I’m the last one in the greenosphere to mention it, but check out this new poll of 22,000 people in 21 countries (full results PDF), done by the BBC and PIPA. The big takeaway is that more than 80% of people say they’re willing to make substantial changes in their lifestyle in order to go green.
Supposedly, 50% of people worldwide support a tax on oil and coal, and more if the revenue is specifically targeted to renewables and efficiency. This, however, is revealing:
In almost all countries in Europe, and in the US, most people said they believed the cost of fuels that contribute most to climate change would have to increase.
The only exceptions were Italy and Russia, where significant numbers of people believed that increases in the price of energy would not be needed.
The pollsters suggested that high energy costs in both countries could have put people off the idea of increasing prices even further.
In other words: people are open to paying more in theory, but not so much in practice.
Anyway, take it for what it’s worth.
