International Conference on Social Values Complutense University of Madrid 28 September 1993 SOCIETAL VALUES AND ATTITUDES TO HUMAN DIMENSIONS OF GLOBAL ENVIRONMENTAL CHANGE Robert Worcester Copyright 1993 Robert Worcester. All rights reserved. For information contact: MORI 32 old Queen Street, London, SW1 H9HP. People in countries as widespread as Britain and Mexico, Poland and Australia are concerned about the state of the environment, confused as to whom to believe, disenchanted with governmental attempts at all levels to deal with the problems of pollution and ecological degradation, and ready for radical action. Taking Britain as a case study, the British public's view is shared by British elite opinion as well, from Captains of Industry, the financial community in the City of London, the British media and, significantly, legislators both at Westminster and at the European Parliament. Yet the impression left in the aftermath of the 1992 British general election (and in the most recent Brazilian election as well) discussions among the chattering classes is that the environment is yesterday's issue. Recent survey evidence indicates that this is far from the truth. This evidence suggests that concern for the environment is a deeply felt value in an increasing number of people's lives. For over two decades MORI has conducted surveys of British public attitudes to the environment, and during the past five years has added a suite of surveys in its Communications Research Programme that has tracked the concern of various publics, general and elite, to the issues surrounding the environment, conservation, pollution and sanctions relating to corporate environmental behaviour, including an annual survey of c. 2,000 British adults. More recently MORI has extended its survey evidence across Europe, and looked at attitude and behavioural data in North and South America and in Australia and New Zealand. These findings are supported by other survey evidence, especially that carried out by the Eurobarometer, the semi-annual sounding of European public opinion across the 12 EC member states. In addition, recent and comparable data from Poland and from Mexico have been made available for this paper. In this paper I outline what has been found in these surveys, why these findings are important, what their relevance is to those of us studying attitudes to the environment and what the public and legislative reaction is likely to be in light of public and elite opinion. As a reader of an earlier draft (see acknowledgements) suggested: "who else but the research community can/should point out the way for business/industry, government, authorities, and the media to enter a sustainable path in managing environmental issues?"0 ©Robert M. Worcester, MORI, 32 Old Queen Street, London SW1H 9HP, England THE BRITISH PUBLIC'S VIEW ABOUT THE ENVIRONMENT Since its founding in 1969, MORI has tracked the view of the British public towards environmental matters. From 1969-1973, an annual Attitudes to Air and Water Pollution survey was carried out as a multi-client study for such companies as ICI, Shell, BP, Esso, British Airways and other forward- looking corporations doing business in Britain. Even then, over two decades ago, about half of the British public said they were 'concerned' about air and water pollution, with noise pollution and with pollution of the seashores and coastal waters. Similar findings were recorded by Opinion Research Corporation in America at the time. Public perception towards the environment, pollution, conservation as one of the most important issues facing Britain has been tracked regularly (at least monthly for over a decade), using open-ended questions, as a part of the monthly political poll carried out by MORI for Times Newspapers. This issue peaked in the summer of 1989, and has receded since as issues more directly affecting individuals such as unemployment and the state of the economy have risen as a result of straitened economic circumstances, as predicted fifty years ago by Abraham Maslow1. (Maslow, 1943) More recently, and as part of a Communications Research Programme that surveys not only the views of the public but also of Captains of Industry, the City, the media and other elite groups in Great Britain, MORI has carried out a pair of related studies among the general public. The first, 'Business and the Environment', has been conducted in July of each year since 1989. The most recent survey was carried out among 1,923 members of the general public aged 15+ in 146 constituency sampling points throughout Great Britain; the other, 'Corporate Social Responsibility', has been conducted annually since 1990, and in the most recent study 1,846 adults nation-wide were interviewed in late August and early September 1992 . These studies found a bewildered British public, with nearly four in ten (39%) agreeing with the statement 'I