A Major Player at Last

The thread of environmental protection has run through the political life of America for more than a century, but often it has been a thin and discontinuous thread. The environment frequently was a single issue that emerged around some emotional cause--dams in the Grand Canyon, for example--and then faded into the background. When the environment ran into a powerful economic interest, there was not much question which side would prevail.

All of that has changed. The environment has become an integral part of both the political and economic fabric of American society. No longer are Americans willing to accept regulations only when they do not affect the economy or alter a person’s own freedom or standard of living. The cost of protecting the environment--and of cleaning it up--has become part of doing business in America. Generally, the people are aware of that fact and accept it.

The recent popularity of environmental causes is no secret. But the depth of American support in behalf of a broad range of environmental matters is illustrated in an analysis of recent public opinion surveys compiled by Americans for the Environment, the Sierra Club and the National Wildlife Federation. Since 1980, there has been a dramatic increase in the number of Americans who believe the nation needs even stronger environmental laws and regulation, who think the government is not spending enough to protect the environment, and who are willing to pay higher taxes to have a cleaner environment.

One survey, by Cambridge Reports, says that a majority of Americans are willing to sacrifice some economic growth in order to preserve the environment, while fewer than one-fifth would risk harm to the environment in favor of economics. Pollster Louis Harris commented: “This 1988 result marks a coming of age for the environmental issue.”

The economy of course still must be of prime concern. But it is appropriate that the environment has become a major player at the table of American political and economic life, and can no longer be dismissed as the province of noisy elitists or radicals picketing and badgering from outside the door about causes of limited interest.