14 DAY TRIAL // Over 1,000 people that participated in an MSN survey focused on ecology have pointed to Leonardo DiCaprio and Cameron Diaz as the greenest celebrities. Microsoft indicated that DiCaprio was a hit with female respondents, while Diaz was the top eco-celeb with male respondents. No less than 40% of the people surveyed revealed that “green” was not necessarily driven by ecological factors, but rather fueled by celebrities or the trend factor. Microsoft itself underlined that people were willing to go only so far for eco-friendliness. Data from the survey was made available just ahead of Earth Day, which is celebrated on April 22, 2009.
“Educating one’s self is a quick and easy way for people to play a part in this year’s Earth Day,” commented Lisa Tiedt, MSN Green Expert. “MSN Green is the all-in-one source for news, information and tools that inspire people to enrich their lives and the environment — around the world and around the block.”
According to the MSN survey, no less than 70% of Americans are firmly convinced that they will never use a kitchen compost or reduce toilet flushes in order to help the environment. However, at the same time, approximately 49% of people surveyed are more than willing to go without air conditioning throughout the summer, or even to go full vegetarian for a year, in order to cut back on their carbon footprint.
“To achieve long-term sustainability, Americans are going to have to go above and beyond their traditional green routines of recycling, and work to influence policy that will open up additional recycling options and keep people from littering,” Tiedt added.
At the same time, there were over 20% of respondents who claimed to have no access to a recycling service, or not even knowing what the carbon footprint was. Overall, 46% of people revealed that recycling had to be made easier before they would consider pulling their weight, in terms of waste. And it is quite a weight, as statistics show that Americans produce the weight of the Empire State Building in trash in a single day.