June 19th, 2009
Survey: Don't just measure, do something!
You know all those carbon footprint calculator tools that you can find all over the Web? Well, it seems not that many people are actually using them.
A recent poll finds that just 7.1 percent of Americans (in this survey group at least) have attempted to figure out there personal or professional or household footprint.
The survey, conducted by Sacred Heart University, reflects the responses of roughly 800 Americans who were contacted via telephone between May 27, 2009, and June 9, 2009.
It’s not that they don’t think the information is useful: 88.1 percent of the group thought calculators could be somewhat or very helpful in gauging their impact on the environment. They just haven’t gotten around to measuring, they’re more interested in taking action. Plus some of the messages around carbon footprint are confusing, according to the respondents.
Overall, 94 percent said they were willing to change their lifestyles to reduce their impact on climate change. Only 5.6 percent said their quality of life declined because of reduced energy consumption. Approximately two-thirds said they were willing to pay higher prices for “green” energy sources or things like electric cars. Personally, I have trouble with data like that last statistic, when I look at consumer spending over the past two months. Call me cynical, but I’m not so sure that people are willing to pay more to go green.
But overall, the survey is another indicator that our country’s citizens are taking the notion of climate change more seriously. Slightly more than 80 percent said they were convinced that global warming was happening.
Heather Clancy is an award-winning business journalist in the New York area with more than 20 years experience covering the high-tech industry. See her full profile and disclosure of her industry affiliations. See her full profile and disclosure of her industry affiliations.
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