don't fully understand environmental issues'. Nearly as many, 37%, were in agreement that 'even the scientists don't really know what they are talking about when it comes to the environment'. In 1992 fewer than half of the British said they have a 'great deal' or even a 'fair amount' of trust in what scientists working either in industry (47%) or for the government (48%) say about environmental issues. In contrast, more than eight in ten, 82%, said they trust what scientists working for environmental groups have to say about environmental issues. While only eight per cent of ABs (the one in six households headed by senior managerial/professional people) said they trust industry's scientists and only nine per cent government scientists 'a great deal', 45 per cent of ABs said they trust environmental groups' scientists a 'great deal' on what they have to say on environmental matters. Over the same period, 1989-1992, there has been an increasing percentage of the public who say they disagree that 'There isn't much that ordinary people can do to help protect the environment', with 29% in 1989 declining steadily to just one in five, 20%, this past year. Nearly seven in ten (69%) of the British public think that pollution and environmental damage are things that affect them in their day-to-day life, and only one in ten (11%) believe that 'Too much fuss is made about the environment nowadays'. The "Environmental Activist" and the "Green Consumer" For more than twenty years, a powerful 'Socio-Political Activist' typology has been employed2(Worcester, 1972), which has identified the ten per cent or so of the British public who are the 'movers and shakers' of British society. In an adaptation of that concept in 1988, an 'Environmental Activist' typology was introduced, using a behavioural scale of items indicating a degree of interest in environmental matters (see Table 1). It has proved powerfully predictive, and has enabled the environmental movement in Great Britain to be tracked over the past five years (see graph below). In 1991, the typology was extended internationally in a series of studies carried out for WWF International, the World Wide Fund for Nature, as a part of the continuing monitoring of their attitudes and behaviour of people in countries where WWF either now has or intends to have an important presence (see International Perspective, below). There has been a sharp rise in the proportion of the British public who have done various green activities, slight in such sedentary activities as walking in the countryside or watching environmental programmes on TV; more spectacular in the case of purchasing green, double over the five years. Over the period, the proportion of Environmental Activists (defined as those who have taken five or more of the listed activities) more than doubled, from 14% of the adult population in 1988 to 31% in 1991, before falling back to 23% this past year. British Green Activism: Table 1 Q. "Which, if any, of the following things have you done in the last year or two?" Date of Fieldwork 1988 1989 1990 1991 1992 1993 % % % % % % Read/Watched TV about wildlife/conservation/ natural resources/Third World 79 80 84 87 85 83 Walked in the countryside/along the coast 72 75 77 81 75 77 Given money to or raised money for wildlife/ conservation or Third World charities 28 45 48 57 49 54 Selected one product over another because of its environmentally friendly packaging, formulation or advertising (Green Consumers) 19 47 50 49 40 44 Requested information from an organisation dealing with wildlife/conservation/natural resources/Third World 7 14 15 15 12 13 Subscribed to a magazine concerned with wildlife/conservation/natural resources or the Third World 8 14 13 15 10 13 Been a member of an environmental group/charity (even if you joined more than two years ago) 6 8 9 13 8 12 Visited/written a letter to an MP/councillor about wildlife/conservation/natural resources or the Third World 5 5 5 5 4 5 Campaigned about an environmental issue 4 4 6 5 3 5 Written a letter for publication about wildlife/ conservation/natural resources or the Third World 2 2 2 3 2 2 Total 230 294 309 330 288 308 Environmental Activists (5+ Activities) 14 20 25 31 23 28 Used lead-free petrol in your car 12 22 30 35 37 42 Base: c. 2,000 British AdultsSource: MORI Several points from the statistical analyses carried out on these data are worth commenting on here, which summarises material covered earlier elsewhere3 (Worcester 1993). The first is that there is a low correlation between Green Activism or Green Consumerism and writing letters or speaking to MPs or local councillors about "green" matters. It seems that people who present a case to MPs or local councillors, even on green issues, are no more likely than the average person to be "green" in any other way, despite efforts made by the green movement to mobilise their members and supporters