How Do People Feel About Business Practices and Our Environment?
For this post, I will be talking about the information I obtained through a survey I gave to some friends. I was mostly interested in finding out how people felt about our climate crisis as a whole and the impact businesses have had on it. I was slightly surprised by some of the results and I would like to share them. I would like to highlight the four questions I believe yielded the most interesting results.
Are you concerned about the future of our planet?
This was a question I asked in my survey because I wanted to have a base for how people felt about climate change before I started asking other questions. 76.9% of people said they strongly agreed with the statement, 15.4% said they agreed, and 7.7% were neutral about it. This interested me because I think it’s great that the majority of people I surveyed agree with this statement. I think it’s important that people recognize that our planet is in trouble and we have to act to see change.
Would you support a law mandating businesses to switch to completely renewable energy by 2040?
This was another question in the survey. The percentages were the same for the first question, but the only difference was that 7.7% of people voted strongly disagree. I thought this was a bit concerning because as I have stated in previous blogs, the only way I believe we will see the real change necessary is through policy. I think it is interesting that the same percentage of people voted for neutral in my first question and strongly disagree with y second question. It shows a correlation between people who are not worried about our planet and people who oppose laws to mandate the necessary changes.
Rate how likely you would be to pay more for certain products if you knew they were made sustainably
With this question, I believe the results were quite promising. A majority of people would be more likely to spend more on products made sustainably. This is so important because if businesses feel like they will lose money by charging the extra money necessary to be more sustainable, they will never become more sustainable. The results from this question helpful to show that sustainably produced products are something people are willing to spend more one because they know it will benefit our planet.
Rate how responsible you think big businesses are for climate change
I think this question was one where I didn’t expect these results. Although a majority of people rated big businesses as a 4 or 5 on a scale of 5, it concerns me that some people voted 2 or 3. From the research, I have done for this blog I have found time and time again that big businesses are the main contributor to our changing climate. I think that people should be aware of this because it is such important information and may very well change their opinions on other things regarding our planet.
It is important to analyze this data, but keep in mind the sample size is small. Although the sample size is small it still shows how some people still don’t see climate change as a big issue. I think it is imperative that governments and schools implement an environmental science course for all students. It is important to educate people on the facts of climate change and the things that can possibly be done to improve the state of our planet.
