Environmental Consciousness in Germany 2016

The Study on Environmental Awareness in Germany has been conducting research on the development of environmental awareness and environmental behaviour of the population in Germany every two years since 1996. The aim is to understand the patterns of thought and action that exist in society and to anticipate the needs of different population groups.<br>Wave 1:

Importance of environmental protection and environmental policy, climate protection policy, assessments of environmental quality, environmental attitudes, perceived health burden of environmental pollution, dietary behavior, mobility behavior, motivations and willingness to change, and commitment to socio-ecological change.

Topics:
1. Specific environmental topics / time comparison questions: most important problems in the country; assessment of environmental quality at home, in Germany and worldwide; assessment of the commitment of selected actors to environmental and climate protection (environmental associations, cities and municipalities, federal government, industry, citizens); assessment of the harmfulness of selected factors to one´s own health (split: extent of perceived health burden): Pollutants and pesticide residues in food, chemicals in products and objects of daily use, electromagnetic radiation from cell phones, tablets and computers as well as from mobile phone masts, pollutants in drinking water, plastic particles in drinking water and food, air pollutants, noise, consequences of climate change; Extent of perceived nuisance from selected sources of noise pollution (rail traffic noise, road traffic noise, industrial and commercial noise, air traffic noise, noise from neighbors); perceived noise pollution in general; role of environmental and climate protection with regard to other selected political tasks (securing prosperity, creating jobs, competitiveness, social justice, mastering future tasks such as e. g. e.g. globalization); attitudes toward renewal (scale: consistent policies to protect the environment will have a positive impact on the competitiveness of the economy, environmental protection should be a priority even if economic growth is impaired, natural limits to growth, etc.).

2. Environment and health: strength of perceived health burden from pollution and environmental contaminants; strength of perceived burden from air contaminants in the home from mold, odors, and fumes, and in the residential environment from automobile exhaust, industrial exhaust, and particulate matter from burning pellets or wood; estimated impact of environmental contaminants on children over the next 25 years.

3. Diet, out-of-home consumption, food waste: frequency of purchase of organic products in food shopping in the last month; frequency of meat consumption; reasons for frequent or infrequent meat consumption; conditions for willingness to reduce meat consumption; out-of-home consumption: Frequency of eating out in the last month in general and in a canteen at the place of work or education; Expectations of canteens; Attitudes towards the environment and sustainability in eating out (scale); Food waste: Frequency of throwing away food at home in the last month (disposal behavior); Attitudes toward food waste (scale).

4. Mobility and housing: Everyday mobility: frequency of use of means of transport for trips in everyday life (public transport, car, bicycle, walking); car used (own car (also company car, car pool, car sharing, cab, rental car, other car); willingness to use public transport, bicycle, walking, carpooling, car sharing; prerequisite for more frequent use of public transport, bicycle and walking; Opinion on selected measures to reduce environmental pollution (speed limit of 130 km/h on highways, maximum speed of 30 km/h in towns except on main roads, creation of traffic-calmed residential areas, closing of inner cities to car traffic, speed limit of 80 km/h on rural roads, shifting of freight transport from trucks to rail); Contribution to a good life by developing cities and towns away from cars; Desire to transform own community; Frequency of using an airplane for private travel in the last 12 months; Frequency of voluntary offsets; Housing: Housing status; energy retrofit measures implemented or encouraged.

5. Intentions and potential for change: intention to buy organic food, reduce private car trips and air travel, reduce the amount of living space used, purchase certified green electricity, donate money to an environmental or conservation group, best efficiency class when purchasing household appliances.

