Climate Change: The Problem with Energy

By Elliot Wolcott

In this ASF I will be introducing the separate opinions of two different age groups. The younger age group was mostly comprised of fourteen and fifteen-year-olds, and the older age group was adults, mainly in their thirties and older. The outcome of these results surprised me in some ways, however, most of the data collected from the younger age group stunned me, as some seem to have very little knowledge of climate change, even though it is a very pressing matter, and a hot topic in current times.

The younger age group chose nuclear with a majority of 36.6%, as the most important currently most likely due to the amount of information available surrounding it. They were very scattered with their answers, however. This may be due to less research they have done in their own time. This may also be due to research in the past they had done, however, they may not have researched the other, more popular choices such as nuclear and solar, resulting in their choices.

The older age group chose solar with a majority of 66.7%. This is most likely due to the idea of using renewable resources, as they would help the younger age groups in the future. I think this is purely because older age groups are more exposed to current-day events through the news, making them worried about the future. One interesting thing, however, is that they did not put wind or hydroelectric higher than nuclear, even though they are renewable resources.

The margin between the pie charts was mainly just the older age group choosing solar over nuclear, although solar was second behind nuclear in the younger age group. The answers were also more scattered in the older age group because there were fewer responses recorded.

It was shown that with the bar graphs and pie charts, the older age group fought and cared more about the Earth’s future which was totally unexpected from my previous assumptions about what the results would be.

In the bar graphs, respondents answered the question, “How much of your time do you contribute to fighting climate change?” and responded on a scale of one to ten on how much they think they contributed to fighting climate change. In the pie charts, respondents answered the question, “What energy resource do you believe is most important at the moment?” with the choices of wind, solar, nuclear, coal, natural gas, and hydroelectirc.

The younger age group responded that they did less for the environment than the older group. 41 responses were recorded, with their average score being 2.9. This may be because they are busy with extracurriculars, school, and the low possibility to help at a younger age. I believe it also goes to show the little work ethic shown by the younger age group, without them showing much care for how they can help fight climate change.

The older age group mostly all agreed upon how much time they spent towards fighting climate change, 15 responses were recorded with their average being a 5.47. This is close to double the amount the younger age group’s average choice was. This may be due to how much extra time outside of work they have to research such topics, such as being exposed to it in the news. They also have much more of a work ethic. Both the age groups differed greatly in their choice over how much they contribute towards fighting climate change, both averages were relatively low in their own respects, however.