[greenyes] Environment vs. economic development

[Amy Perlmutter <amyperl@no.address>]

It's a shame this question is still being asked as an either/or.  It falsely
leads policymakers and the public to think that they have to choose one or
the other, when they can instead have both.


------ Forwarded Message
> From: greenyes-digest-help@no.address
> Date: 23 Apr 2004 15:59:10 -0000
> To: greenyes@no.address
> Subject: greenyes Digest 23 Apr 2004 15:59:10 -0000 Issue 143
> 
> 
> SEATTLE POST-INTELLIGENCER
> http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/170109_envi22.html
> 
> This Earth Day, voters worry about other things
> Environment recedes as campaign issue
> 
> Thursday, April 22, 2004
> 
> By SCOTT SHEPARD
> COX NEWS SERVICE
> 
> WASHINGTON -- The annual Earth Day celebration predictably prompts
> politicians to tout their environmental credentials, but experts question
> whether environmental issues have much of an effect on presidential voting.
> 
> Even among younger voters, who typically express more interest in preserving
> the environment than their elders, the "greenness" of a presidential
> candidate is less important this year than in the past.
> 
> Still, the coming of Earth Day, every April 22 since its creation in 1970,
> focuses public attention on protecting the planet and assessing the
> eco-friendliness of the White House occupants and aspirants.
> 
> This year, "for some of those voters, the environment, public health issues,
> clean air, clean water could be very important," Carol Browner, director of
> the Environmental Protection Agency under former President Clinton, said in
> a conference call with reporters this week.
> 
> An annual Earth Day poll by The Gallup Organization this week found that
> Americans are less worried today about the environment than they have been
> in the past. The shift "may reflect the tough economic situation facing the
> country in the past few years," noted Gallup's analyst, Lydia Saad.
> 
> Indeed, when asked whether environmental protection or economic growth
> should be given priority when the two interests conflict, a record low
> number of Americans have chosen environmental protection in each of the last
> two years -- 49 percent this year, 47 percent in 2003.
> 
> Moreover, in the latest poll, just 8 percent cited the environment as the
> most important issue facing the country in the next 25 years, down from 14
> percent four years ago.
> 
> Nonetheless, Americans give the environment a more negative assessment now
> than in previous years. Fifty-seven percent rate the quality of the nation's
> environment today as "fair" or "poor," a jump of 5 percent since President
> Bush took office.
> 
> In a recent poll of college students by Harvard's Institute of Politics,
> just 2 percent said the environment concerns them "the most," well beyond
> the war on terrorism and in Iraq (21 percent) and the economy (20 percent).
> 
> In the past, some pollsters have found sizeable majorities of 18- to
> 30-year-olds who ranked the environment above encouraging economic growth.

------ End of Forwarded Message