Poll: Young adults hip to green new year's goals

Many young adults are willing to make lifestyle changes in 2008 for the good of the environment--as long as the efforts are relatively easy, a consumer survey indicates. Fifty-eight percent of adults age 24 or younger plan to make a "green" new year's resolution, according to marketing firm Tiller.

Among all ages surveyed, 49 percent said they would aim to be greener next year. Older respondents were less likely to set such goals, with half of those aged 50 to 64 and 40 percent of people of retirement age claiming they would change their habits for ecological reasons.

Some three-quarters of those polled plan either to reduce their use of energy at home or ramp up recycling efforts. Two-thirds said they intend to use household products with fewer toxic chemicals. Among the least popular adjustments were toting reusable shopping bags to the grocery store, noted by 42 percent of those polled.

Men were less likely to admit feeling badly about not doing enough for the planet. Twenty-six percent of men and 36 percent of women described feeling "green guilt."

The survey was conducted by GfK Roper consumer research and reached 1,004 adults by telephone earlier this month. The margin of error is 3 percent.