Environmental Concern

 

         Environmental concern is highly variable in our society.  Many things can contribute to a person’s level of concern, including values, beliefs, age, income, and contextual factors like advertisements and political orientation.  For this assignment, I surveyed five random people on their concern about the following environmental issues: freshwater shortages, air and water pollution, the depletion of natural resources, loss of biodiversity, climate change, and auto emissions.  The results gave me a few surprises, the biggest being that people are generally concerned about the environment.  Though the sample size was too small to make conclusions about the general view of the public, it was nice that the people in my sample generally showed concern.

            The first question on the survey was: how serious of a problem do you consider the shortages of freshwater to be?  Nobody I surveyed thought it was the most important issue they were asked about.  Two people thought it was a very serious problem; two others thought it was somewhat serious.  One person said it was not a problem at all because they did not even know there was a shortage!  This came as a shock to me since it has been a hot topic for decades.  One respondent who considered it very serious remarked that they heard about “the government making water a trading commodity”.  They felt “scared because the price of water might skyrocket, which may mean it is in the process of becoming a rarity”.  I personally have not heard of this rumor, but it would not surprise me.  Seeing as drought and pollution are on the rise, freshwater shortages seem inevitable.  It is only a matter of time before we run out.

            The second question was: how serious of a problem do you consider water pollution to be?  Two people thought it was a very serious problem and three said it was somewhat of a problem.  One person ranked it most important, saying “it causes illness, death, and long-term problems for people and the environment”.  Another thought it was a somewhat serious problem “because of stuff we put in the ocean”- referring to the “islands of waste” and all the garbage washing up on beaches.  I am glad everyone found this a serious issue because it is not just the ocean that is feeling the effects of water pollution, but rivers, lakes, and the groundwater used for irrigation and drinking water.  It is a global issue, whereas freshwater shortages might only be limited to some locations.

            The third question was: how serious a problem do you consider the depletion of natural resources to be?  All but one respondent thought it was a very serious problem, the lone dissenter thinking it was only somewhat of a problem.  A person who ranked it highest said it was “because we depend on natural resources”, and I could not agree more.  If our natural resources are depleted, we cannot expect to survive on this planet.  Deforestation is my favorite example.  If there are less trees to generate oxygen for our rising population, how are we supposed to breathe?  Another person cited that they felt it was “because nobody cares”, meaning people do not care enough about resources to support regulation against their depletion.  That may be true, since most people seem content to shop for items that contain resources rather than preserve them.

            The fourth question was: how serious a problem do you consider air pollution to be?  Four people said it was very serious, while one said it was somewhat serious.  The two people who ranked it highest in importance said it was “because the atmosphere is deteriorating” and “because cars and industrial pollution make it harder to breathe”.  These are both great points.  Though there is evidence the ozone layer has recovered in recent years, the smoke from wildfires is having a tremendous impact on local health.  People who live in areas prone to wildfires are at an increasing risk of respiratory diseases caused by breathing in toxic air.  The smog of cities is another high-risk factor for these kinds of disease.  I believe these issues tie in with the climate change and auto emissions questions later.

            The fifth question was: how serious a problem do you consider the loss of biodiversity to be?  Two people said it was very serious; two said it was somewhat serious; a third said it was not a very serious problem.  When I asked them why it was not serious, they looked around and said, “there aren’t any visible trees dying”.  I had a laugh at that!  Another person who ranked it most important thought the loss of species would have “short-term impacts but have long-lasting and cumulative effects on people and their environment”.  I think this is true because the loss of a species does not always have an obvious reason for why it would affect people or the environment.  For example, while it might appear like the loss of insects such as bees would not have much of an effect on people at first, the fact that they pollinate the plants we eat means there would be a major shortage of food supply if they went extinct.

              The sixth question was: how serious a problem do you consider global climate change to be?  Three people said it was a very serious problem, one said somewhat serious, and one said it was not a very serious problem.  A person who ranked it most important cited rising sea levels as a long-term problem that will lead to a refugee crisis.  Another thought that weather was getting more extreme because of climate change.  Another thought it was a serious issue “because no changes are being made”.  While that might be true in our country, others have been more proactive in trying to slow global warming.   I agree with all these points; I would just like to add that regional climate changes lead to other problems on this list, like water shortage and air pollution from wildfires, drought, and flooding; and the loss of biodiversity from glacial melting, changing weather patterns, and the disruption of migrations.  I would rank this highest in importance because it needs to be dealt with to solve the many other issues stemming from it.

            The last question was: how serious a problem do you consider automobile emissions to be?  Sadly, this was the least serious issue in general among the people I surveyed.  Only two people found it very serious.  One found it somewhat serious, while two said it was not very serious.  Those who said it was serious thought it was because emissions contribute to air pollution and global warming, which I agreed with.  The one who did not find it a serious issue said that “electric cars are being made better.”  When I pointed out they are not affordable, they countered with “they will become less expensive”.  That may be true, but I do not think it is happening fast enough.  As long as the majority of people are buying gas-powered vehicles, this should be a very serious issue because there is a mountain of evidence showing how they are contributing to air pollution and global warming.

            My results indicate that plenty of people care about the environment, but not enough to alter the course of these developments.  Keeping our robust economy going seems like a more important issue to Americans than preserving the environment that allowed it to grow in the first place.  It is a terrible irony that we let the environment deteriorate when are well-aware of the issues, considering how we came from and depend on it.  If it were not for the environment, people would not be able to enjoy the luxuries they do today.  We take it for granted, like it is always there for the taking.  Many people are not aware of this fallacy; others are trying to extort as much from the environment as possible before its resources are all used up.  It should be our responsibility to educate the ignorant and stop these exploiters before it is too late.