It's that time of year again: Earth Day. Now in its 41st year, the event is an annual opportunity to raise awareness of environmental issues. But what do Americans value the most when it comes to the health of our planet? What do we worry about losing?
Water and soil pollution from toxic waste cause the most concern among Americans, with 79 percent of people responding they worried a great deal about it, according to a recent Gallup Poll. Pollution in lakes, reservoirs and rivers tied for the top spot as one of Americans' most pressing environmental concerns.
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Another water issue ranked third, with more than three-fourths of respondents saying they were worried about drinking water pollution.
It's apparent we understand the value of water. After all, approximately 60 percent of our bodies consists of the stuff.
But which environmental issues aroused lower levels of concern?
Not nearly as many poll subjects claimed to worry about biodiversity, urban sprawl or losing the world's rainforests. Climate change, also known as global warming, took the cake for gathering the least amount of concern. Only 51 percent of Americans in the poll had significant worries about climate change, while 48 percent said they didn't worry much at all about the issue.
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This contrasts with other data showing that 97 percent of scientists agree that climate change is happening.
It seems as if the more visible effects of human activity on the planet cause the most worry. The water resources we rely on can be visibly dirtied, which can have a direct impact on our health. Greenhouse gases and other sources of air pollution and climate change aren't as visible even if they are ubiquitous, which might account for why they gather lower levels of concern.
It's also possible that Americans perceive global warming to be a problem of the future or an issue only affecting faraway places. This isn't the case, as scientists say climate change is already underway and, ironically, will strain the same water resources Americans worry about protecting.
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Politics might also account for this low level of concern, as more research has looked at how campaigns against climate change have transformed a scientific issue into a political one.
In the poll, more than 1,000 randomly selected subjects were asked whether they worried about a specific issue "a great deal," "a fair amount," "only a little" or "not at all."
Overall, Americans worried less about the same environmental issues than they did 10 years ago.
Photo by Memories Visual Depot/Flickr.com
Tags: Environment
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