to bombard MPs with letters and personal pleas. If MPs' post bags are filling with letters about the environment and conservation, never mind animal welfare, the perennial top of the pile of MPs' volume of correspondence, think what a mobilised Green movement would do to the House of Commons' post bags! (See Fig. 2). The second point is that there is only a two thirds correlation between Green Activists and Green Consumers. Thus a third of those who act green in the shops do so with few of the other green activities. Greens as they have been defined are neither youngsters dedicated to saving the planet before it is too late nor are they middle-class do-gooders. Green Activists, just under a quarter of the British adult population (23%), are slightly more likely to be women rather than men, but only slightly; more middle-aged than young, but significantly unlikely to be drawing their old age pension. They are more middle-class, with 62% middle-class and 38% working-class, but as there is still about a 60%/40% skew to working-class people in Britain, this means that there are almost equal numbers of middle-class and working-class people in Britain who qualify as Green Activists under this typology. The third point is that although the items in the behavioural list covers everything from animal and human welfare through recycling to the conservation of nature, there is a significant correlation on every single item but one (having - as yet - a catalytic converter fitted) (See table 2). British 'Green Consumers', as they have loosely been defined, are four in ten of British adults. Most are women (59%), middle-class (55%) and younger (63% under 45, v. 53% of the total adult population). But what do they do? Are Green Consumers really more consistent in their behaviour? If they are, then the typology has some meaning. In 1990, the first year that their activity level was tested across a wide spectrum of green behavioural activities, Green Consumers were on average 11.9 percentage points more likely to take green action; this widened to 13.8 in 1991, and to 16 in 1992. Thus while the percentage of British adults represented by Green Consumers declined over the past three years, the gap between the British public and those who take green consumer action increased substantially.There are a number of behavioural measures being used by various researchers around the globe, the one featured here is based on the premise that doing is a better test of 'greenness' than talking about it. Another was carried out for the UK's Ecolabelling Board (see table 3), a third by Social & Community Planning Research (Witherspoon 1992) and a fourth has been tested by Eurobarometer (table 7). The added value in the Ecolabelling Board work is the dual test that differentiates between those activities that are done for economic and other motives and those done out of concern for the environment. This shows that, at a minimum, one action in five, 20%, which most of those studying environmental concerns and activities would describe as 'green' are not thought by the respondent as green, but done for other, chiefly economic, reasons. In the case of household energy conservation, as many as two thirds of British consumers who claim to have reduced the amount of fuel and electricity used in their household did so for other than 'green' reasons. Using a four-or-more- selected-from-the-list test to define it, this scale offers a 'Green Activity' typology which amounts to 42% of the British public at a time when the more established Green Activist typology currently equates to only 23% of the British public. In the 'Green Activity' test, women, the key purchasers of day-to-day household goods show a much higher level of "green" purchasing than men, particularly when it comes to avoiding products tested on animals and buying products made from recycled or biodegradable packaging. Generally, the 25- 44 age group is most conscious of the environment in their purchasing behaviour, and ABs, the one in six of the British public whose household is headed by someone in the upper managerial/professional class, are some way ahead of those in other social classes in acting green. BRITAIN'S GREEN CONSUMERS: Table 2 Q. Which, if any, of these things do you do or have you done in the last 12 months as a result of concern for the environment? GENERAL PUBLIC GREEN CONSUMERS 1990 1991 1992 1993 1990 1991 1992 1993 Base: % 100 100 100 100 50 49 40 44 % % % % % % % % Buy 'ozone friendly' aerosols... 