Pollution--Not Global Warming--American’s Top Environmental Concern

A new poll by the Washington Post and Stanford University finds that only 18 percent of Americans name global warming as their top environmental concern, down from 33 percent in 2007. Water and air pollution were identified as the top environmental issue by 29 percent of the people polled. Seventy-eight percent of those polled think global warming will be a serious problem for the United States if nothing is done to address it and 55 percent say the government should do something about it. However, based on the findings and follow-up interviews with the 804 adults sampled, the Washington Post attributed the main reason for the issue’s fall from public concern in recent years to the federal government’s inaction.