The latest Gallup polling shows that Americans are showing a growing level of concern about the environment. Levels of concern went up across the board for all environmental categories. However, the biggest areas of concern were water pollution, soil toxins, and rivers.
Americans' concerns about global warming and climate change have held steady over the past year, while concerns about other environmental threats tested by Gallup have increased. The percentage expressing a great deal of worry about pollution of drinking water, as well as contamination of soil and water by toxic waste, increased by seven percentage points. Worry about climate change and global warming, on the other hand, went up by no more than two points versus last year.
Americans' generally low level of concern about global warming compared with other environmental issues is not new; warming has generally ranked last among Americans' environmental worries each time Gallup has measured them with this question over the years. Concern about pollution of drinking water has generally been at the top of the list.
Overall, 60% showed concern about pollution of drinking water. 53% each showed concern about contamination of soil and drinking water by toxic waste as well as pollution of rivers, lakes, and reservoirs. All of these categories were sharply higher than last year.
This explains the behavior of the EPA and state departments of natural resources. Here in Missouri, the DNR is leaning on local towns and cities more and more to upgrade their water and wastewater systems at the cost of borrowing hundreds of thousands or millions of dollars or face increasingly heavy fines. One nearby town half an hour from here with a population of slightly over 10,000 will have to spend $13 million to upgrade their wastewater system. Another town 15 minutes east of here with a population of 500 will have to spend $2 million for their wastewater system. Another town 10 minutes east of here with a population of 850 will have to spend $500,000+ to put in an electrical wastewater system that DNR says they need in order to be compliant.
DNR proposed an $8,000 fine for that city, but backed off since it turned out that the regulations under which that city was going to be fined had never been properly communicated to that city. But the fear is that there will come a point in time that DNR will give that city 18 months to comply or face fines and/or legal action. Despite council members complaining about what they see as "extortion," the likelihood is that DNR has been getting increasing complaints from people and politicians based on the polling data that they need to do more about drinking water quality. The Missouri Sierra Club has been very active this year, including filing a massive lawsuit against Ameren, alleging Clean Air Act violations.
On the other hand, we don't see EPA doing anything around here to make businesses or farmers comply with climate change. That is because Gallup polling shows that climate change is still at the bottom of peoples' lists although the level of concern went up slightly. Levels of concern for climate change have fluctuated over the years, dipping as low as 27% and rising as high as 41%.
The reason that Climate Change has been consistently low on peoples' lists is that they don't see it as a local issue. Even if we bring up the extreme weather of the last few years, there is still living memory of weather even more extreme, such as the Great Flood of 1993 or the droughts of the 1930's. But bring up water or soil, and a lot more people will get on board. That is because water and soil quality are everyday issues for people. When John Kerry wrote "This Moment on Earth," the reason that many of the environmental issues he raised were successfully dealt with was because the environmental movement was able to make them local issues. So if we are to make Climate Change the kind of issue that resonates with voters, we need to make it a local issue for people.