Knowledge of environmental terms

More from BuilderScrap.com on attitudes and knowledge of the environment. This is a continuation of the previous post comparing 2007 to 2009 in relation to environmental terms.
As in 2007, respondents were asked to indicate how much they knew, if anything about a range of environmental terms and concepts. Knowledge of other, more specific terms (including biodiversity and carbon offsetting) is dealt with later.

There had been no real change in perceived levels of knowledge between 2007 and 2009 except for the term carbon footprint. Reported knowledge of this had increased substantially since 2007 – 48% of respondents said they knew at least a fair amount about this in 2009 compared with 25% in 2007. While in 2007, 30% of respondents claimed to have never heard of it, in 2009 this had fallen to just 6%. Levels of knowledge about climate change, global warming and CO2 emissions were very similar to those reported in 2007. The majority of respondents said they knew either a lot or a fair amount about these. Very few people claimed to know nothing about these terms.

Possible conclusions from this graphic;

We’ve hit a saturation point relating to environmental reporting on Global Warming, CO2 Emissions and Climate Change . This could mean people know just about as much they care to, and aren’t being influenced anymore by those terms.

Possibly the environmental impact studies and news reporting on the subject haven’t increased over this time period. Maybe they’ve decreased.

Carbon Footprint has been promoted as a buzz term in the media, people relate more to it. It’s seen as an actionable goal (The perception is it can be altered) therefore people believe they can make a difference.

Your thoughts?