Consumer Activism on Global Warming, 2021
Data, Graphs, and Maps
Grades9, 10, 11, 12, APScience, Economics, English Language Arts
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Provided by Yale Program on Climate Change Communication
What it is
- This detailed report explains the results of a national survey of about 1,000 Americans regarding their willingness to make different consumer choices to reduce global warming.
- Students will learn how Americans act towards companies that do and do not advocate for climate change legislation, what is stopping or encouraging them from doing more consumer activism, and how they feel about the actions that corporations are taking to address global warming.
Teaching tips
Positives
- This report is sectioned into manageable parts, each of which includes a graph or chart that visualizes the data presented.
- Students will enjoy comparing and contrasting their consumer behaviors with those of the people surveyed.
Additional Prerequisites
- Students should understand how to read and analyze several types of charts and graphs.
- Have students calculate the percentage of Americans surveyed for this report and have them discuss the importance of sample sizes in data analysis.
Differentiation
- Connections can be made in math classes that are using real-world data to practice data analysis or to create graphs, and in social studies classes that are discussing consumer behaviors and motivations.
- Try reading the summary together as a class and then have groups of students dive into each section of data on their own. The groups can then present their section to the class.
- Have students conduct their own survey of friends and family about their consumer activism around global warming.
- As an extension, have students research a company that they believe people should reward or punish due to their actions around climate change. Then have them create a campaign that urges people to either punish or reward the company by either supporting them or not in the future.
From the scientist review
This resource presents the results of a national survey of 1,006 American adults concerning consumers’ willingness to change their economic behavior to reduce global warming. This report features a clear executive summary and visually compelling figures and tables of the raw survey responses. This resource is valuable as a teaching tool if students interact with the data and draw inferences. This report presents recent consumer opinion research on climate change in a clear and understandable package, and it is recommended for teaching.
How we review resourcesReady to use it?
Hosted on climatecommunication.yale.edu
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