73 71 65 71 92 91 88 90 Buy products which come in recycled packaging 41 55 52 50 58 74 77 71 Buy products made from recycled material 40 52 51 54 58 72 75 75 Buy household, domestic, or toiletry products that have not been tested on animals 43 51 47 51 59 70 70 72 Buy free-range eggs or chickens 44 46 44 45 55 58 58 56 Regularly use a bottle bank 39 39 43 46 53 58 55 57 Keep down the amount of electricity and fuel your household uses 44 44 42 51 49 55 52 58 Send your own waste paper to be recycled 31 36 36 38 51 43 47 47 Buy 'environmentally friendly' phosphate-free detergents or household cleaners 38 37 35 36 37 56 58 55 Avoid using chemical fertilisers or pesticides in your garden 41 38 31 40 55 49 45 53 Buy products which come in biodegradable packaging 26 34 29 36 52 53 43 57 Buy food products which are organically grown 25 28 24 27 43 41 36 41 Avoid using the services or products of a company which you consider has a poor environmental record 23 19 16 22 33 31 30 38 Keep down the amount you use your car 19 19 13 16 23 25 21 21 Avoid buying chlorine bleached nappies 13 10 7 7 19 15 10 10 Have a catalytic converter fitted to your car 9 7 6 9 12 9 7 12 Loft insulation 9 36 TOTAL 549 586 541 628 727 791 782 849 AVERAGE 36.6 39.1 36.1 36.9 48.5 52.7 52.1 49.9 Source: MORI BRITISH GREEN ACTIVITY: Table 3 Q. In the last 12 months, which, if any, have you or your household done? Q. And which, if any, of these things have you or your household done in the last 12 months out of concern for the environment? Done Environment Done for at All Motivated Environment % Action % Avoid using aerosols/by ozone friendly aerosols 69 80% 55 Avoid buying products...tested on animals 53 62% 33 Buy products made from recycled materials 47 68% 32 Regularly use a bottle bank 46 80% 37 Use lead-free petrol in your car 41 73% 30 Conserve water 41 56% 23 Buy products in recycled/bio-degradable packaging 40 68% 27 Reduce the amount of fuel and electricity ... used 39 36% 14 Send your waste paper/cardboard to be recycled 38 79% 30 Bought a different... product ... less damaging 33 76% 25 Avoid ... chemical fertilisers or pesticides in ... garden 29 66% 19 Use energy-efficient appliances 19 47% 9 Compost household refuse 17 53% 9 Avoid using peat in your garden 17 59% 10 Joined/been a member of an environmental group 4 75% 3 Done none of these 4 Done 1-3 27 Done 4+ 68 Base: 1,064 British adults, 15+, in 105 Constituencies throughout Great Britain, 26 June-10 July 1992 Source: MORI/ UK Ecolabelling Board, Department of Environment, HMG The view of British Captains of Industry and other elite publics Four Captains of Industry in ten agree with the proposition that British companies do not pay enough attention to their treatment of the environment. Nearly half, 47%, believe that the most effective way of dealing with polluters would be legal penalties for companies which damage the environment. In a more general question, and one which has profound implications for anyone who cares about what these top businessmen think (the sample was drawn from the "Times 500" largest companies - 74% of respondents were chairman, MD and/or CEO), the way companies treat their environmental responsibilities was thought by a third (34%) of Captains to be one of the most important factors they take into account when making their judgements about other companies, ranking it above the company's growth performance or balance sheet and on a par with the implementation of its strategy and just below productivity/efficiency. One reason that Captains of Industry may be paying more attention to matters of the environment is that they as individuals may carry green values that are deeper than their concerns about the profitability of their corporations, another is that they increasingly realise that green pressure on legislators presents a challenge they will likely be responsive to, a third is that many Captains of Industry in Britain and elsewhere are acutely conscious of a long-term decline in public trust and confidence in business organisations that represents a drain on the well of good will that all companies strive to conserve Who is leading the parade? As shown earlier, over the past few years the environment as an issue has grown steadily in that most sensitive of public opinion barometers, MPs' post bags. Few MPs are immune to the clarion call of the sincere message, often hand written, from constituents who feel strongly about an issue. The environment has been just such an issue, as shown earlier (Fig. 2). Even more interesting about what MPs' think is their reaction to the statement that 'British companies do not pay enough attention to their treatment of the environment', as a majority (53%) agree, and seven in ten (69%), believe that 'The penalties imposed on companies for causing pollution in Britain aren't severe enough', according to a (June-July 1992) survey of the attitudes of a representative sample of 158 MPs (64% response rate). Work done for the environmental pressure group WBMG among MPs show that the new MPs are on nearly every issue substantially more 'green' than the House as a whole. An even more recent study shows that on every measure MEPs are even more 'green' than British MPs. See table 4. BRITISH MPs' AND EUROPEAN MEMBERS OF PARLIAMENTS' SUPPORT