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According to a survey conducted by the Institute for Human-Environment Transaction at the Eötvös Loránd University Faculty of Education and Psychology, 94.8 percent of Hungarians would like to live more environmentally consciously in the next year. However, opinions are divided with regard to what kind of steps they should take to achieve this. Giving up animal-based foods, for instance, would prove to be too big of a hurdle for most of them.
Respondents to the survey were asked to choose from seven intervention points to choose the ones they would most like to implement in their lives to become more environmentally conscious. Saving energy, i.e. using less electricity, gas, and water, came out on top.
Respondents in Central Hungary were the most likely to plan to reduce their energy consumption, a region that includes the richer capital, which could make a big difference. Those in the poorest region of Northern Hungary were the least likely to be looking to save energy, the reason being that people living there already had fewer ways to waste energy, Attila Varga, a staff member of the institute, pointed out.
Reducing waste was second in the list of ways to be environmentally conscious, and third was to repair things that broke down instead of buying new ones. The last place on the list was a dead heat, as it turned out that people were the least willing to eat less animal-based food, i.e. give up meat and such, and to dress in a more environmentally friendly way.
Hungarians are famous for loving meat, and even though vegetarian and vegan lifestyles are becoming increasingly fashionable nowadays, it does not seem to have an effect on Hungarian society. According to a survey last year, Hungarians’s favorite food is battered chicken breast fillet, followed by battered pork chops. The survey also showed that only 1.1% of Hungarian households follow a vegan diet, while the proportion of those following a vegetarian diet is slightly higher at 4.4%.
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