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Environmental Stewardship

2019 Rural Pulse™ Snapshot: Environmental Stewardship

Rural Pulse™ is a research study commissioned by the Grand Rapids-based Blandin Foundation to gain a real-time snapshot of the concerns, perceptions and priorities of rural Minnesota residents. It includes comparative findings from urban Minnesotans and identifies trends within significant, complex subject areas including the economy, education, employment and quality of life. Results are also analyzed as they relate to nine separate but inter-related dimensions of  a community’s health: life-long learning, inclusion, recreational and artistic opportunities, environmental stewardship, infrastructure and services, safety and security, community leadership, economic opportunity, spirituality and wellness.

Environmental Stewardship is…

One of the Nine Dimensions of a Healthy Community, environmental stewardship is defined as: recognizing when a person and community supports the environmental quality and management of natural resources that best provide for a sustainable future.

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Three-quarters (74%) of rural residents said that they believe their community is a good environmental steward, while 14 percent did not agree. Urban residents had similar results. Foundation home area residents were slightly less likely than rural residents overall to feel this way (70%).

 

 

 

 

In comparing rural Minnesota regions, results were comparable to 2016, with the exception of the Northwest and Southeast regions, which showed a more noticeable decline in agreement since 2016 – 13 percentage points less than previous.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

While most residents in the Northeast region (77%) felt their communities were good stewards of the environment, compared to 74 percent of rural Minnesotans at large, Foundation home area residents were slightly less likely to have agreed (70%).

 

 

 

 

Only three in five (59%) cultural/racial respondents in rural Minnesota believed that their community is a good environmental steward, 18 percentage points lower than their White counterparts. One in four (25%) did not agree; 16 percent were unsure.

 

About Rural Pulse

Rural Pulse™ is a research study commissioned by Blandin Foundation to gain a real-time snapshot of the concerns, perceptions and priorities of rural Minnesota residents. It has been conducted periodically since 1998, and was last conducted in 2016. It includes comparative findings from urban Minnesotans, and identifies trends within significant, complex subject areas including the economy, education, employment and quality of life. For this study, 1,068 telephone interviews were conducted with rural Minnesotans. View the full report at www.RuralPulse.org.

Rural Pulse
Back to Rural Pulse 2019 Home  ·  Authored by Russell Herder. Published 2019.
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