Veolia has released a new global climate survey with research firm Elabe. The survey finds that a majority of Americans are ready to take measures to address the challenges of climate change that would have been unheard of a generation ago, including drinking recycled water to adapt to ongoing water shortages
The survey gauged American public opinions about the impacts of climate change and shows that they are no longer an abstraction for a large percentage of Americans, but something that can be seen and felt on a regular basis.
Worsening storms, unpredictable weather patterns, drought, flooding and other tangible signs of a changing climate are making Americans feel increasingly anxious and vulnerable, the survey shows.
A previous Veolia survey, conducted in 2022 and released in early 2023, showed a growing consensus toward green solutions for climate-related challenges. The latest one reveals a deepening level of concern and openness to solutions that may have once been regarded as too extreme.
Protecting public health has become a powerful lever to encourage a desire for ecology and consent to changes in behavior or the additional costs of environmental solutions.
Mitigating PFAS and other micropollutants in drinking water is just one example of the investments that will need to be made in the coming years, according to a Veolia press release.
The Veolia survey findings are echoed in recent government reporting, including an Economic Well-Being of U.S. Households in the 2023 report conducted by the U.S. Federal Reserve Board, showing that almost 20% of adults in the U.S. were financially impacted by natural disasters last year, marking a nearly 50% rise from 2022.
Conducted in late 2023 and early 2024, the latest Veolia survey posed climate-related questions to 2,000 Americans selected from a broad range of demographics, including all geographic regions and age groups.