6. Social-ecological renewal: subjective threat from various environmental risks (climate change, extinction of species in the animal and plant world, pollution in soils, waters and air, deforestation, shortage of raw materials, pollutants in food, emergence of mega-cities with growing energy and land consumption, plastic waste in the world´s oceans, growing world population); Subjective concern through social developments (growing social inequality, rising energy costs, worsening housing shortage, more stress and pressure at work, increasing lack of time, decline in social values such as community spirit and respect, diminishment of the social dimension). e.g., community spirit and respect, deterioration of infrastructures such as transport routes, personal lifestyles that are becoming less and less predictable); personal relevance of selected socio-ecological challenges for the respondent (switching to renewable energy, protecting fertile soils, developing new environmentally friendly technologies, fighting global poverty, fair trade between rich countries and developing countries, transforming urban and rural areas for well-being, regulating the economy and markets to avoid environmental pollution, developing new lifestyles for less impact on the environment and climate); opportunity-oriented approaches to sustainability: Expected impacts of sustainable development (increase in quality of life, more health, more time for self-determined living, more connectedness to nature, more community among people, more economy oriented to people´s needs, spread of lifestyles in which income, consumption, and possessions are less important).

Forms of personal commitment to social-ecological renewal:
Willingness for personal commitment to ecological goals (involvement in environmental and climate protection organizations, participation in demonstrations, signatures in online campaigns or online petitions, minimize greenhouse gases through everyday behavior, purchase of environmentally and climate-friendly products, refrain from unnecessary consumption, participation in initiatives such as exchange markets or repair cafés, advocating values such as thrift and modesty, waiting for environmental and climate problems to develop and taking action when necessary, using profitable investment opportunities in ecological projects, voting for parties that advocate strict environmental and climate laws); willingness to actively engage in environmental and nature protection (e.g., through volunteer work or Reasons against such active engagement; financial donations to nature and environmental protection organizations in the last 12 months; willingness to engage in social goals or social compensation (participation in organizations that advocate more social compensation, participation in demonstrations, campaigns that exert political pressure for more social justice, purchase of products that were manufactured under fair working conditions, financial donations for social purposes, participation in initiatives that test new social coexistence, e.g. in housing projects or in the case of the ´socially responsible´ initiative). (e.g., in housing projects or neighborhood assistance, advocating values such as justice, fairness, and equal opportunity, waiting for social problems to develop and acting when necessary, investing in socially ethical investments, voting for parties that advocate social justice); perceived justice in Germany: own fair share compared to others in Germany.

7. Climate protection policy: self-assessment of informedness about the agreement of the UN climate conference in Paris; importance of the goal of greenhouse gas neutrality; probability of achieving greenhouse gas neutrality in the second half of the century; Importance of selected government climate protection measures (ban on particularly climate-damaging products, expansion of support for renewable energies, legally required labeling of particularly climate-damaging products, increasing the price of CO2 emission rights, higher taxation of particularly climate-damaging products, reduction of climate-damaging subsidies, government support for energy-saving measures in homes, support for electric vehicles).

8. Respondent characteristics: items to identify social milieus.

Demography: sex; age; educational attainment; employment or occupational group; living situation; household size; number of children in the household and age of these children; respondent or at least one of the parents moved to Germany from abroad (migration background); net household income; occupational status of current or former occupation; living space of main residence in square meters (open or classified); state; region; location size.

Additionally coded were: sequential number; Socio Milieus 2016; weighting factor.

Wave 2:

Climate adaptation measures, further aspects on climate protection policy and mobility, willingness to buy green products, noise awareness, nitrogen pollution, and willingness to pay for ecosystem services.

1. Climate adaptation: convinced of the ability to cope with climate-induced problems; expected to be personally affected by the consequences of climate change (damage caused by floods and storms, impairment of physical well-being or performance due to heat waves, limited recreation due to heat on vacation, too little snow for winter sports activities).

Precautionary measures for climate adaptation: sufficiently informed about personal risks due to climate change; sufficient personal precautionary measures as well as by city or municipality; personal precaution: Informing about behavior in case of disaster, insurance against natural hazards, using warning and information services, changing winter sports activities, changing vacation and leisure activities; willingness to take the aforementioned measures of personal precaution.

2. Climate protection and climate policy: self-assessment of informedness about the role of the EU in climate policy; acceptance of a price for greenhouse gas emissions when choosing a product; assessment of the effect of voluntary climate protection and environmental measures by industry in comparison with statutory regulations.