FOR RADICAL ENVIRONMENTAL ACTION: Table 4 Q. "Using this scale of 0 - 10, where nought means a particular measure should not be implemented at all, and '10' means it is of the utmost priority that the measure be implemented, could you tell me your opinion of each measure?" (% = 7+) Measure MP MEP % % "A 20% reduction from 1990 levels in the release of carbon dioxide (CO2) by 2005, through the introduction of programmes for efficient energy use" 75 92 "Ban production of new ozone depleting chemicals and meet essential needs from mandatory recycling of existing chemicals" - 81 "The immediate banning of CFC reproduction and of other chemicals shown to damage the ozone layer" 60 - "Mandatory collection and recycling of all chemicals which are harmful to the ozone layer" 70 - "Reducing dependence on the car by increasing taxes on cars and fuel and by increasing support for public transport" - 85 "Banning development in nature reserves, national parks and other important areas in order to protect wildlife and vegetation" 53 86 "The development and implementation of renewable energy resources rather than of nuclear energy" 55 73 "The implementation of water conservation programmes through new pricing structure and regulations" 55 77 "The introduction of a programme to reduce acid emission of power stations by the use of the best available technology" 88 91 "To reform the CAP by placing price support with income support to farmers who produce food without damaging the environment" - 70 "Adjustment of national income accounts and GNP to take account of natural resources usage and pollution" 24 75 "Shift the emphasis of taxation from income and capital, to the creators of pollution and consumers of natural resources" 32 73 Fieldwork: 123 MPs, 8/6/92-22/7/92 95 MEPs, 30/10/92-5/2/93Source: WBMG/MORI British journalists too think that it's time to get tough over environmental matters. Over eight in ten Industrial Journalists, those who cover major companies' activities interviewed in May 1992 agreed that 'British companies do not pay enough attention to their treatment of the environment'. The City too agreed in the MORI Summer 1992 City Study, when 56% of the 173 institutional investors interviewed face to face (73% response rate) and 42% of the 287 analysts interviewed by telephone (again, a high 74% response rate), agreed that 'British companies do not pay enough attention to their treatment of the environment'. THE INTERNATIONAL PERSPECTIVE Protecting the environment also topped the poll in parallel studies carried out in June 1992, in Great Britain (by MORI, with a sample of 2,400 British adults), France (by Demoscopie, among 1,000 respondents) and in Spain (Demoscopia, 1,200 respondents). Using a somewhat different questioning technique (Q. Here is a list of areas of concern to business and industry. Which three or four do you think companies should pay particular attention to over the next few years?), comparable results were obtained. In Britain, 49% picked "protecting the environment", followed closely by "keeping price rises to a reasonable level" (47%) and 38% each picking "training workers" and "providing good quality products and services" and 35% saying "providing more jobs". In France however, more chose "protecting the environment" (62%), but this ran second to the 64% who said that "providing more jobs" was among the three or four things companies should pay particular attention to over the next few years. In Spain, jobs was chosen by 62%, and in second place was "protecting the environment", at 45%. Also in June 1992, in a telephone survey for the European newspaper, Britain, with 72% of the British public in agreement, was among the countries which rated companies' protection of the environment highest, with Portugal topping the poll at 80%, followed closely by the Italians (77%) and the Spaniards (71%) and the French (70%) . The study also showed that there is general agreement across Europe that companies do not pay enough attention to their treatment of the environment (see Fig. 3). Interestingly, the 'odd-man- out' is Poland: in a comparable study carried out by Professor Pitor Kwatkowski of Pentor in Warsaw among a national sample of 1,000 Poles in February 1993, only 14% agreed and 72% disagreed that Polish companies do not pay enough attention to their treatment of the environment. Kwatkowski's work among the Polish adult population for this paper proved interesting. Not only are Polish people dramatically different in their trust in corporate environmental behaviour, they are different in their green behaviour, sometimes as one would expect (e.g., many fewer have given money to green causes), but sometimes astonishingly comparable to, e.g., the British public. While in 1992 85% of the British report they have read or watched TV about wildlife/conservation/natural resources/Third World, 81% of Poles say they