Environmental Consciousness in Germany 1998

Environmental consciousness and conduct in areas relevant to theenvironment. Topics: classification of the significance of political problems suchas unemployment, providing housing, preservation of the social state,combating crime, foreigner questions, environmental protection andcompetitive ability of business (scale); judgement on personal impactfrom noise, exhaust, bad air and trash lying around; burden fromtraffic in the residental street of respondent; perceived irritationfrom noise in the evening; view of green areas and having one´s ownyard; characterization of location of residence as well as perceivednoise burden in the residential surroundings; satisfaction withenvironmental situation in residential area; global assessment ofenvironmental conditions (scale); feeling of personal responsibilityregarding environmental protection; attitude to science and technologyas environmentally harmful or protective; ecological values andenvironmental consciousness (scale). Environmentally conscious shopping practices: looking for theenvironmental compatibility of products when shopping; orientation onsymbols of environmentally compatible products; knowledge of andlooking for the ´Blue Angel´; willingness to to pay extra forenvironmentally conscious and environmentally compatible products;environmentally conscious shopping practices, e.g. when purchasingbeverages in returnable bottles; leaving packaging in stores as well aschange of environment practices in recent time; purchase of fruit andvegetables in season and locally; purchase of rechargable batteries;purchase of clothing in second-hand shop; duration of wearing articlesof clothing (one season to 3 years); fashion, price or longevity ascriteria when buying clothing; attitude to genetically modified foods;judgement on statements about products harmful to the environment,purchase of canned food and the general lack of care in dealing withenvironmental problems; attitude to purchase of products fromcontrolled-biological cultivation. Waste management: frequency of separating trash into the individualrecyclable categories; possession of a bio-trashcan or personallycomposting; collection point for hazardous waste in close vicinity;distance to closest container for waste paper as well as used glass;group trashcan or individual trashcan; manner of participation ofhousehold in ´dual system´ with the green dot {recycling}; attitude toextent of general trash creation, to recycling and to environmentallyfriendly elimination of residual waste (scale); willingness to payhigher trash fees as well as separation of further types of trash. Use of energy and water: use of energy-saving lamps; energy-consciousturning off of light as well as television; frugal use of water andwater-saving equipment in household; water-saving button on toilet;paying water costs based on use or at a flat rate; manner of airingrooms in the winter; type of heating; turning off heat when leaving theresidence for several hours; reasons against turning it off;automatically lowering heat at night and possible reasons against it;fixed-rate heating costs for the residence; use of a clothes dryer;attitude to saving energy (scale). Traffic and car: possession and number of bicycles, mopeds,motorcycles and cars; environmental protection as reason for not owningor restricted use of a car; frequency of using the car in days as wellas according to kilometers driven; frequency of excursions on weekendsand preferred means of transportation; trips with bicycle, publictransportation and car without real destination, ´just for fun´; meansof transport used for last vacation; frequency of using the FederalRailway in total and for work in the last year; self-classification asintensive, above-average, average or more below-average driver;possession of a Bahncard; frequency of using of air travel in total,within Germany, within and outside of Europe in the last year;proportion of flights for work; number of vacation trips in the lastyear; use of means of transport when shopping for household and on theway to work; distance to work as well as for shopping; commuting timesto work; using the car because of occupation; opportunities to usepublic transportation on the way to work and commuting time; attitudeto statements about car and traffic such as e.g. change of drivingstyle to reduce gasoline use, using car out of habit, inadequate use ofOEPNV {local public passenger transport}, reduction of car use forenvironmental protection reasons and use of carpools (scale);membership in an environmental protection organization and acceptedfunction; political participation on environmental questions; frequencyof discussions about environmental protection; assumed attitude ofsocial surroundings to personal involvement in an environmentalprotection group; assessment of the effectiveness of environmentalpolicy measures such as existing laws to protect the environment;attitude to greater enforcement of environmental protection laws; taxincreases to finance improved environmental protection; acceptedhighest price for gasoline; satisfaction with achievements of theFederal Environment Office (scale); attitude to a speed limit onfreeways; preferred maximum speed limit; agreement with centers of townfree of cars, expansion of pedestrian zones and increase in parkingfees in large cities; approval of restricted traffic areas and 30-KM/Hzones in purely residential areas; attitude to expansion of the OEPNV{local public passenger transport}, bicycle paths, increasing the costof driving a car and transferring freight traffic to rail transport;attitude to significant increase in trash fees, construction of garbageincinerating plants, establishing garbage disposal sites and stricterlegal requirements for the manufacture of products; judgement on recentprogress in environmental compatibility of packaging, cleanliness ofinshore waters, clean air, with protection of the soil, with climateprotection and energy conservation; assessment of the danger ofgene-technology and judgement on adequate protective functions of thegovernment; knowledge about the so-called ecological tax reform;preference for step-wise or rapid conversion to such a tax reform;environmental protection and creating jobs; knowledge about the term´nachhaltige Entwicklung´ (sustainable development); judgement onenvironmental conditions in the new as well as in the old states; trustin the ability of parties, environmental protection officials,initiatives, trade unions and industry regarding environmentalprotection. Environmental knowledge: estimate of average water consumption of acitizen per day, the proportion of power from nuclear power plants andknowledge of the electricity price per kilowatt-hour; householdequipment with the highest energy consumption; gas responsible for thegreenhouse effect; danger from high ozone levels on the ground or inthe atmosphere; knowledge of native animals and plants on the so-called´red list´; judgement on one´s own as well as over-all German currentand future economic situation; residential floor space (in qm); numberof rooms smaller than 6 qm; form of housing and type of residentialbuilding; year of construction of residential building; frequency ofcontact with neighbors.$ Demography: sex; month and year of birth; school education; vocationaltraining certificate; employment; weekly working hours; occupationalposition; fear of unemployment; personal unemployment in the last fewyears; self-classification of social class and on a left-rightcontinuum; interest in politics; party preference (Sunday question);marital status; living together with a partner and employment ofpartner; number of children; ages of persons living in the household;income of respondent and household income; religious denomination;religiousness; size of city in which respondent grew up; origins fromthe GDR; length of residence; telephone possession; possession oftelephone answering device; computer possession und Internet access.Interviewer rating: presence of third persons during interview andtheir degree of relationship to respondent; intervention by otherpersons in the interview; willingness to cooperate and reliability ofrespondent. Also encoded was: date of interview; number of interviews at samplepoint; number of contact attempts by telephone and in person;interviewer age; education level of interviewer.