These findings come from a special Roy Morgan survey conducted in Australia on attitudes towards environmental issues facing the World and Australia in the future. In Australia, a cross-section of 656 men and women aged 14 or over were interviewed by telephone on November 18-22, 2009.

Table 1: Most important environmental issue facing the World and Australia

	Most important environmental issue facing the World				Most important environmental issue facing Australia
	April 2006	Nov 2008	May 2009	Nov 2009	April 2006	Nov 2008	May 2009	Nov 2009
	(%)	(%)	(%)	(%)	(%)	(%)	(%)	(%)
Water conservation, Water management	8	15	8	11	27	29	20	25
Erosion	*	*	*	1	*	1	1	1
Salinity	1	1	*	1	11	3	2	3
Total Water management Issues	9	16	9	12	35	32	22	28
Drought	4	7	4	8	12	18	16	23
Total Water management (Inc. Drought)	12	21	13	19	43	46	36	45
Hurricanes, Cyclones	1	-	*	1	*	*	1	*
Famine	1	3	1	4	-	*	-	1
Bushfires	-	*	1	2	*	1	4	9
Earthquakes	*	-	*	1	-	*	1	-
Flooding	*	1	1	1	--	1	3	1
Tsunami, Tidal waves	-	-	-	1	-	-	*	*
Total Natural Disasters (Inc. Drought)	7	10	7	15	13	19	20	29
Global warming	35	27	24	23	13	10	10	11
Greenhouse effect, Greenhouse gases	15	11	11	9	7	6	8	5
Climate change	5	18	15	21	3	11	7	16
Ozone layer	5	3	3	2	2	2	1	1
Melting of polar ice caps	3	2	2	5	*	1	*	1
Extinction, Loss of species	2	3	3	4	2	1	2	3
Reduction in habitable land	1	1	1	2	2	1	2	2
Introduction of non-native species	-	*	*	-	1	1	*	*
El Nino	*	*	*	-	*	*	-	-
Total Global Warming Issues	56	55	53	52	26	28	27	34
Pollution (unspecified)	14	9	9	9	10	6	6	7
Air pollution	8	12	11	7	6	8	8	5
Water pollution	5	3	4	4	5	5	5	4
Cars, Exhaust from cars	3	4	4	2	3	4	4	2
Smog	*	-	1	*	*	*	*	*
Total Pollution	27	23	24	19	22	19	19	16
Energy crisis, Depletion of fossil fuels	10	9	8	6	6	7	5	5
Depletion of natural resources	9	6	8	5	6	6	5	4
Energy sources	-	2	2	2	-	3	3	3
Total Depletion of Resources	18	14	17	12	12	15	11	10
Overpopulation	4	4	6	7	2	3	1	4
Urbanisation	*	1	*	1	1	1	1	2
Total Overpopulation / Urbanisation	4	4	6	7	3	3	2	6
Recycling	3	2	1	2	4	2	2	1
Nuclear waste	2	1	*	2	2	1	*	*
Toxic waste	*	1	1	1	1	1	1	1
Landfill	1	*	1	1	1	*	1	1
Plastic bags	1	1	1	*	1	*	1	*
Total Waste Management	7	4	3	5	7	4	5	3
Logging forests or deforestation	11	7	10	11	15	7	7	6
Mining	-	*	1	*	2	1	3	2
Bird Flu / Swine Flu	*	*	*	*	-	-	-	*
Other	9	17	12	13	10	20	15	18
Can’t say	8	5	5	7	9	8	8	8
None	-	-	2	3	-	3	4	3
Total	100	100	100	100	100	100	100	100

* Less than 1%; (Respondents could give more than one issue)

Table 2: Problems Associated with Global Warming

Respondents were then asked: “Next about Global warming. From what you know or have heard, what problems are associated with Global warming?”

Problems associated with Global warming
	April 2006	Nov 2008	May 2009	November 2009
	(%)	(%)	(%)	(%)
Climate change	46	30	30	27
Atmospheric change				6
Melting of polar ice caps	31	19	19	17
Rising sea levels	23	20	23	34
Reduction in habitable land	6	6	4	5
Greenhouse effect, Heating up of planet, Thermal blanket	2	8	9	13
El Nino	1	2	*	*
Rising sea temperatures	1	8	8	10
Carbon Emissions	-	-	-	2
Total Climate Change	69	60	62	66
Hurricanes, Cyclones	6	3	1	3
Flooding	5	5	5	5
Drought	3	9	8	11
Tsunami, Tidal waves	2	2	1	3
Earthquakes	1	1	1	3
Bushfires	1	2	2	4
Total Natural Disasters	13	15	12	20
Pollution	13	18	14	9
Depletion of ozone layer	7	5	6	4
Loss of species	2	5	5	7
Skin cancer	2	1	1	1
Fossil fuels	2	9	5	5
Deforestation, Cutting down trees	2	5	4	3
Natural phenomenon, Cyclic event,  Always happens	2	2	2	2
UV radiation	1	2	1	1
Overpopulation	*	3	2	1
Water conservation	1	6	3	5
Crop depletion, Food shortages	na	na	3	5
Other	7	11	7	8
Don’t believe it/ Don’t think it’s a big problem	na	na	7	7
Can’t Say	11	8	10	7
Total	100	100	100	100

Views about Global Warming

Respondents were then asked: “Which of the following is closest to your view about Global Warming?”

	Total all people aged 14+				Analysis by Sex and Age
	April 2006	Nov 2008	May 2009	Nov 2009	Men	Women	14-17	18-24	25-34	35-49	50+
	(%)	(%)	(%)	(%)	(%)	(%)	(%)	(%)	(%)	(%)	(%)
Concerns are exaggerated	13	19	26	26	34	19	23	21	20	25	31
If we don’t act now it will be too late	67	64	58	57	51	64	68	53	63	61	52
It is already too late	15	14	12	13	12	13	8	18	15	13	10
Can’t say	5	3	4	4	3	4	1	8	2	1	7
Total	100	100	100	100	100	100	100	100	100	100	100

	Total all people aged 14+				Analysis by States & Regions
	April 2006	Nov 2008	May 2009	Nov. 2009	Capital Cities	Country Areas	NSW	Vic	Qld	SA/NT	WA	Tas
	(%)	(%)	(%)	(%)	(%)	(%)	(%)	(%)	(%)	(%)	(%)	(%)
Concerns are exaggerated	13	19	26	26	23	31	27	24	25	22	36	18
If we don’t act now it will be too late	67	64	58	57	59	54	58	56	59	58	50	74
It is already too late	15	14	12	13	13	12	11	14	14	11	12	8
Can’t say	5	3	4	4	5	3	4	6	2	9	2	-
Total	100	100	100	100	100	100	100	100	100	100	100	100

The research conducted for these questions was both qualitative (in that people were asked to use their own words) and quantitative (in that the ‘open-ended’ responses were analysed and ‘coded’ so that the results could be counted and reported as percentages).

For further information:

Gary Morgan:     Office +61 3 9224 5213 Mobile +61 411 129 094

Michele Levine:    Office +61 3 9224 5215 Mobile +61 411 129 093