June 02, 2004
6/2 - Environmental Polls: A flimsy guiding light
If there's one thing they drilled into our skulls in film school it is the adage, "Show us, don't tell us" (which goes with "easier said than done," and "seeing is believing" and lots of other similar adages). These aren't just words for filmmakers, they are relevant to all aspects of human behavior. And it is relevant to the (largely absent) environmental movement in the U.S. today.
Environmentalists spend a lot of time pouring out their frustration over polls that indicate the general public is in favor of all sorts of environmental protection. Right now polls sponsored by the Packard Foundation show that the majority of Californians are in favor of MPA's and want their coastal resources protected. And here is a poll this month from the Yale School of Forestry and Environmental Studies that shows Americans are almost as concerned about the environment as terrorism (dream on).
Well ... saying and doing are two very different things. VERY different. These polls mean little. Ask me if I'm in favor of the government giving me a free income and I'll definitely say yes, but I'm not about to go out and do anything to make that happen. The same is true for environmental issues. For the most part, you can gauge the public's concern for the environment based on the ratings of television specials on the environment, and on the turn out for environmental events, and by the size and activity of membership in environmental organizations, and in the response of the general pubic of California to the governor chopping the $2 million for the Marine Life Protection
Act (the public response was nil).
There is no conspiracy that is suppressing the public's desire for a clean environment. The desire is just not that strong. There's plenty of potential for it to be ignited. But in the meanwhile, these polls are largely meaningless and no one should be deluded into thinking the public is sitting out there waiting for just the right campaign to come along. It's a tough business. The real catch phrase for environmentalism is, "Most people just don't care." The answer for
true environmentalists is, "But they CAN be made to care." And if you don't believe this just look what Lady Bird Johnson did for America in the 60's with litter removal. It's not impossible, but polls are a flimsy guiding light.
Sage Hall, home of the Yale School of Forestry and Environmental
Studies who released a new environmental poll last month.