Shy of a month or so ago we talked about the “greenness” of the leading presidential candidates. To gain a better understanding of what American adults are thinking, feeling and doing about global warming or climate change, George Mason University teamed up with research firm Porter Novelli in May and June 2007, and surveyed a nationally representative sample of approximately 12,000 adults. Later that same year in July and August, they also surveyed approximately 1,000 of their children, producing what they believe to be the first-ever American household survey (i.e., parent and child) on global warming. The margin of error for the adult data is +/- 1% and for the children’s data +/- 4%. The report is very interesting and you can access the free report here.

In brief some of their findings –

1.  A majority of American adults viewed climate change as a serious problem that threatens

    future generations and all life one earth, while only 14% believed it is not a problem.

2. Roughly a third of American adults were still undecided as to the dangers posed by global

    warming and our ability to combat it.

3. American adults who believed that global warming is a dangerous threat also tended to   

   express confidence that we are able to make the changes needed to combat its effects.

4. People who believed that climate change is a danger, and who had a strong sense of our ability  

    to combat it, were engaging in more activities to protect the environment and were more likely   

    to see those actions as being important.

5. While Republicans and Democrats viewed climate change quite differently, they did not differ   

    much in terms of their actual behavior. People on both ends of the political spectrum were

    engaged in about the same number of environmental actions.

6. Roughly 7 of 10 children felt personally threatened by global warming, but they also    

    expressed considerable confidence that new technologies can solve the problem.

7. When children and their parents agreed that global warming poses a great danger and shared     

    a strong sense of our ability to combat it, the family engaged in more environmental activities,

    as compared to families where parents and children disagreed.

Since this is an election year I thought it would be interesting to take a look at a segment of their research regarding the two main political parties and their feelings on the whole green issue. You’ll notice that finding #5 tells us that though the parties view climate change differently their actions were actually very similar. The report states –

“While Democrats were performing more of the environmental actions, on average they were only performing less than  one more behavior than Republicans. The only environmental activities that Democrats were much more likely to engage in were voting for candidates based on their environmental records and donating to environmental organizations – actions that were fairly unusual in the population, even among Democrats. On other more common activities, such as conserving energy at home and recycling, the political groups were indistinguishable.” The report falls short of suggesting what this means but they conclude that “Thus, while there was a clear partisan divide with regard to beliefs about global warming, the environmental actions of people across the political spectrum were far more similar.”

So what are some key differences in perspective?

Based on research by Professors David Konisky, Jeff Milyo and Lilliard Richardson at the University of Missouri Republicans are much more apt to favor government intervention if the issue affects people locally, or even nationally, rather than globally. In an article on Greenbiz, Professor Konisky suggests that “people tend to want the government to address proximate problems.” There’s even a fledgling community for “Green Republicans” on the web that has been a big supporter of Sattler Clothing.

Another national survey conducted on behalf of the Civil Society Institute as part of its Results for America Project indicates that Republicans are more inclined to action if it positions the US in a leadership role rather than a following role. In fact, approx. two-thirds of Republicans want America to take the lead on policy and technology development.

Key takeaways? –

Even though views and opinions differ slightly regarding climate change, both parties, and the nation as a whole, consider the environment to be an important issue and support serious steps towards reducing carbon emissions and eco-friendly living policies.

Sattler Eco & Fair Labor Clothing

http://www.sattlerclothing.com