I guess this shouldn't surprise me, since Millennials will be living on this planet longer than Gen Xers or Baby Boomers. But it is kind of disappointing. A healthy 59% of Millennials say they are concerned about how their daily activities affect the environment, while only 29% disagree (see top chart). Members of Generation X are split on the issue (49% to 48%). It is the Baby Boomers that don't seem to care about the environment. Only 39% say they are concerned about how their daily activities affect the environment, while 58% don't really care.
I realize that we Boomers will not be around to see how our actions affect the planet in the future, but that is a poor reason to not really care about it. Shouldn't we care about what kind of planetary environment we leave for future generations (especially since we are the generation that invented Earth Day)?
The second chart shows the planned participation in Earth Day activities (on April 22nd). Once again, it is the Millennials who plan the most participation (48% to 30%), while the Baby Boomers will have the least participation (27% to 51%).
These charts are from a new YouGov Poll done on April 13th and 14th of a random national sample of 1,064 adults.
