A new report from Lehi-based Vivint Solar finds that 70 percent of Americans feel guilty about wasting energy. The feeling, tabbed “eco-guilt,” is what people get when they know that they could and should adjust their habits to be more "green."
The company surveyed a group of 2,500 participants of varying age and gender throughout the United States. The report included questions about climate change headlines causing stress, whether or not participants felt guilty about not recycling, guilt about water usage and whether participants felt more guilty about wasting energy due to environmental impact or cost.
Survey respondents reported feeling guilty about wasting energy in their homes. Overall, there was a trend in which younger survey respondents felt more eco-guilt than the group of people in the older age categories. Seventy-five percent of respondents from the age range of 18–34 reported that they felt guilty about not recycling. That number dropped to 66 percent in the 55-and -older age range.
One of the questions asked in Vivint Solar’s “Guilt Report” was centered on the idea of being influenced by others. It reads: “Do we feel guilty because we personally know we should be making better, greener choices or do we feel guilty because we are being influenced by those we know?” Forty-nine percent of survey respondents said that they changed their habits to be more “green” when others were around.
The majority of survey respondents (54 percent) reported feeling stressed when they saw headlines about climate change. This number went up to 65 percent when asked of respondents age 18–34. A higher percentage of women (57 percent) were also more affected by these types of headlines.