Environment taking back seat to bottom line: report

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VANCOUVER (NEWS1130) – We just don’t have the money to be environmentally responsible these days.

A new survey finds over the last few years, the environment has lost its status as one of the top five issues facing Canadians. Concerns about being green have taken a major back seat to things like the price of gas and the state of the economy.

Jack Bensimon with Bensimon Byrne tells us their latest Consumerology report finds we are more worried about other things:

“In July of 2008, [the environment] ranked up there with health care as one of the two or three most important issues on the national agenda. And what we’re finding now — just 36 months later — is that it’s fallen down the list, to number nine or ten on the national agenda.”

Bensimon says it’s an issue of affordability, adding just over one in five Canadians is motivated to make lifestyle changes that will benefit the environment. We’re still doing things like throwing our pop cans in recycling bins, but financial pressures are making it harder for us to make environmentally friendly purchases.

Another big change from 2008: the number of women who are likely to consider environmental impact when making a purchase has diminished from 41 per cent to just 30 per cent today.

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