Project EverGreen Releases Survey Results

Project EverGreen took time at the Green Industry Expo to announce some pleasing results of the organization’s recent homeowner survey. The survey, which compiled opinions from 1,235 homeowners nationwide, is the first in a series designed to gauge consumer attitudes green spaces and their management and will serve as a baseline for future surveys.

“The survey is based on techniques that have an error rate of no more than plus-or-minus three percentage points, with 95-percent confidence, so this will provide a reliable baseline for future research,” explains Gene Brown, CEO of Market Intellect, the market research firm commissioned to handle the survey. “While they’re not definitive, the results of the survey tell us that the nation as a whole thinks strongly of this industry, despite was media reports may imply. They also point out some ‘schizophrenia’ among consumers, which shows us where the industry can do a better job providing education.

In particular, Brown points out that 84 percent of survey respondents agreed that pesticides are useful in fighting weeds, disease and insects in lawns, but 55 percent of homeowners disagreed that those chemicals help the environment.

Currently, Project EverGreen offers numerous sales tools that green industry professionals can use to educate their customers on the benefits of lawns and landscapes. Moreover, Executive Director Den Gardner says results of future surveys will further gauge consumer attitudes and results of those surveys will be made available as they arise. At this point, surveys are scheduled annually. “This initial study will help us focus on areas where consumers have differences of opinions about the value of green spaces and the materials needed to keep them green,” Gardner says. “Concentrating educational efforts in these areas will be a high priority for us.”

The following are the results of the first survey: