Jennifer Howard was musing the other day “about how different communities embrace and promote sustainability and environmental awareness,” what with Earth Day approaching on April 22.

She started thinking after visiting Summers Corner, a newer neighborhood from developer WestRock with more than 100 homes in greater Charleston’s northwest corner.

“For example, Audubon designated Summers Corner as a ‘climate resilient and bird friendly community,’ for its use of native plants,” says Howard, marketing and communications director for the Summerville-based company. “Our April farmer’s market will feature a nature walk with an Audubon naturalist — just one of many nature-minded special events,” she says. The neighborhood also is home to Clemson Extension Master Gardeners for Dorchester County including a pollinator garden and kitchen garden. Not far away, the community’s 95-acre Buffalo Lake “encourages residents to get out and enjoy nature,” she says.

There’s more. Located within the neighborhood, the new Sand Hill Elementary School features an outdoor classroom “that we constructed for them,” she says. Through its developer, Summers Corner has put up nature-centered art created primarily from materials on site. It’s also teamed up with the Blue Bird Society to install blue bird houses throughout the community, Howard says.

The sustainable efforts at one Charleston-area neighborhood illustrate steps that home builders and real estate associates take to champion environmental stewardship, notably at the time of Earth Day. First held in 1970, the worldwide designation is designed as a period to demonstrate support for environmental protection.What’s significant is that numerous plaudits come from developers and real estate groups, sometimes seen as at odds with pro-ecology movements.

That’s the case even though a new survey runs counter to the perception that many people favor environmental safeguards, as well as that younger generations are most committed to preserving nature.

According to the findings by Varo Money mobile bank account firm, “Americans have mixed emotions about ‘going green.'”

The data shows that 41 percent of those surveyed “would buy something they really wanted even if they knew it was bad for the environment.” Men were even more likely to make an anti-green purchase at 47 percent, compared with 34 percent of women.

By age group, millennials were more apt to buy something knowing it was environmentally hazardous at 46 percent, as opposed to 37 percent of Gen Xers.

Varo Money asked about purchases of specific items, including:

• If Americans explicitly knew the carbon footprint of something, 46 percent say it would impact their purchasing decision.
• Nearly half (49 percent) of people would pay an extra $5 for an environmentally low-impact product.
• More than one-third, or 36 percent, of Americans check to see if products are tested on animals before making a purchase.

Separately, RISMedia real estate publication in a nod to Earth Day earlier this month listed five places worldwide noted for “stand-out landscaping and/or eco-friendly features.”