3. Mobility: alternative bicycle use: use of selected bicycle types (cargo bicycle, adult tricycle, hand-powered bicycle, bicycle cab or bicycle rickshaw, rental bicycle, electric bicycle or pedelec, bicycle with child seat or child trailer); willingness to use alternative bicycles; car-sharing: Ability to use car sharing in own community; driver´s license; use of car sharing and frequency of use in last year; general willingness to use car sharing; willingness to use car sharing instead of owning a car; frequency of use of bicycle, bus, and train in last year; car ownership in household and type of car (gasoline, diesel, electric, hybrid); use of electric car or hybrid car; willingness to use an electric car for leisure, work, and/ or willingness to use an electric or hybrid car through sharing concepts.

4. Willingness to buy green products:
Purchasing frequency in the last four weeks of selected consumer goods for daily use: Organic food and beverages, fish products from sustainable fisheries, recycled paper, environmentally friendly personal care products); purchasing frequency in the last four weeks of selected organic products (eggs, milk, yogurt, cottage cheese, cheese, meat, sausage, vegan protein products, bread, flour, cereal products, pasta, vegetables, potatoes, fruit, beverages, none of the above); Purchasing frequency in the past two years of selected consumer goods for non-daily, recurring needs (energy-efficient light bulbs, clothing labeled as environmentally friendly, cleaning products, paints and varnishes, energy-efficient household appliances, televisions and computers, wood products from sustainable forestry); one-time decisions green products: Purchase of green electricity, financial investments for environmental and climate protection, renting an apartment or house with low heating requirements, buying low-noise tires; willingness to generally or again decide in favor of the aforementioned green products; frequency of meat consumption; willingness to pay for meat that guarantees more animal welfare and more environmental protection than required by law or comes from organic farming; self-assessment of how informed they are about the type and origin of food production; most important purchase criteria for food; awareness of selected environmental labels or seals and assessment of their influence. or comes from organic farming; self-assessment of the level of information about the type and origin of food production; most important purchase criteria for food; awareness of selected environmental labels or seals and assessment of the influence on own purchase decision.

5. Nitrogen pollution: awareness of the deposition of nitrogen in soils and waters as tolerable by nature and compatible with health (emissions of reactive nitrogen).

6. Noise awareness: knowledge regarding emissions and the effects of noise: speed of a passenger car above which the rolling noise of the tires generates more noise than the engine; diseases with an increased risk of disease in the case of permanent exposure to traffic noise; estimated proportion of people in Germany who are exposed to traffic noise at night, which poses a risk to health; problem awareness regarding own emissions and the effects of noise: Agreement with the statement: permanent exposure to traffic noise endangers the physical and mental health of the population in Germany; Awareness of the connection between driving and noise generation; Endangering the physical and mental health of fellow human beings through personally caused traffic noise; Attitude and behavior: important aspects for the choice of a means of transport (e. g. e.g. getting to destination quickly, environmental protection, safety, little effort, etc.); attitude and behavior in relation to road traffic noise; noise sensitivity: self-assessment as sensitive to noise.

7. Ecosystem services:
Measures for the renaturation of rivers and floodplains: Choice experiment: preferred measures for the development of riverine landscapes along the ´Blue Rivers´ (attributes: floodable floodplain area, near-natural banks, floodplain forest, fish passage, bathing, river development levy); rating of the aforementioned objectives for the development of riverine landscapes (ranking by importance); visited ´Blue Rivers´ for recreational purposes; most visited rivers in the last 12 months; naming of the nearest village (open); activities on the river.

8. Respondent characteristics: items to identify social milieus.

Demography: sex; age; educational attainment; employment or occupational group; living situation; household size; number of children in the household and age of these children; respondent himself or herself or at least one of the parents moved to Germany from abroad (migration background); net household income; occupational status of current or former occupation; residential status of main residence; living area of main residence in square meters (open or classified); state; region; size of town.

Additionally coded were: sequence number; Socio Milieus 2016; weighting factor.