The beginning of a new year prompts many of us to look back on the past and take stock of what we’ve accomplished and how things have changed. Trended data – the same survey questions asked at different points in time, typically monthly, quarterly, or annually – enable us researchers to measure and track changes in attitudes and behaviors over time. In celebration of the New Year, I’ll be devoting my blog entries in January to analyzing year-over-year differences in Americans’ “green-ness” (i.e., opinions about, and activities related to, the environment).

In the summer of 2009, Harris Interactive surveyed more than 3,100 U.S. adults – including 167 who self-identified as lesbian, gay, bisexual, and/or transgender (LGBT) – about environmental issues, attitudes, and behaviors. The survey, conducted in conjunction with Witeck-Combs Communications, Inc., a strategic public relations and marketing communications firm with special expertise in the LGBT market, found that LGBT Americans are more likely than their heterosexual counterparts to:

·         Believe in global warming (75% LGBT vs. 53% non-LGBT);

·         Feel it is important to support environmental causes (66% LGBT vs. 56% non-LGBT);

·         Express concern about the condition of the planet for future generations (51% LGBT vs. 42% non-LGBT);

·         Be influenced by environmental issues when making decisions about how they vote (48% LGBT vs. 35% non-LGBT) or what they buy (40% LGBT vs. 26% non-LGBT); and,

·         Describe themselves as environmentally-conscious (38% LGBT vs. 30% non-LGBT).

And, according to a follow-up survey conducted in November 2010, this “green gap” between LGBT and heterosexual adults has only grown wider from 2009 to 2010. Even more so than before, LGBT adults are “greener” than their heterosexual peers – specifically, they are more likely to:

·         Express concern about the planet we are bequeathing to our descendants (55% LGBT vs. 35% non-LGBT);

·         Say environmental issues are important to their voting (45% LGBT vs. 27% non-LGBT) and purchasing (48% LGBT vs. 25% non-LGBT) decisions; and,

·         Describe themselves as environmentally-conscious (47% LGBT vs. 28% non-LGBT).

Interestingly, the expanding gap in green attitudes between LGBT and heterosexual Americans is simultaneously being driven by both groups – that is, LGBT adults are now more likely to espouse green attitudes than they were in 2009, while heterosexual adults are now less likely to do so than they were about a year ago.

To me, this is a rather perplexing finding – why would LGBT and heterosexual adults hold such different opinions on green issues? And what happened between 2009 and 2010 that would make LGBT adults increase their commitment to going green while their heterosexual counterparts did exactly the opposite? There are no simple answers to complex questions like these, but I’ll be exploring the data in greater detail and elaborating on these issues in my next entry later this month.