Overview

Since the beginning of the 1990’s, the German Federal Ministry for Environment, Nature Conservation, and Nuclear Safety and the German Federal Environmental Agency have investigated the environmental awareness and behavior of German citizens.

Since 1996, the studies have been conducted in two-year intervals. Approximately 50 to 60% of the questions contained in the study remain the same from year to year. This makes a comparison and an analysis of trends possible – both of which are seldom possible in the social sciences. One of the aims of the Environmental Studies is to ascertain new and current content areas in addition to the data that demonstrates long-term trends. The three main subject areas of this year’s study are:

• Climate and Energy,
• Environmental Stresses and Health, and
• Justice and Responsibility.
  

The study was designed and conducted by a research group at the Institute for Education at the Philipps University Marburg, which included Prof. Dr. Udo Kuckartz, Dr. Anke Rheingans-Heintze, and Stefan Rädiker. For any interested scholars and scientists, the study’s original data is available for secondary analysis through the Central Archive for Empirical Research in Cologne.