Nature and humanity are currently confronted with various problems. According to a survey by the Federal Ministry for the Environment, Nature Conservation, Nuclear Safety and Consumer Protection, more than 80 percent of those surveyed in Germany perceive the effects of climate change in their everyday lives. Two-thirds of those surveyed feel afraid because of this.
Advertisement
Nevertheless, in the eyes of the 2073 participants in the environmental awareness study, climate change is not the greatest current threat – around 58 percent consider it to be very threatening. Even more frightening is the scarcity of fresh water reserves (59 percent) – often a consequence of climate change. According to a survey, 61 percent of people consider the plastic waste pollution of the environment to be very threatening. The extinction of species in the animal and plant world and the continuously deteriorating condition of the forests share fourth place with 51 percent of the biggest environmental problems.
(Image: Statista)
Climate change felt “strongly to very strongly”.
The consequences of climate change can be felt globally, numerous extreme weather events such as droughts, floods or forest fires are now taking place not far from our own front door. The people surveyed in Germany stated that they felt the effects of climate change strongly to very strongly, especially in the form of drought, low water levels and droughts. Extreme weather events such as heavy rain and heat are also noticed in this country.
(Bild:
shutterstock/3dmask
)
In our weekly column we present numbers, curves and diagrams from technology and science.
When it comes to climate and environmental protection, the citizens of Germany feel they have a duty, as the infographic from Statista shows, in which a small selection of the topics of the environmental awareness study is prepared. However, in the public perception, politics and business are not yet taking sufficient measures to bring about an improvement in the situation. The majority of respondents are rather dissatisfied with the commitment of the various levels of government in Germany and Europe. Only around 24 to 30 percent of those surveyed felt that the municipalities, states, the federal government and the European Union were sufficiently committed.
Industry and business are particularly critical of those surveyed: Only 15 percent think that they (rather) do enough to protect the environment and climate. Of course, these are also responsible for the largest emissions of greenhouse gases and other pollutants.
Advertisement
The environmental awareness study was conducted by Forsa using its online panel Omninet. The people interviewed were randomly selected from this panel, and the data was weighted using official statistics on age, gender and education.
(jl)
To home page