The Daily Background
| Poll: Vast majority willing to make sacrifices for climate… in Canada
by Arlen Parsa
According to a new poll of Canadians, a vast majority is willing to make sacrifices in their lives if it will help curb global warming. CTV says:
- 76 per cent are willing to pay to have their houses retro-fitted to become more energy efficient
- 73 per cent would reduce the amount they fly to times when it is only absolutely necessary
- 72 per cent would pay more for a fuel-efficient car
- 62 per cent are willing to have the economy grow at a significantly slower rate
- 61 per cent would reduce the amount they drive in half.
Note that each of these items would save people money immediately, and in the case of the energy efficient homes; in the llong-run.
Unfortunately, 64% of Canadians weren’t willing to pay “signifigantly higher” gas prices for the environment. But wait, is that so unfortunate after all? Paying higher gas prices isn’t going to help stop global warming- it’s a result of global warming. So should we actually take that as a positive thing?
All in all, 93% were willing to make some type of sacrifice. Obviously I’d be interested to see a poll of this type conducted within the United States, to see how Americans react to the idea of being asked to make personal lifestyle sacrifices to help fight global warming.
There seems to be this myth that it’s either one or the other with regard to fighting global warming. It’s either you make huge sacrifices and end up living a life of extreme eco-radicalism, or you live normally. The truth is that that’s not the case and that there’s quite a bit of comfortable in-between ground.
Unfortunately, whereas 83% of Canadians believe that global warming has “the potential to harm future generations,” I doubt that many Americans feel that way. Still, I’d like to see this type of poll done, just so we can see how we stand.
