Many Europeans want climate action – but less so if it changes their lifestyle, shows poll

25 comments
  1. >Many Europeans are alarmed by the climate crisis and would willingly take personal steps and back government policies to help combat it, a survey suggests – but the more a measure would change their lifestyle, the less they support it.

    >The seven-country YouGov survey tested backing for state-level climate action, such as banning single-use plastics and scrapping fossil-fuel cars, and individual initiatives including buying only secondhand clothes and giving up meat and dairy products.
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    > The responses, from the UK, France, Germany, Denmark, Sweden, Spain and Italy, suggested many people were happy with measures that would not greatly affect the way they lead their lives, but bigger steps that may be necessary were unpopular.
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    > …
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    > YouGov questioned representative samples of more than 1,000 respondents in each country, with fieldwork carried out between 5 and 24 April.

  2. Until the main perpetrators – companies and factories responsible – are forced to take action, every single article about the general population taking steps is just pure guiltmongering.

  3. Climate action _has to_ change the lifestyle, that’s the whole point. We are using the resources of 2 planet Earth’s and it’s not sustainable.

  4. Typical. “Let’s fight for climate!” “Ok, start using public transportation”, “Uhm, noooo I need my car to go to work”. End of the climate action.

  5. Many Europeans would like to be millionaires – but less so if it meant they had to work 120 hours a week, shows poll

  6. “Hi there! I would like some climate change without changes to my lifestyle. You fresh out? All you have are empty promises by climate-denying politicians?”

  7. Obviously people do not want to change their lifestyle. Governments need to take this into account and offer alternatives that allow Europeans to reduce their footprint while at the same time still being able to live their lives.

    One example: In the Netherlands public transportation is getting worse and worse (It is still quite good mind you). The prices meanwhile have risen to a point where it is often more expensive to commute to work via train, than to own a car and use that for commuting. Meanwhile due to budget cuts, a lot of especially bus stops are vanishing from the less urban areas, forcing those people to get a car as well. Prices are rising more and more too, a single ticket can run you up to 30-40 euros.

    If the government heavily invests in reliable and accessible public transit that is low-cost and easy to use, people will use less cars. Nobody likes being in a traffic jam when they could just take a nap on a train, but when the traffic-jam car **still** gets you to your destination faster and cheaper then why bother with a train?

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    It’s extremely disingenuous for this article to subtly accuse Europeans of not really wanting climate action when governments are companies have created a system where it becomes vastly more expensive and far more inconvenient for the average citizen to make these lifestyle changes. People have limited time and money.

  8. Sure, guilt the working class into taking away even more from their lives than it has already been taken for a “I’m doing my part!” feeling that has microscopic impact.

    To quote [this](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hb7hvNOxqG4) song, *David Attenborough makes me feel like shit for using a straw, while BP takes oil spill wanks in the ocean*

  9. Climate action should address the biggest offenders first instead of making every day people responsible and inconveniencing them so that huge corporations can keep churning out increasingly more pollution.

  10. I consider myself very lucky to have by default a lifestyle that has a low carbon footprint (No car, very little meat, living in a country with clean energy, extremely low interest in material goods, etc) because I know how difficult it is to change a deeply ingrained habit since I have been forced to make some drastic changes to my diet because of kidney issues (borderline saltless diet) and it is very difficult.

  11. My climate action is to not reproduce, so I don’t really give a shit what happens from here on out.

    Let it all die. Who cares

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