have; and while 8% of the British have been a member of an environmental group, 9% of Poles have. Twice as many Poles, 6%, say they have campaigned about an environmental issue in the last year or two compared with half that, 3%, of the British. Even more dramatic is the comparison of Green Consumerism between the two countries. While, as noted above, 40% of the British say they have (consciously) 'selected one product over another because of its environmentally friendly packaging, formulation or advertising', nearly as many, 36%, of Poles have, and in many ways the Poles outstrip the British in environmentally friendly behaviour. While 43% of the British say they regularly use a bottle bank, 56% of Poles say they do; 31% of the British say they avoid using chemical fertilisers or pesticides in their garden, 44% of Poles do. The Polish people also take economic action that is favourable to the environment: twice as many keep down the amount of electricity and fuel their home uses as do the British and nearly three times as many buy low energy light bulbs for their homes. The two countries' populations are about equal on a number of activities, such as buying products which come in recycled packaging, buying products made from recycled materials and, interestingly, avoiding using the services or products of companies which are considered to have a poor environmental record (16% of the British and 19% of the Poles). INTERNATIONAL GREEN ACTIVITIES: Table 5 Q. "Which, if any, of the following things have you done in the last year or two?" Aust'la New Z. Austria Canada Britain France Germ Italy Neth Poland Spain Sweden Switz AVE Base: 1,200 771 785 2,004 2,028 1,000 500 969 508 1,000 1,007 1,057 886 1,060 % % % % % % % % % % % % % % Read/ TV 87 93 54 80 86 87 93 62 96 81 69 93 90 83 Walked 88 90 77 77 81 91 87 85 95 70 86 89 89 87 Given 46 62 28 33 49 21 50 15 73 13 12 47 47 40 Gr Cons 67 64 50 64 54 46 84 42 81 36 38 66 64 60 Requested 10 15 9 13 11 5 19 6 17 5 3 8 11 11 Subscribe 13 26 7 20 11 13 12 5 27 6 4 16 15 14 Member 11 29 6 14 10 6 10 4 53 9 4 21 16 15 Visited 7 8 5 5 4 1 5 2 5 2 2 2 1 4 Campaign 7 9 16 7 4 7 21 7 10 6 6 7 16 10 Written 2 2 5 3 2 1 3 1 2 2 2 1 1 2 Environ Activists 28 48 17 20 27 15 29 8 64 8 5 35 23 27 Lead-free 36 56 35 * 37 23 * 9 48 5 8 54 57 43 Fieldwork in Poland (by Pentor) in 1993, Austria, New Zealand, Spain, Switzerland in 1992, all others in 1991 N.B. Ave. excludes Poland Source: MORI/WWF International The 1985 data from the six countries participating in the International Social Survey Program (ISSP) indicated wide variation in concern for the environment, as shown by the answers to the question eliciting the degree to which respondents (n = 677 in the USA to 1,580 in Italy) wished to see more government spending for the environment. Germany led, with 82% of those interviewed saying they would like the German Government to spend more on the environment, followed by its neighbours Austria (73%) and Italy (62%) while did fewer than half of the English-speaking countries, USA (43%), Great Britain (37%) and Australia (32%).4 A 1990 Community Attitudes Survey in Australia found that worry or concern about the environment, at 56%, topped the poll from a list of nine national issues, followed closely by education (55%), and tied for third place at 54%, interest rates and unemployment, and in terms of priority, unemployment came first, with 24%, followed by interest rates (19%) and in third place, with 17% saying that it gave them most worry, the environment.5 And a 1990 Roper Organization study in the United States found that of all the issues that had been on the public agenda for the three years prior to 1990, concern about the environment had shown the sharpest growth, rising from a 56% level of mention in 1987 to 78% in 1990 -- a dramatic 22 percentage point increase.6 More recently, Nils Rohme of Vilstrup Research has organised a comparable questioning of the publics of Denmark, Britain, the USA and East and West Germany, and found that, surprisingly, it was in the United States where the most people (44%) felt that solving environmental problems was fundamentally the government's problem, in Denmark and Great Britain this was the view of 14% while in West Germany one in five felt this and in East Germany only 9%. Rohme characterises this as "these people are not much personally concerned or practically involved, but they feel that the authorities should make an effort."7 In Mexico, studies by Dr. Miguel Bas‡–ez of MORI de Mexico have found that some two thirds of the adult Mexican population approve of the ecology movement/nature protection and fewer than two people in a hundred disapprove; even more to the point, nearly two thirds (some 64%) say they would agree to an increase in taxes if the extra money is used to prevent environmental pollution, according to the Mexican findings for the second