The latest Harris Poll on green behavior in America is a good news/bad news story.

The good news: Most people have done something that’s green, by recycling a computer or cell phone; switching to tap water from bottled; made their home more energy efficient in some way.

The bad news: Only a tiny fraction of US residents (2 percent) own hybrid cars and vast numbers of people have not  “engaged” in most of the green activities the survey asked about, like for example composting (only 17 percent do), walking or biking to work (15 percent), or even getting a low flow shower head (17 percent).

And now for the good news: We’ve got incredible potential for energy and water savings, because we’re doing so little!

Here were the most popular green changes that emerged when 3,110 adults were asked what environmental activities they have done in the last year:

• Installed more energy-efficient light bulbs (63%)
• Purchased energy-efficient appliances (36%)
• Started paying bills online (46%)
• Switched to paperless financial statements (40%)
• Donated an electronic device for recycling (41%)
• Switched from bottled to tap water (29%)
• Installed a low-flow showerhead (17%) or a low-flow toilet (16%)
• Made home improvements (e.g., windows, solar panels or insulation) that provided government tax credits (14%)
• Bought a more fuel efficient car (13%)

In other encouraging findings, people reported that they:

• Always or often turn lights off when leaving a room (83%)
• Recycle (68%)
• Reuse things they have instead of replacing them (65%)
• Make an effort to use less water (60%).

But Harris Polls also found that many people are doing little or nothing to protect the environment and reduce their carbon footprint.  Only small minorities of adults reported that they always or often:

• Walk or ride a bicycle instead of driving or using public transport (15%)
• Carpool or use public transport (16%)
• Make compost (17%)
• Purchase organic products (17%)
• Purchase all natural products (18%)
• Purchase used as opposed to new products (25%)
• Purchase locally manufactured products (26%)

In other findings, which could be viewed as positive or negative, depending on the standards, the poll found that less than half, but at least one-third of Americans queried:

• Buy food in bulk (33%)
• Purchase locally grown produce (39%)
• Unplug electrical appliances when they are not using them (40%).

The poll further found that most of these green actions were taken by people who identified themselves as somewhat green or most green. In other words, when those polled were broken into  groups of “least green,” “not very green,” “somewhat green” and “most green” (based on their statements about protecting the environment) – a pattern emerged that showed the green groups were the ones installing energy efficient appliances, switching to tap water and buying organic products at much higher rates.

This seems like a tautology, but actually reveals philosophical split among Americans on green issues and suggests that there are those who do and those who don’t — as opposed to say, a vast middle where a mix of people take various green actions.

The skew between the two groups was fairly large. For example, 44 percent of those in the “most green” group “always or often” buy organic products, but only a minuscule 3 percent of the “least green” do.

Similarly, 65 percent of the “most green” adults “always or often” buy local produce, whereas only 20 percent of the least green do.

And only 15 percent of the least green segment have switched away from plastic bottled water.

Furthermore, the poll takers caution that some of the numbers may overestimate green behaviors because “there is a tendency for people to give ‘socially desirable’ answers…”

The Harris Poll was conducted online within the US between July 7 and September 8, 2009, using responses from adults (18 and up) with weighting for age, sex, race/ethnicity, education, region and household income, when  necessary, to bring the sample into line with actual proportions in the population. See charts on the responses at the Harris website.

Copyright © 2009 Green Right Now | Distributed by Noofangle Media

By Barbara Kessler

Ever wonder what your neighbors are doing on the green front – what with one fellow dragging four nicely sorted recycling bins to the curb every other week, and another seemingly sitting out the green movement?

So did the Nature Conservancy and the people running the Harris Poll. They collaborated on a poll that found about half of Americans (53 percent) are making green changes, but a significant number (34 percent) said they’ve not made any changes because they are confused about what to do. Another large group (29 percent) said they are not making changes because it won’t make any difference.

Education seemed to play a role in who was confused, fatalistic or moving toward more sustainable practices. Just under half of high school educated respondents (46 percent) said they had made green changes as compared with college educated adults (65 percent).

Of the total 53 percent who had made changes, the poll elicited these responses:

• 91 percent of respondents said they are recycling

• 73 percent are paying bills online

• 49 percent are trying to buy locally-produced food and/or goods

• 47 percent are buying green household products

• 39 percent are bringing their own reusable bags to stores instead of using paper or plastic ; and 30 percent are discontinuing the purchase of plastic water bottles

• 31 percent are buying more used products

• 16 percent are carpooling

• 10 percent “have considered” or “have become” a vegetarian

• 5 percent are driving less by combining errands, walking more, etc.

• 4 percent have reduced their utility use

• 3 percent have purchased hybrid cars

• 3 percent have changed out incandescent light bulbs for compact fluorescent ones.

• 2 percent said they are conserving water

While the numbers for recycling and paying bills online are robust, the smaller percentages for “reducing utility use” and changing out light bulbs are relatively small. Leaving us to wonder: What is going on? People are using paperless billing, but not bothering to adjust the thermostat and upgrade light bulbs – changes that can quickly save them serious hard cash?

The Harris Interactive online poll of 2,605 adults gives us some clues with its findings showing so many adults (34 percent) “did not know what to do.” Another 19 percent cited expense as a reason for not making changes – certainly understandable when it comes to buying a hybrid, but perhaps those CFLs, which cost more upfront but last longer than incandescents, also are not being adopted for this reason.
According to the Nature Conservancy, which advised Harris on the poll, green noise is partly to blame.

The poll shows “green living is certainly at the forefront of our minds,” says Stephanie Meeks, acting president and CEO of The Nature Conservancy. “Yet people are getting lost in the maze of information on how to lessen our environmental impact.”

People may be confused about more than that. The high percentage of self-reported recyclers in the Harris Poll is out of sync with other information that indicates Americans are not aggressively recycling. Industrial recycling companies, for example, report a chronic shortage of used PET plastic, the top recyclable plastic which has multiple post-market uses.

According to the Container Recycling Institute, the amount of PET plastic (used in soda bottles and milk jugs) being recycled has been mostly stagnant for years, and accounts for between 20 and 25 percent of all the PET plastic being manufactured and sold in the United States (though the latest figures are three years old).

Somewhere along the line, a high proportion of bottles are not making it into the recycling stream. Perhaps Americans are leisurely hit-and-miss recyclers, failing to make a holistic sweep through the house for #1 and #2 plastics? Or maybe businesses and schools are not diligent on this front?

These are questions the Harris Poll did not ask.

But the poll did contain hope for those wanting to see America become more enlightened in green matters.

While only 30 percent of respondents over age 63 said they were familiar with the term “environmental sustainability,” nearly half (46 percent) of those ages 18-43 had heard the phrase.

Copyright © 2008 | Distributed by Noofangle Media