One in ten under-25’s have turned to veganism due to a feeling of guilt over their environmentally harmful habits. Younger people are also more likely than middle-aged or older people to boast about performing green actions such as reducing their water use or donating to charity shops.
According to The Telegraph:
One in 10 young people are now vegan and are leading the charge in green “virtue-signalling”, a new report has revealed.
Under-25s are more likely to boast about performing eco-friendly actions such as limiting water use or donating to charity shops than older age groups, a survey of 4,000 adults has suggested.
But they are half as likely to actually carry these out, according to the findings from insurance company Aviva in their latest How We Live report.
Experts said many are feeling “guilty” about their environmentally harmful habits including travelling by plane, buying food in single-use plastic containers containers and putting the heating on.
To assuage this, they exaggerate their eco-friendly behaviour both online and in person, the analysts said.
In the survey, 10 per cent of respondents aged between 16 and 24 said they follow a plant-based diet, a four per cent increase on the national average of six per cent.
Those aged 75 and above ranked the lowest with just two per cent following a vegan diet, a one per cent increase from last year.
But when the analysts looked at the environmental habits of under-25s they found just a third (34 per cent) recycle through bin collections, compared to the national average of 71 per cent.
For the over 75s, the figure was ninety per cent.
The contradictions in the Aviva findings are interesting to say the least. The survey suggests that under-25’s are turning to veganism to help fight climate change, because they are unable or unwilling to limit air travel and they feel guilty about putting the heating on.
However, only one third of them recycle which, if you believe that it makes any difference, is the easiest thing to do. That might be down to laziness. It’s unlikely to be down to any scepticism around climate change among the under-25’s.
It’s also interesting that only half of those who claim to be doing their bit to save the planet are actually doing anything at all. Again, I wouldn’t put that down to scepticism. It might just be peer pressure.
A four per cent rise in under-25’s choosing a plant based diet is a sure sign that younger folks are getting the climate change message loud and clear.
No good can come of that.