World Values Survey .8 Studies conducted for the USIA in 1991 in Mexico and Brazil found 62% of Mexican adults and 75% of Brazilians believing environmental problems to be a great deal of a threat to the health of themselves and their families. Under these circumstances it is unsurprising to find that by margins of more than two to one both Mexicans (66% to 30%) and Brazilians (64% to 24%) would give priority to protection of the environment over economic growth.9 The European Community's Eurobarometer The European Community's Eurobarometer has been monitoring European's attitudes to the environment for a decade, although the 1982 study is described as "limited" and "exploratory". In virtually every European Community country there has been a sharp increase in the number of citizens since 1986 who describe their concern about "protecting the environment and fighting pollution" as "an immediate and urgent problem" (see table 6): Belgium (from 63% to 85%, up 22), Denmark (up 10, to 87%), France (up 24, to 80%), West Germany (up 8, to 88%), Greece (up 13, to 97%), Ireland (up 14, to 70%), Italy (up 6, to 91%), Luxembourg (no change, at 83%), Netherlands (up 21, to 84%), Portugal (up 2, to 73%), Spain (up 10, to 82%), and United Kingdom (up 16, to 82%).10 The Eurobarometer study in 1992 attempted to determine the degree to which EC citizens were ready to balance economic realities to the natural desire to improve the environment, and found that while seven in ten (69%) across Europe believed that "economic development must be ensured but the environment protected at the same time", of those who chose between protecting the environment and economic development, 22% said that "concerns about the environment should get higher priority than economic development" and only 4% the reverse. There was a remarkable consistency across demographic subgroups on the answers to this question, but vast differences by country, from a 5:4 ratio in Ireland to 5:1 in the UK up to 17:1 in Denmark and 15:1 in The Netherlands. Worry about the effect of development on the environment focused on industry (69%), energy (45%) and transport (33%), more than agriculture (21%) or tourism (7%). THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND THE ENVIRONMENT: Table 6 Q. "Could you tell me if you think the European Parliament plays an important or unimportant part in 'Environmental protection policy'?" Belgium Denmark France Germany Greece Ireland Italy Lux. Neth. Portugal Spain UK EC 12 % % % % % % % % % % % % % Important 60 53 61 64 57 67 65 68 63 68 61 62 63 Unimportant 20 29 24 22 8 9 13 18 26 9 10 13 17 Net 40 24 37 42 49 58 52 50 37 59 51 49 46 THE EUROPEAN COMMISSION AND THE ENVIRONMENT Q. "Some people believe that certain areas of policy should be decided by the (national government) while other areas of policy should be decided jointly within the European Community. At what level do you think decisions about protection of the environment should be taken?" Belgium Denmark France Germany Greece Ireland Italy Lux. Neth. Portugal Spain UK EC 12 % % % % % % % % % % % % % National Gov't 27 29 28 22 35 35 21 31 13 25 21 28 24 European Comm. 66 60 70 76 60 61 75 64 86 69 69 71 72 Difference 39 21 42 54 25 26 54 33 73 44 48 43 48 THE EUROPEAN PUBLIC AND THE ENVIRONMENT Q. "Many people are concerned about protecting the environment and fighting pollution. In your opinion is this...?" Belgium Denmark France Germany Greece Ireland Italy Lux. Neth. Portugal Spain UK EC 12 % % % % % % % % % % % % % An immediate urgent problem 85 87 80 88 97 70 91 83 84 73 82 82 85 More problem for the future 11 10 17 10 3 19 7 12 11 14 12 10 11 Not a problem 2 3 2 1 0 8 1 1 3 1 1 3 2 Increase since '87 12 5 21 4 15 7 6 -1 19 9 8 15 11 Base: 1,036 1,000 1,005 1,065 1,000 1,001 1,046 496 1,002 1,000 1,000 1,319 13,082 Source: EUROBAROMETER: Europeans and the Environment in 1992, Spring 1992 ACTIONS TAKEN TO PROTECT THE ENVIRONMENT: Table 7 Q. "Which, if any, of these things have you ever done?" Belgium Denmark France Germany Greece Ireland Italy Lux. Neth. Portugal Spain UK EC 12 % % % % % % % % % % % % % A. 85 86 90 88 90 85 89 84 79 88 86 88 88 B. 62 77 87 74 55 55 54 55 65 58 54 73 65 C. 58 71 58 87 12 33 55 75 82 34 31 54 60 D. 50 53 54 67 58 38 57 55 47 71 70 46 58 E. 49 43 65 54 78 40 59 53 39 69 67 52 58 F. 41 54 45 54 28 42 43 66 52 25 30 57 46 G. 35 36 41 50 42 22 39 41 43 43 34 38 41 H. 15 18 7 46 11 10 5 27 22 6 5 17 19 I. 32 13 32 26 25 8 30 27 13 32 15 11 23 J. 11 7 8 16 8 11 10 21 5 6 5 9 10 K. 12 5 13 12 10 6 10 18 4 7 7 5 9 L. 15 23 5 13 12 15 7 37 22 5 4 14 10 M. 10 16 5 7 2 5 6 18 20 2 4 8 7 Index 37 39 39 46 33 28 36 44 38 34 32 36 38 Source: EUROBAROMETER: Europeans and the Environment in 1992, Spring 1992 A. Avoid dropping papers or other waste on the ground B. Save energy, for example, by using less hot water, by closing doors and windows to save heat C. Sort out