil-may-care and 'it's someone else's job to fix it' approach.
But then, we also need to actively inform and educate, to rock people off their comfort zone a little bit. Slowly, patiently, avoiding preaching. After all, there are plenty of activists and activist organisations around. People open to their voices will become gradually more aware with or without our help. But there is a whole bunch of other people out there who do not like to listen to activists, but whom we have to start reaching sooner or later, if we are to make a difference. This is a slow, grinding work that we all need to undertake to a higher or lesser degree.
To be honest, I have, in the past, found myself pressing people too much, and it was usually counter-productive, except when they were particularly receptive and I happened to have a good set of explanations ready to support my views. In fact that was one of the reasons for setting up this blog.
In general, it is best to explain why and how, perhaps give a little nudge of encouragement, but in the end, leave the decision in the other person's hands, even if he or she might decide not to do what we want. We cannot force people at gunpoint after all. At best we will change attitudes a bit, but even at worst, we will have planted a seed, which might still grow into something positive later.
We might not convince someone to take the bike to work today, but maybe in a few months, when the sun is shining, he or she will for the first time consider cycling to the supermarket, or to the cinema. And a little bit later, who knows, they might take the bus to work if the weather is nice enough. It will not be the best, but it will already be better than nothing, and it is a start for an increase in awareness.
Besides taking time to raise awareness around us, since Humans are by nature resistant to change, we also need to choose the best moments to introduce the new information and ideas to people. In a way, we have to be opportunistic. Sometimes it is best to retreat today, to have a better chance of getting through tomorrow.
It is slow, frustrating, and not always rewarding.
It also requires the work of gathering up bits of knowledge that might help support our views, because people will often accept a bad idea, or even an outright lie, without any evidence, especially if it allows them to not change what they are doing much. But ironically, they will tend to resist environmental messages that require changes to the way they lead their lives, even if they are minor. The only way to avoid this is by having the support of enough evidence to make the need for change inescapable. Besides, not everyone is a born salesman, to be able to sell environmental ideas easily to a reluctant public. I sure as hell am not proficient at it. And then, supporting information is always handy to have.
All of this said, every so often, someone you did not expect will switch off the lights when leaving, will take the tram or the bike instead of the car, will tell you they decided for car X instead of Y because it is cleaner. They might come talk to you to inform you they have started cutting down on the amount of meat they eat, or started to pay attention to the origin of what they buy. Or that they lowered the heating by one or two degrees, or that they are taking a longer holiday closer to home instead of two short ones further away.
And then the frustration will seem to fade away. And going to the trouble of rocking the boat in defence of the environment will seem a worthwhile pursuit after all.
Short summary of results
As usual, I digressed a little, well, a lot. But no more. I'll just show the results that most caught my attention without making too many comments.
Just a list regarding the country codes, for anyone who might not recognise a few.
| AT- Austria BE - Belgium BG - Bulgaria CY - Cyprus CZ - Czech Republic DE - Germany DK - Denmark EE -Estonia | ES - Spain FI - Finland FR - France IE - Ireland IT - Italy GR - Greece HR - Croatia HU - Hungary LT - Lithuania | LU - Luxembourg LV - Latvia MK - Macedonia MT - Malta NL - Netherlands RO - Romania PL - Poland PT - Portugal SE - Sweden | SL - Slovenia SK - Slovakia TR - Turkey UK - United Kingdom CYTCC - Turkish Cypriot Comm.
EU - All Europe |
Public perceptions
One positive result of the survey is that Global warming ranks second after “poverty, lack of food, and drinking water” as the most serious problem facing the world as a whole. It shows up as more important than international terrorism, armed conflicts, economic downturns, infectious disease, proliferation of nuclear weapons and increasing world population. This ranking in the list of dangers is common to pretty much all countries in Europe, except one or two differences, like the British ranking international terrorism higher than global warming...
Nonetheless, while considering it one of the most important issues, only 62% of Europeans find climate change a serious problem. Top of the rank are Cyprus (92%) and Greece (90%) and bottom are Italy and Portugal (47%) and the Czechs (45%), so no clear geographical layout here. The others rank as follows: SL 80%; SE 74%; FI 73%; DK, DE, FR, HU 71%; LU, AT 69%; NL, LV, SK 66%; MT 64%; IE 63%; BE, ES 61%; RO 60%; EE 58%; UK 57%; BG 52%; PL 50% and TR 60%; MK 59%; HR 54%.
If asked to rank from 1-10 the seriousness of the problem, all countries show 59% or more of the people ranking global warming as 7 or more. This relatively low percentage, for me at least, brings me back to the point of the need for the rest of us to raise awareness, still and ever.
