Most Environmentally Conscious Consumers Are Also Tech-Savvy

/sci-tech/article/37280The environmental movement is one that has, lately, received a
rather large amount of attention. This is not solely because of the
contention about whether the global warming is as a result of man-made
greenhouse gases, but because of its subsequent timing with a
revolution on the internet.

New research from Mediamark Research and Intelligence has released
the results of a study, based on interviews conducted with
approximately 26,000 US adults, that suggests those 2% of people who
are self-described “Green Advocates” are also among the most tech savvy.

Over the past few years, as the environmental movement has grown
online, so has a new wave of “journalism”. I quote that word because
there are some journalists out there who will resent the opinion that
they are lobbed in a group with, say, me. However there are, at the
moment, three groups of people that are, sadly, often misrepresented as
only two; and this is where the problem occurs.

In fact, in time, it will once again revert back to two groups, but
for the moment we have traditional journalists, web journalists, and
bloggers. We at Green Options are not bloggers, we are web journalists,
but we often get tagged as bloggers, those 13 year old boys in their
parents basement decrying to the world that their parents don’t
understand them.

My point is though that with this revolution in reporting, thanks to
the internet, coupled with a group of people who are technologically
savvy, the environmental movement has grown.

“Although they tend to be a relatively older group, Green Advocates
are more likely to embrace technology than the other Green consumer
segments, as well as than the adult population as a whole,” said Anne
Marie Kelly, Vice President of Marketing and Strategic Planning at MRI.
“They are opinion leaders who research and read product reviews before
buying new technology. And they are 65% more likely to give technology
product advice about what they’ve learned to others.”

Sadly, hidden beneath this wonderful linkage between technology and
environmental advocacy, is the fact that according to the MRI study,
46.4% of Americans are “UnGreen”, while another 10.6% are only “Green
at the Supermarket” and 18.2% “Green in Theory”.

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