Environmental Consciousness in Germany 2014

Environmental awareness. Environmentally relevant attitudes. Environmental behavior and behavioral readiness.

I. Online survey:

Topics:

1. environment: 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 personal exposure to environmental problems compared with the national average; 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 selected political controversial issues (securing prosperity, creating jobs, competitiveness, social justice, mastering future tasks such as globalization).

2. Attitudes toward the environment: Attitudes toward the environment, development, and society (scale); environmental mentalities (demand for strict and consequent laws, personal initiative and lifestyle change, environmental problems unsolvable, well on track; associations associated with a good life (open question); assessment of selected innovation proposals in terms of their contribution to the good life (20-hour week, communal living arrangements, change of diet, transformation of cities and communities, exchanging, lending, repairing and passing on existing products, life satisfaction as the most important goal of economic and social policy (gross national happiness), community as envisioned by citizens through participation in public and political life).

3. Consumption and use, 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 body care products); frequency of purchase in the last two years of selected consumer goods for non-daily, recurring needs (energy-efficient light bulbs, household appliances, televisions and computers, clothing labeled as environmentally friendly, cleaning products, paints and varnishes, wood products from sustainable forestry); frequency of use of car-sharing, bicycles, buses and trains, and voluntary financial compensation payments for air travel to offset self-generated CO2 emissions; one-time decisions green products: Purchase of green electricity, purchase of a hybrid or electric car, financial investments for environmental and climate protection, measures for an environmentally friendly heat supply at one´s own home, renting an apartment or a house with low heating requirements; willingness to generally or decide again in favor of the aforementioned green products; frequency of meat consumption; awareness of selected eco-labels or seals and assessment of the influence on one´s own purchase decision.

Mobility: frequency of use of means of transport for everyday journeys (main means of transport: public transport, car, bicycle, walking); naming of other means of transport used.

Alternative forms of use (share economy): bicycle rental system or car sharing used, everyday items rented for a fee, private accommodation offered or used online; willingness to intensify use; personal behavior with regard to extending useful life (purchase of high-quality products, repair of everyday items, purchase, sale or giving away of used products, avoidance of plastic bags).

4. Environment and justice: perceived justice in Germany (fair share of social product).

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

Precautionary measures for climate adaptation: Sufficiently informed, sufficient personal precautionary measures as well as by city or municipality; personal precautionary measures: Informing about behavior in case of disaster, insurance against natural hazards, using warning and information services, changing winter sports activities, changing vacation and leisure planning; readiness for personal precautionary measures.

6. Civic engagement: willingness to volunteer in environmental protection and nature conservation; concrete forms of personal volunteering or conceivable forms (e.g. membership in environmental or nature conservation association (e.g. BUND, NABU, WWF, Greenpeace), collaboration in a local environmental protection group, collaboration in a temporary environmental protection project, environmental education of children and young people, support of political actions for environmental protection (e.g. protest meetings, signature campaigns), collaboration in projects organized by citizens (e.g. citizen wind farms or citizen buses); monetary donations to nature and environmental protection associations in the last year; knowledge of new forms of participation (e.g. local Agenda 21, participatory budgeting and own participation). e.g. citizen wind farms or citizen buses); monetary donations to nature and environmental protection associations in the last year; knowledge of new forms of participation (e.g. local Agenda 21, participatory budgets) and own participation; personal civic engagement via the Internet (blog posts, protests via social networks, flash mobs, signatures in online campaigns or online petitions, participation in political participation processes, e.g. e-voting); willingness to use the aforementioned forms of civic engagement.

7. Respondent characteristics: items to identify social milieus.

Demography: sex; age; educational attainment; employment; occupational status; living situation; household size; number of children in the household and age of these children; migration background; net household income; housing status (renting, owning); living space (classified or exact number of square meters of primary residence); state; region; location size.

Additionally coded were: Socio Milieus; environmental types; weighting factor.

II. CAPI survey

Topics: 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 personal exposure to environmental problems compared with the national average; 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); role of environmental and climate protection with regard to selected political issues (securing prosperity, creating jobs, competitiveness, social justice, mastering future tasks such as. e.g. globalization).

Demography: sex; age; educational attainment; employment; occupational status; net household income.

Additionally coded: federal state; region; weighting factor.