Climate change awareness of the young generation and its impact on their diet

Abstract

As climate change is a topic that highly influences the young generation, it is important to understand the level of climate change awareness of younger people. Nutrition is an important aspect to consider in relation to climate change awareness, as nutrition is a field of action where everyone can contribute. For example, following a meat-free diet can significantly help mitigate climate change. The aim of this study was to analyze the climate change awareness of the young generation and to reveal which positions on climate change are represented by this generation and to what extent. Additionally, this study analyzed whether the young generation incorporates their climate change awareness into their diet. The comprehensive sample consisted of 1479 young German citizens between 15 and 29 years old. The results of the latent profile analysis show that three different climate change awareness segments exist among the young generation. Half of the sample is highly aware of climate change, while 13.9% of the sample deny climate change exists. A group of 29.4% lies in between. They recognize climate change, but assess its risks as relatively low. This result reveals that, among the young generation, climate change awareness varies significantly. The results also show that participants who are aware of climate change have a higher probability of following a climate-friendly diet, while, surprisingly, the undecided group is much closer to the climate deniers in their attitudes and dietary patterns.