The rankings of perceptions go: CY 96%; GR 95%; SL 89%; MT 88%; HU 86%; FR 84%; SK ES 83%; FI LU 78%; SE, AT 77%; CZ 76%; PT LV 75%; EU 75%; IT DE, BE 74%; RO PL DK 73%; LT BG 71%; IE 70%; 63% EE; NL 62%; UK 59% and CYTCC 72%; TR 78% MK 75% HR 70%
It is true, that another 23% rank global warming as a fairly serious problem (5-6) but this serves more to emphasize the point that Europeans are concerned but mostly optimistic about global warming. In my view, unrealistically optimistic. This is clear for instance in the Netherlands, where people are among the least concerned despite their country being mostly below sea level as it is. The fact that they have found technical solutions for that predicament, probably makes most of the Dutch think that such a technical solution will exist for global warming too, or at least to deal with its consequences. This is, of course, mostly navel gazing, since it ignores that not all countries can afford it and that most scientists believe that technology will not be able to solve global warming without a change of attitudes and economic models to go with it.
The point of the need for awareness raising and education is further stressed by a number of findings. For example:
- people with less information were shown to be less concerned, with only 53% of the respondents, which compares to 69% for people who find themselves well informed.
- 45 % of Europeans find they are poorly or not at all informed about ways to fight climate change. And 41% about the causes and the consequences. Scandinavians and Dutch feel the best informed and Bulgarians, Romanians, Portuguese, Lithuanians, Czechs and Turks the least.
Despite this, 61% say they have already done something to help fight climate change, with the percentage being highest for groups with higher levels of education and information and with a perception of climate change as being a very serious problem.
Swedes rate highest (87%) and Bulgarians lowest (17%)
Actions undertaken by individuals - The problem of lack of information
It seems most people do not really know what they can do to fight global warming and tend to mix the problem with a broader perception of environmental protection.
Clearest example is that when asked 'What actions have you taken to fight climate change?', waste separation ranks as the most mentioned action with 76% of respondents mentioning it. Ultimately, through a roundabout way, one might indeed say that waste separation does help, but fighting global warming is hardly its primary objective or effect.
Reduction of domestic energy consumption comes only second (64%) and is followed by saving water (55%), another worthy goal, but hardly aimed at global warming. Reduction of consumption of disposable items comes out at 40%.
Only then do we get to the other really important actions:
- 28% for choosing environmentally friendly transportation,
- buying seasonal and local products (27%),
- reducing car use(25%),
- purchasing a cleaner car (18%),
- avoiding short haul flights (12%),
- switching to energy supplier with more renewable energy (8%),
- or installing domestic equipment to generate renewable energy (5%)
Clearly, awareness raising, information, and education are a must if we're ever to change attitudes towards more sustainable modes.
As curiosity, here are the top and bottom countries for the different categories:
Waste separation:
FR and LU 90%; DE and UK 87% --- BG 41%; RO 37%; CY 31%
Energy consumption:
CY 84%; DK and LU 80% ----IT 48%; LV 44%; LT 40%
Water consumption:
CY 92%; SK 73%; DE 72% -- IE 42%; IT 42%; SE 37%; UK 37%
Reducing disposable items:
LU 63%; IE 61%; BE and AT 57% ---- PT 20%; ES 18%; CY 12%
Environmentally friendly transport:
LV and NL 49%; DK 42%; SE 41% ---- CY 14%; MT 12%; PT 11%
Seasonal products:
AT 43%; SE 42%; DE 40% ---- LT 13%; Pt 11% ; ES 7%
Reducing car use:
SE 41%; NL 37%; DE 34%; BE 33% --- LV 10%; LT 9%; RO 7%
(Of course, this says nothing about the amount of Kms travelled in the end)
Buy greener car :
DE 30%; LU 29%; FI and SE 27% --- EL 6%; ES 6%; PT 4%
Less short haul flights:
SE 33%; LU 27%; DE 25%; AT 23% --- EL, CY and PT 3%; MT 1%
Change electrical supplier :
NL 30%; SE 18%; BE 14%; UK 13% --- BG, LT, SI and SK 2%; CY and LV 1%
installing renewable generation:
SE 19%; CY 18%; DK 11%; AT and FI 9% --- BG, CZ, LT, RO and SK 1%; ES 0%
Reasons for action and inaction
The reasons pointed out for action are:
- one should act because if everyone acts there will be an effect (63%)
- it is a duty as a citizen to protect the environment (61%).
- concern for future generations (52%)
- 25% say it might save money
- 8% would act because they have already been directly exposed to the consequences of climate change
On the other hand, the reasons not to act are:
- that governments and companies are the ones that need to change but not citizens (42%),
- they would like to act but do not know what to do (34%)
- the convenient pessimist - changing behaviour will not have an impact on the fight against climate change (26%)
- it would be too expensive (15%)
- are not concerned 9%
Adding to this, the survey found that Europeans are to a great extent unwilling to pay more for energy for it to come from cleaner sources.
30%, no less, are not willing to pay one cent more for energy. 18% only are willing to pay for an increase of up to 5% in price, another 14% are willing to pay up to 10% more and another 10% are willing to go up to 30%. Only 2% are willing to pay more than 30% to get cleaner energy.
The strongest willingness to pay appears in Denmark, Greece, Slovenia and the Netherlands. Germans and Brits are the least inclined to pay more, with close to 50% unwilling to pay any increase at all.
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