Environmental Consciousness in Germany 1996

Environmental consciousness and conduct in environmentally relevant
areas.

Topics: Classification of significance of political problems such as
unemployment, housing supply, preservation of the welfare state,
combating crime, foreigner questions, environmental protection and
competitive ability of the economy (scale); importance of environmental
protection measures in the areas climate protection, noise reduction,
air pollution, trash, energy, pollution of inshore waters, soil
protection, preservation of species in the plant world (scale);
postmaterialism; judgement on personal impact of noise, exhaust, bad
air and trash scattered about; traffic load of residential street of
respondent; perceived noise pollution in the evening; view of green
areas and personally having a yard; characterization of location of
residence as well as neighborhood regarding noise; satisfaction with
the environment situation in residential area; global assessment of
environmental conditions (scale); environmental protection versus
scientific growth; attitude to science and technology (scale);
preservation of ecological value and environmental consciousness
(scale). Environment-conscious shopping behavior: paying attention to
environment compatibility of products when shopping; orientation on
labels of environmentally compatible products; knowledge and paying
attention to the ´Blue Angel´; willingness to pay more for
environmentally conscious and environmentally compatible products;
environmentally conscious purchase behavior, e.g. in purchase of
beverages in returnable bottles; leaving packaging in stores as well as
changes in environmental habits in recent time; purchase of seasonal
and regional fruit and vegetables; fashion, price or longevity as
criteria in purchase of clothing; fashion orientation; attitude to food
treated by gene-technology; judgement on statements about products
harmful to the environment, purchase of canned food und the general
lack of care in dealing with environmental problems; necessity of
behavioral changes regarding shopping oriented to environmental
protection; attitude to purchase of products from controlled biological
cultivation.

Waste management: frequency of separating trash into individual
recyclable categories; frequency of not separating; possession of a
bio-trashcan or personally composting; hazardous waste collection point
in near vicinity; distance to next waste paper as well as glass
recycling depository; communal trashcan or one´s own trashcan; manner
of participation of household in dual system with the Green Dot;
attitude to extent of general trash production, recycling and
environmentally friendly removal of residual waste (scale).

Energy and water consumption: use of energy conservation lamps;
energy-conscious turning off light as well as television sets; water
conservation facility in household; water conservation lever on the
toilet; paying water costs dependent on use or at a fixed price; manner
of action in airing rooms in the winter; type of heating; turning off
heat when leaving residence for several hours; reasons speaking against
this; use of automatic lowering of heat at night and possible reasons
against this; fixed charge for heating for residence; energy and water
conservation habits in use of washing machine; observing degree of
water hardness in use of detergent; use of a dryer; attitude to energy
conservation (scale).

Traffic and car: possession and number of bicycles, mopeds,
motorcycles and cars; environmental protection as reason for not owning
a car; frequency of use of car in days as well as according to
kilometers driven; proportion of trips due to occupation; frequency of
excursions on weekends and preferred means of transport; driving with
the car without a destination ´just for the fun of it´; means of
transport used on last vacation; possession of a Bahncard {train card};
use of various means of transport in household shopping and on the way
to work; distance to work as well as shopping place; use of carpools on
the way to work; commuting time to work; possibility to use public
transportation on the way to work and commuting time; selection of
another means of transport given hypothetical doubling of the price of
gasoline; attitude to statements about car and traffic, such as e.g.
change of driving style to reduce use of gasoline, habitual use of car,
too slight use of OEPNV {local public passenger transport}, reduction
of car use for environmental protection reasons and use of carpools
(scale); membership in an environmental protection organization and
function taken on; political participation in environmental questions;
frequency of discussions about environmental protection; assumed
attitude of social surroundings to a personal involvement in an
environmental protection group; importance of selected fields of action
for environmental protection; attitude to stronger surveillance of
observance of environmental protection laws; tax increases to finance
improved environmental protection; highest accepted price for gasoline;
satisfaction with performance of the Federal Environment Office
(scale); attitude to a speed limit on freeways; preferred maximum speed
limit; agreement with centers of town free of cars, expansion of
pedestrian zones and increase in parking fees in large cities; approval
of restricted traffic areas and 30kmh speed zones in purely residential
areas; attitude to expansion of the OEPNV {local public passenger
transport}, network of bicycle paths, increasing the cost of driving a
car and transferring freight transport to rail transport; attitude to
significant increase in garbage collection fees, construction of
garbage incinerating plants, establishing garbage disposal sites and
stricter legal requirements for the production of products; judgement
on the latest progress in environment compatibility of packaging,
purity of inshore waters, air cleanliness, ground protection, climate
protection and energy conservation; assessment of the danger of gene
technology and judgement on adequate protection functions of the
government; knowledge about the so-called ecological tax reform;
preference for step-wise or rapid conversion to such tax reform;
environmental protection and job creation; knowledge about the term
sustainable development; judgement on environmental conditions in the
new as well as in the old states; trust in the ability of parties,
environmental protection authorities, initiatives as well as trade
unions and industry regarding environmental protection.

Environment knowledge: estimate of the average water consumption of a
citizen per day, the proportion of electricity from nuclear power
plants and knowledge about the electricity price per kilowatt hour;
household appliances with the highest energy consumption; the gas
responsible for the greenhouse effect; danger from high ozone values in
soil or in the earth´s atmosphere; knowledge of native animals and
plants that are on the so-called ´red list´; knowledge about the
{female} federal environment minister.

Demography: sex; month and year of birth; school education;
vocational training certificate; employment; hours worked each week;
occupational position; fear of unemployment; personal unemployment in
the last few years; self-classification of social class and on a
left-right continuum; interest in politics; party preference (Sunday
question); marital status; living together with a partner; number of
children; information on sex, age and degree of relationship of persons
living in household; income of respondent and household income;
residential status; characterization of residential area; year of
construction of building; number of households in residential building;
classification of contact with neighbors; religious denomination;
religiousness; size of city in which respondent grew up; origins from
the GDR; length of residence; possession of a telephone; possession of
telephone answering device. Interviewer rating: characterization of
residential building and residential area; weekday of interview;
presence of third persons during interview and their degree of
relationship to respondent; intervention of other persons in interview;
willingness to cooperate and reliability of respondent.

Also encoded were: date of interview; number of interviews in sample
point; number of contact attempts by telephone and in person; age of
interviewer; education level of interviewer.