certain types of household waste (glass, paper, motor oil, batteries) for recycling D. Save tap water E. Not make too much noise F. Buy an environmentally-friendly product even if it is more expensive G. Use less polluting means of transport (walking, bicycle, public transport) than your car, whenever possible H. Have your car fitted with equipment to limit the pollution such as for example, a catalytic converter I. Go on a type of holiday that is less harmful to the environment J. Take part in a local environmental initiative, for example, cleaning a beach or park K. Demonstrate against a project that could harm the environment L. Financially support an association for the protection of the environment M. Be a member of an association for the protection of the environment WHAT DOES IT ALL ADD UP TO? The plurality of British public opinion is, somewhat surprisingly, on the side of Brussels when it comes to measures taken to protect the environment; when asked 'Who would you trust more to make the right decisions about the environment?', a plurality of the British, by 43% to 37% said they would trust the European Community rather than the British Government. The gap is an even wider, 51% to 34% among ABs and nearly two to one, 55% to 30%, among Environmental Activists. It isn't that the British public has great faith in the European Community to make the right decisions about the environment. The recent Eurobarometer study ("Europeans and the Environment in 1992") asked which level of government can act efficiently to protect the environment, and found all wanting, but relative to the other levels, from the local to world-wide, the EC came off least badly. But when asked in the Eurobarometer survey 'Some people believe that certain areas of policy should be decided by the British Government, while other areas of policy should be decided jointly within the European community. Which (when it comes to protection of the environment) should decide?' it was found that (by 71% to 28%) joint EC decision making was preferred to purely a British Government decision. This was, interestingly, equal to the EC average response. And when asked, again by the Eurobarometer, to choose from a list which was the most trusted source of information on the state of the environment, environmental protection organisations received 11 times the level of trust that public authorities did, and five times that of the media. What people in Britain seem to want more information on is the environmental risks posed by everyday products (87%),ways of disposing of waste (86%), the way public authorities spend the money intended for protecting the environment (86%) and the potential risks of nuclear radiation (84%). When MEPs were asked whether or not they supported companies being fully responsible for the cost of clearing up any environmental damage they cause, 87% said they supported this in MORI's 1991 MEP study; this rose to 93% in the 1992 study. And 72% of MEPs (including 69% of British MEPs) support the European Environmental Protection Agency assuming full responsibility for the enforcement of agreed European standards on the environment. So if action is needed by British and other European companies to get their act together to either correct what they are in fact doing about the environment, or, alternatively, correct the misconception that they are not doing enough in their treatment of the environment, then they should get moving. Otherwise, the national governments at best, or the EEPA acting for the EC or the European Parliament, will do it for them, and legal penalties will be a likely action. What is happening in Europe is now or soon will be happening elsewhere. That some 118 world leaders attended the Rio Conference last year gave a clear signal that politicians everywhere know that there is political mileage to be made in looking, talking, and, sooner or later, acting green. Acknowledgements The author is grateful for the additional research conducted for inclusion in this paper by Dr. Pitor Kwatkowski of Pentor, Warsaw, Poland, and Dr. Miguel Bas‡–ez of MORI de Mexico, Mexico City D.F., and for comments on earlier drafts by Drs. Karlheinz Reif and Eric Marlier of the Commission of the European communities, Dr. Bernhard Rieder, consultant to BASF and to the Chemical Association in Germany, and HRH The Duke of Edinburgh, President of the World Wide Fund for Nature. Robert M. Worcester is Chairman of MORI (Market & Opinion Research International Limited), London, and Visiting Professor of Government at London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE) and in the Graduate Centre of Journalism, City University, London. He is Senior Vice President of the International Social Science Council/UNESCO and a Member of its Standing Committee of Human Dimensions of Global Environmental Change. 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