The American Climate Values Survey (ACVS) assesses contemporary climate and environmental values and motivations to provide information and insights to advocates who to increase the effectiveness of their efforts. It is an ecoAmerica project conducted by SRIC-BI, and sponsored by the Alliance for Climate Protection, the Department of Conservation of the State of California, NRDC, and The Nature Conservancy.
The ACVS has been designed to help close the strategic gap between public support and effective climate solutions by helping to dramatically move and mold public sentiment. The survey asked Americans about climate and environmental issues, behaviors and concerns; other social and cultural issues; voting and political attitudes; and general attitudes and demographic questions.
Some Key Findings:
While 73% of Americans believe that global warming is happening,
only half (54%) of Republicans believe it is real, compared with almost
all (90%) Democrats surveyed. Similarly, 34% of Republicans think
“global warming is not a problem,” versus 7% of Democrats.
Some Americans see the costs of climate solutions as too great. A full 90% of those surveyed agreed with this statement: “If I could afford it, I would be willing to install things to make my home more energy efficient than it is now.”
Beyond working to de-politicize global warming, ecoAmerica intends to help more Americans make the connection between solving global warming and personal and national pocketbooks. For example, the ACVS survey found 85% of Americans are interested in electric or hybrid cars, particularly given today’s gasoline prices.
People also do not see climate action as personally relevant to their lives — to their health, safety and well-being. The ACVS survey found that this perceived lack of personal benefit is the result of too much focus on solving global warming for the sake of the environment alone, which is not enough to motivate all citizens.
ecoAmerica plans to use the ACVS research to create a number of partnerships with companies and governments aimed at connecting climate action to the closely held personal values and everyday concerns of Americans. “We tend to talk about global warming in very complex and esoteric terms,” said Perkowitz. “We need to show the public how global warming impacts their daily lives through events such as more severe storms, altered growing seasons and disease, as well as through increased costs for heating, cooling and driving the family car.”
Comments