WASHINGTON, D.C-The majority of Americans favor local, environmentally-friendly development even if it requires a change in lifestyle, according to a new national online poll conducted by Zogby International.
Most Americans believe that by "going green," their local communities will get an economic boost by the creation of new jobs—including green-collar jobs—and attracting new businesses and development, while at the same time making their communities better places to live.
Using mass transit was also strongly favored, and a near majority was even willing to pay higher taxes to get it.
The survey was commissioned by the U.S. Conference of Mayors and released January 23 at the 76th Winter Meeting of the U.S. Conference of Mayors in Washington, D.C.
The belief by everyday Americans in the positive economic benefits of 'going green' comes at the time when the nation's leaders are debating on the kind of economic stimulus package that the country can best use to head off a recession, or cushion its blow.
The finding that 'green' is good for the local economy was not lost on the mayors attending a special news conference to announce the Zogby poll results during the U.S. Conference of Mayors, January 23-25, 2008. About a dozen or more mayors stood around Conference President Douglas Palmer (mayor of Trenton, NJ), and applauded the Zogby poll findings.
Seattle Mayor Greg Nickels said a few words in favor of cities taking their own initiatives to repel green house gas emissions and reduce global warming pollution, and not wait for the federal government to act.
The U.S., under the Bush administration direction, would not sign the Kyoto Protocol that addressed climate change, but on February 16, 2005, the day that 141 countries ratified the agreement, Mayor Nickels introduced his own U.S. Mayors Climate Protection Agreement.
The latter sought to sign up cities that would meet or beat the greenhouse gas emission reduction target suggested for the United States in the Kyoto Protocol, i.e., 7% reduction from 1990 levels by 2012.
Two years later, the U.S. Conference of Mayors unanimously passed the Mayors Climate Protection Agreement, voluntarily committing their cities to the Kyoto Protocol. Mayor Nickels said at the news conference that 780 mayors have signed on to the agreement.
More recently, in February 2007, Conference President Palmer and Conference Executive Director Tom Cochran launched the U.S. Conference of Mayors Climate Protection Center, which acts as a clearing house, imparting information on good environmental practices and lending leadership to build momentum for a national movement.
At the news conference, Mayor Nickels said cities need to reduce the number of commuting trips. The poll found that three fourths (75%) of the commuters say they normally drive to work alone. One out of four (25%) say their commute is more than 30 minutes each way. Nearly half (47%) of those who travel by car alone say they would use mass transit if it were easily available where they live and work.
This opinion is held by the majority of Americans (53%), regardless of how they travel. Rising gas prices are making many Americans (65%) more receptive to considering mass transit.
"Transportation plays a large role in greenhouse gas emissions," Mayor Nickels said. On the mayor's website, there is mention of cities employing "anti-sprawl land-use policies."
Other ideas being floated by the Mayors Climate Protection Center are for cities to make use of municipal fleets that include vehicles using alternative fuels or hybrid-electric technology; for power plants to employ cleaner energy sources; and lighting provided by energy-efficient technologies, according to their website (http://www.usmayors.org/climateprotection/about.htm ).
Americans are receptive to local, environmentally-friendly development today. They believe 'going green' will have a positive impact on the economy (59%), and the local community will be more attractive for business (56%), which will in turn create more jobs (56%), including 'green-collar' jobs (60%). Nearly two-thirds (66%) believe that green programs and development will make the local community a better place to live.
Support for local governments adopting green programs is pervasive in the big cities like New York (66%), Los Angeles (61%), Chicago (67%), and Philadelphia (60%), and in medium size cities (e.g., Phoenix (60%), Detroit (54%), Baltimore (55%), Pittsburgh (55%)).
Number One Issue: The Economy
The poll covered many other topics of interest to Americans, but the public's endorsement of a 'green' agenda was particularly notable. The results of the survey were presented at the news conference by Zogby President and CEO John Zogby, who summarized the key findings.
The economy led off as the perceived number one issue facing Americans.
"Americans believe the economy is in decline," said Zogby. Respondents were asked to name their top three issues. Local and property taxes (38%), access to quality health care (27%), and business and local job development (22%) got the most mentions.
To gain a better idea of the local impact of current economic conditions, the survey probed into people's perceptions of the impact of unemployment on their communities and the stagnant wages and inflation on the buying power of their paychecks.
More people perceive unemployment has risen in the last five years than fallen, and 28% believe unemployment is on the rise.
Nearly seven in ten respondents (69%) report they get less spending power from their paycheck than they did five years ago, and only 8% say they get more from their paycheck now than they did five years ago. In places like the Midwest and Great Lakes region, where jobs have been lost and unemployment has risen, the percentage of residents feeling their paycheck declined is higher. In Cleveland, for example, the percent is 80% who say their paychecks have less spending power than five years ago.
Compared to most national surveys that typically have 1,000 to 1200 respondents, this survey sampled 32,085 adults nationwide between Nov 27—Dec 12, 2007. Whereas most national surveys gave a margin of error of around ±3.0%, in this Zogby poll, the margin of error is only ±0.6% for national statistics reported. However, because the sample of 32,085 is collected online, it may not be representative of the nation.
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