A Bit of "Environmental Attitude"
At EcoWorldly this week, we’ve been focusing on environmental attitudes around the world. Attitudes to the environment can vary widely - I know this, due to the mixture of emails and comments that I often receive in response to blog posts. But beyond the Internet, how are environmental issues perceived out on the street?
In the interest of bringing EcoWorldy readers the most up to date and worldly information, I’ve undertaken a small, and totally un-scientific survey of the Swiss population by asking a small number of random people random questions about their attitudes towards the environment and environmentalism.
Beno, Sports Instructor - My attitude towards environmentalism is that in general people miss the point. As with many subjects the press high-jacks it and people get miss-informed and end up barking up the wrong tree, sometimes in the wrong forest…
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Michel, Banker - My problem is that most environmentalists are not grounded in reality. I try to do my bit, but to be honest I am often put off by extreme views of some environmentalists.
Nadia, Psychologist - The environment is something taken very seriously in Switzerland, we all try to make an effort to treat our Earth kindly. The Swiss government is taking this seriously as well, with the proposal for new legislation on climate change.
Andreas, Student - For sure, the environment is something that we should all be very concerned about. But to be honest, I don’t really actively do much or think much about it, but I should do.
Obviously, this small sample doesn’t give us the real picture. But it does demonstrate the fact that there are thousands of aspects to environmentalism in any one country, just as there are thousands of issues and thousands of solutions. The important take-away from this exercise is to remind ourselves that real environmental progress will only be made by considering all sides of the argument, and by engaging all opinions as we do so..
Many thanks to those who gave a few minutes of their time to provide their opinions here.
See all EcoWorldy articles about Switzerland.
Nadia doesn’t seem to have spent much time talking to Beno, Michel, and Andreas!
Hi Mark, one thing I notice is how quick many of us are to say we care about the environment but don’t have much idea how to put that into everyday practice. It is as much, if not more, down to the individual as it is a responsibility of governments to actively care about the planet’s well being. If we all stopped buying goods packed in non bio-degradable material for example, it would have an immediate effect on the manufacturers forcing them to use bio-degradable packaging.
Here, here, Yafia!
Skye, yep, it’s a complex subject. Talk to 100 different people and you get 100 different answers..
Yafiah, you’ve hit the nail on the head - it’s too easy for most of us just to look the other way…
[...] why the idea of personal responsibility for the environment is lacking, then to the streets of Switzerland for a taste of some real [...]