Popular online dating website OkCupid has begun allowing users to interrogate prospective dates about their attitude to climate change, prompted by an exponential rise in climate concern among would-be lovers and lonely hearts everywhere.
“Our users are really engaged and passionate about the leading issues of our time, including climate change,” OkCupid Global Communications Manager Michael Kaye told Heated. “There was actually an 800% increase in mentions of Greta Thunberg on profiles around the world on OkCupid in 2019.”
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Showing up for the climate in their millions, the majority of OkCupid users “are really concerned about climate change and [are] discussing the issue on their dating profiles,” reports Heated publisher Emily Atkin. The stats show climate issues ranking higher on the site than either world peace or disease.
Digging into the numbers, Heated reports that “young daters are most concerned about climate change,” and women express more concern than men. As well, “97% of people on OkCupid believe climate change is real,” and “99% of the people concerned about climate change strongly disapprove of Trump as president.” More than 90% of users, meanwhile, “would take action to correct something they do after discovering it’s bad for the environment.”
Overall awareness of the climate crisis is rising, too, notes Heated. More than half of respondents ranked climate change as their most important issue, up from a third in 2009 and 2014.
OkCupid’s Millennials currently lead on expressions of concern about climate change, at 84%, followed by Generation Z at 82%. Generation Xers are at the back of the pack, at 76%.[If you still haven’t subscribed to Atkin’s excellent Heated newsletter, don’t delay! Click here.]
