One section of the FYE 2010 questionnaire was drawn from DEFRA’s public engagement project (most recently carried out in March 2010) for purposes of comparability. As such we can compare the response of the festival audience (as a whole) to that of the general public. Although the questions are structurally similar, the scope and topic of each varies quite considerably, so they have been considered individually and grouped according to similar themes. These groups have been discussed and observations made, again, this is hoped to be pretty exhaustive, even for inconclusive findings.

Summary of comparisons, findings

• The festival audience may be broadly ‘more environmentally conscious’ than the general public
• Both samples agree that being environmentally friendly is not socially embarrassing, although the general public are more likely to think that ‘being green is an alternative lifestyle’
• Both samples agree that being environmentally friendly can be a selfless act. The general public may be more influenced by a lack of international action, whereas the festival audience consider local action important, even if it is isolated.
• The samples differ in their more speculative considerations of CC. The festival audience may be more certain of the wide-ranging effects and timescales of CC.

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Question: How much do you agree/disagree with the following statement?

The responses for both DEFRA and FYE are grouped into Agree, Disagree and Neutral:

• ‘Agree’ = Strongly agree and Agree,
• ‘Disagree’ = Strongly disagree and Disagree,
• ‘Neutral’ = Neither agree or disagree and Don’t know

When the difference between the two sets is charted, as below, we can identify on which issues the two are most likely to have differing opinions: the closer to 0, the less difference.

<------ FYE more likely to disagree ------------------FYE + DEFRA similar -------FYE more likely to agree ----->

• Alternative– ‘Being green is an alternative lifestyle, it’s not for the majority’
• Future– ‘The effects of climate change are too far in the future to really worry me’
• Countries- ‘It’s not worth Britain trying to combat climate change, other countries will just cancel it out’
• Money– ‘It’s only worth doing environmentally friendly things if they save you money’
• Others– ‘It’s not worth doing things to help the environment if others don’t do the same’
• Embarrass– ‘It would embarrass me if my friends thought my lifestyle was purposefully environmentally friendly’
• Disaster– ‘If things continue on their current path, we will soon experience a major environmental disaster’
• Habits– ‘I find it hard to change my habits to be more environmentally friendly’

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Findings: We can see that the two samples are not identical. Broadly speaking, the FYE sample appears to be more pro-environment than the DEFRA sample. The points to the right of the red line indicate areas the FYE sample were more likely to agree with, whereas the points to the left indicate where FYE were more likely to disagree.

“By comparison to the opinions of the general public, the festival audience thinks that...”

• Most difference (15%)
• Being green doesn’t have to be an alternative lifestyle
• CC is a current issue, not one that is too far away in the future to a concern
• The efforts of the UK to combat CC will not be ‘cancelled out’ by other countries

• Some difference (5-10%)
• If things don’t change we will have a major environmental disaster
• I find it hard to change my habits to be more environmentally conscious

• Little or no difference (<5%)
• It is worth being green even if it doesn’t save you money
• It is worth doing green things even if others don’t
• It wouldn’t embarrass me for friends know I was environmentally motivated

Sampling issue: We should note that for all of these findings, the conditions of the sampling between the two will have been notably different and may have influenced the results. The DEFRA sample was gathered through face-to-face interviews, compared to the self-completion FYE questionnaire. We can also assume that the DEFRA sample was not gathered inside an environmental exhibit, at a music festival, surrounded by persons with a fairly explicit desire to ‘convert’ people to environmentally conscious behaviour.

• Both samples agree that being environmentally friendly can be a selfless act. The general public may be more influenced by a lack of international action, whereas the festival audience consider local action important, even if it is isolated.

• The samples differ in their more speculative considerations of CC. The festival audience may be more certain of the wide-ranging effects and timescales of CC.

Summary of comparisons, findings
The festival audience may be broadly ‘more environmentally conscious’ than the general public
Both samples agree that being environmentally friendly is not socially embarrassing, although the general public are more likely to think that ‘being green is an alternative lifestyle’
Both samples agree that being environmentally friendly can be a selfless act. The general public may be more influenced by a lack of international action, whereas the festival audience consider local action important, even if it is isolated.

The samples differ in their more speculative considerations of CC. The festival audience may be more certain of the wide-ranging effects and timescales of CC.