Greenies also Techies

The 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”.

For the report in PDF form, click here.