Are Vancouver holiday shoppers as Green as Nashville?

 I just came across a very interesting article-which I find hard to believe as this does not even seem to be the case in the quite "green" Vancouver-but here it is:

Environment top of mind for holiday shoppers

Nashville Business Journal - by Cindy F. Crawford Birmingham Business Journal

Holiday shoppers were thinking green with more than their wallets this season, according to the 2007 Annual National Shopping Behavior Survey by audit, tax and advisory firm KPMG LLP.

Eighty-eight percent of survey respondents said they were very concerned about the environment, 74 percent indicated they buy environmentally friendly products, 60 percent were willing to pay more for such items, and 55 percent say they make a special effort to patronize retailers with a green reputation.

In addition, 40 percent of consumers said they checked the country of origin on potential gifts, with 31 percent using such information to decide against a purchase. While 79 percent of those decisions not to buy an item involved products from China, toys were involved in 52 percent of the cases.

Thirty percent of respondents in the 2007 survey said they spent more money this year than the preceding holiday season on gifts. That is less than the percentage of shoppers spending more in previous years - an average of 36 percent from 2003 to 2006, according to similar surveys.

The survey, designed and managed by The Gordman Group, was conducted randomly by telephone with 815 shoppers.