One in three Finns plan to take more climate friendly holidays this summer in light of the climate change crisis that has received increasing attention recently.
The trend was revealed in a poll conducted by Taylor Nelson Sofres for the Finnish News Agency (STT) on a range of ‘green’ issues. One third revealed that they had changed holiday plans to reduce air travel, favouring domestic destinations as a result.
Those who were flying did so with a conscience, with 10 percent saying they had paid extra to offset carbon emissions when purchasing flight tickets.
But their efforts didn’t stop at travel, three-quarters admitted they also made more effort to switch off appliances completely or had taken water and electricity consumption ratings into consideration when buying appliances. More than half also put up with less heating to help save energy.
“It appears that a really significant shift in attitudes has taken place over the course of a year,” Risto Saarinen, of the Finnish Environment Institute (Syke), commented.
“This is exactly how it works: first people receive the information, then they take it in and little by little their attitudes change.”
The survey questioned 1,000 people with a margin of error put at three percentage points either way.