Okay, maybe the Monday morning after the Super Bowl is a not the best time to hit readers up for their opinions about the local green movement. Or maybe, just maybe your job and the continually deteriorating economy are much bigger concerns for you nowadays than the environment.
So, here’s an attempt to jumpstart the discussion. … According to a recent poll conducted by the Pew Research Center(that’s the same outfit that last week that reported San Diego ranked number two, behind Denver, as the nation’s most desirable metropolitan area in which to live), Americans are more concerned about the economy and jobs than they were a year ago. Okay, that’s no surprise. But they were also far less concerned about the environment in a year in which green was supposedly in. From January 2008 to January 2009, according to the reportthe economy, jobs, terrorism and social security in that order were Americans’ top concerns.
Concern about the economy rose 10 percentage points in the last year, while concern about jobs rose 21 percentage points. But concern about the environment dropped by 15 percentage points. Last year 56 percent of Americans called the environment a top priority. This year, only 41 percent do. My question is, why?.