Some aspects of the survey are a bit warped. Obviously we need to heat our homes more than in places such as Brazil. If the government had more policies and regulations that encourage environmentally friendly practices we would do better. At least we finished ahead of the United States but the survey shows we could make plenty of improvements.
Canadian consumers rank second-last in green survey
Huge homes, widespread car culture push Canada to back of the pack
Last Updated: Wednesday, May 7, 2008 CBC News
Canadians scored dismally in a 14-country survey on environmentally friendly consumption patterns, in part owing to a widespread car culture and a penchant for big homes.
The survey, which was released Wednesday, was conducted by the polling firm GlobeScan for the National Geographic Society. Canada finished ahead of the United States but behind Brazil, India, China, Mexico, Hungary, Russia, Great Britain, Germany, Australia, Spain, Japan and France.According to the National Geographic survey, 52 per cent of Canadian respondents said they drive alone daily. (CBC)
"I think that the survey results … really set an important reminder to Canadians that on a per capita basis Canadians' footprint is really quite heavy compared with other countries," said Eric Whan, GlobeScan's director of sustainability, at a press conference Wednesday.
One thousand consumers from each of the 14 countries completed the online survey about their consumption patterns between Jan. 11 and Feb. 13. Participants answered questions about housing, transportation, food and their purchasing habits and were given a score out of 100. Government action and industry were not assessed.
The researchers acknowledged that financial and cultural circumstances may have influenced the rankings, with developing countries scoring well. But, they argued consumers everywhere can choose to be more environmentally friendly in their consumption habits.
"Regardless of why consumers behave in an environmentally friendly way — whether it be driven by health concerns, whether it's a cultural thing, climate, income … or a real conscious decision to be more green — the fact is individual consumers in developing countries have less impact on the environment than the average consumer in wealthy countries," Whan said.
"In this sense, it really doesn't matter why they behave in the way they do — the fact is, their behaviour does have an environmental impact and consumers anywhere can change in many ways, many of their behaviours for better or worse."
But, Beth Savan, sustainability director at the University of Toronto, says while the study is interesting, she noted there are shortcomings in the analysis.
"They are assuming that attitudes are very strongly linked to behaviour," she said, adding the researchers did not explore institutional barriers to being environmentally friendly.
"Canadians care more about the environment than anything else," she said. "It's our top priority and yet when you look at our behaviour we're the second worst after the United States. Why is that?
"It's not because we Canadians are bad people. It's not because we're not acting on our beliefs, because we're somehow superficial.… It's not because of any of those things. It's because our society is set up in such a way that we are prevented on our attitudes and our beliefs which are generally pro environment in this country."
For example, Savan noted Germany has introduced strong legislation to control packaging and introduced community-based wind programs, making it easier for consumers to be a little greener. She noted the study failed to recognize these initiatives in Germany.
Brazil, India earn marks for small homes
The survey found that 29 per cent of Canadians have nine or more rooms in their houses, putting Canada at the higher end of the spectrum for house size. Canadians were also penalized for heating their homes.
While acknowledging heating as a necessity in Canada's northern climate, the researchers said Canadians scored low because of the way they choose to heat their homes.
"The Canadians being one of the highest users in the market basket of energy overall was quite surprising," said Lloyd Hetherington, GlobeScan's executive vice-president.
"We know that there's penalties there for living in a colder climate, for being stretched out in a large country but by and large in most of these indices, Canada did not score well. There's a lot to be done."
By comparison, Brazil earned high marks for having smaller homes, infrequent use of home heating and widespread use of renewable electricity. Respondents in China and India also raised their green index value for the use of solar panels to heat water.
In terms of transportation, Canada ranked 12th out of the 14 countries surveyed with 52 per cent of respondents saying they drive alone daily. The survey also found 87 per cent say they have one or more vehicles in their households. In contrast, 22 per cent reported using public transportation at least once a week. China ranked well in this category, though the study noted car use there was growing notably.'
Again, Savan said institutional barriers block Canadians from choosing greener alternatives.
"We have things the wrong way around in this country and if we were more like Germany and the incentives were reversed so it was more expensive to drive a car because carbon was taxed for example, and roads were taxed and it was cheaper to go by transit … then I think you'd find that people's behaviour would change," she said.
Canadians scored well in recycling with 59 per cent of respondents saying they always recycled and 46 per cent said they donated items that could be reused. About 50 per cent of Canadians also said they have energy-saving washing machines and/or refrigerators and freezers. China, India and Brazil led in the consumer goods index, with most consumers reporting they purchase green products and own few appliances.
With more Canadians saying they buy locally grown foods, Canadians ranked fifth in the food index. Canada also earned points for below-average consumption of bottled water at 52 per cent.
The study also found 19 per cent of Canadian consumers believe environmental problems will negatively affect their health though only 20 per cent said they were actively attempting to lessen their impact on the environment.
The results of the survey were weighted according to census data to best represent age, gender and education demographics for each country. The results are considered to be accurate within 3.1 percentage points 95 per cent of the time.
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