Beyond Earth Day: Fulfilling the Promise

6. Complacent Planet?

6 Complacent Planet? The battle to restore a proper relationship between man and his environment , between man and other living creatures, will require a long, sustained, political, moral, ethical and financial commitment far beyond any effort made before. —1970 A long, sustained commitment to the health of the environment is more urgent today than it was in 1970. Yet, after all of the early success of the environmental movement in the 1970s and its challenges during the 1980s and 1990s, where is it today? At a time when environmental problems loom larger than ever, necessitating an even broader commitment to activism and stewardship , is the commitment still there? Many qualified academics have studied the issue, pollsters have polled about it, and any number of folks have theorized about it. This is a good time for all of us to step back and take the pulse of the environmental movement. But doing so is as much a gut check of our own attitudes and practices as it is an assessment of a mass movement. Indeed, some of the worst forms of environmental degradation continue to be the culmination of smaller, individual insults rather than a handful of headlinegrabbing disasters. In short, caring for the Earth begins at home with each of us long before it can ascend to a national and global attitude. How far along we are in our individual stewardship and whether we can go the distance is a question each of us must ask ourselves. “I Am an Environmentalist” The stage is set. The public is primed for action, but it does not yet feel compelled to act. 105 Strictly by the numbers, the environmental sentiment in this country is as strong as ever. National polls consistently show strong support for the environment, with more than half of those surveyed telling pollsters they are “sympathetic to environmental causes, but not active,” and 15 percent to 20 percent characterizing themselves as “active participants.”1 Americans are well enough aware about environmental problems that when asked how strongly they agree or disagree with the goals of the environmental movement, 83 percent say they agree, and only 15 percent disagree. Notably, the movement trails only the civil rights and women’s rights movements in levels of agreement.2 What about claims that environmentalists are extremists who exaggerate environmental problems? Ask the average person if his or her fellow Americans are “too worried” about the environment, and only 10 percent agree. Almost 60 percent say the American public is “not worried enough.”3 About the same percentage believe the U.S. environment is getting worse, rather than staying the same or getting better.4 We all know the economy is important, and we all have bills to pay. Yet, as has been true for at least two decades, 57 percent of Americans said in 2001 that they would favor protecting the environment even at the risk of curbing economic growth. This commitment to environmental protection through good and bad economic times has held true during the more than ten years the Gallup poll has been asking the question. Older survey series trace it back to the 1970s. The American public’s support for environmentalism is evidenced in a number of ways. Memberships in the national environmental organizations —such as the Audubon Society, Nature Conservancy, Sierra Club, World Wildlife Fund, and The Wilderness Society—have grown significantly since the first Earth Day.5 More importantly, at the state and local levels today, hundreds of grassroots environmental organizations have sprouted and flourished in all parts of the United States. They are the local guardians of nature’s works and represent the real vigor and political clout of the environmental movement. With so much public support for the environment, why aren’t there greater public pressure and progress toward preserving open space, natural habitat, and wetlands and toward curbing runoff pollution from farms and urban streets? Why are SUVs and pickup 106 ENVIRONMENTALISM: THEN AND NOW trucks increasingly the vehicles of choice among Americans, despite their well-known fuel inefficiency? Why does the United States emit more greenhouse gases per person than any other industrialized country in the world? And why does Americans’ appetite for material goods, already the most voracious in the world, continue to rise? Complacent Planet? 107 Printed with the permission of Sidney Harris. The problem is keeping environmental issues not only visible but also a higher priority. People tend...