People love to get up on their soapboxes and pontificate about their beliefs. The problem is, while many people like to talk about their beliefs, not as many actually like to act on them.
When it comes to things people like to go on about most, the environment at the top of the ‘Do as I say not as I do’ list. As a new Trulia survey shows, 79 percent of Americans agree that they consider themselves an environmentally conscious person. Of that 79 percent, however, only 26 percent of Americans say they actually considered the environment in their daily actions beyond recycling and turning off the lights. As it turns out, ‘talking’ and ‘doing’ are not the same thing.
The survey, which was conducted online and incorporated the responses of over 2,000 people, found that baby boomers were significantly more likely to actually act environmentally responsible than younger generations. Individuals over the age of 55 were more likely to buy energy efficient appliances, make energy efficient upgrades to their homes, and live in a smaller home than those their junior.
Meanwhile, millennials are displaying youthful exuberance and passion. They represent the highest proportion that both strongly agreed and strongly disagreed that they are environmentally conscious.
Education level also seemed to correlate with how environmentally conscious a person considered his or herself to be. 75 percent of people with a high school education or less, 79 percent of those with some college education, and 84 percent of those with a college degree or higher considered themselves to be an environmentally conscious person.
Buying energy efficient appliances, making energy efficient upgrades to a home, and biking, walking, or taking public transportation to frequented destinations were the top three ways respondents said someone could act environmentally responsible.
In general, those who answered that they ‘strongly agreed’ an action was environmentally conscious were much more likely to actually act on those beliefs than people who just ‘somewhat agreed.’
To view the entire survey and accompanying graphics and charts, follow the link below.
