Two out of Three Americans Get a Failing Grade on the National Environmental Report Card

Introduction

The 1997 NEETF/Roper Starch Worldwide Survey is a continuation of six years of data gathering about Americans' views on the environment. This year's survey looks at attitudes, knowledge and behaviors of people in the United States. Because similar questions have been asked on previous surveys it is possible to look at changes in these beliefs over time.

New to this year's survey is a set of twelve questions to assess the level of environmental knowledge of the American public. We were then able to look at the degree to which knowledge of the environment relates to behaviors that have a positive impact on the environment. We also included questions to assess the degree to which Americans support environmental education being taught in schools.

Description of Sample and Data Analyses

A total of 1501 adults, ages 18 and older, participated in this telephone survey. A process of random digit dialing selected participants; this ensures that households with unlisted telephone numbers, as well as those with listed numbers, are included in the sample. Telephone interviews were conducted during evening hours and on weekends.

For the full sample, the margin of error due to sampling is plus or minus 2.5% at the .95 confidence level. Where appropriate, statistical analyses were done to test for differences between groups and for relationships between variables. Unless noted, only those relationships and differences found to be significant are included in this report.

Previous NEETF/Roper Starch survey reports were based on weighted samples. For weighting, the demographic characteristics of the random sample were compared with the most recent Census Bureau estimates and corrective weights were applied to ensure proper representation based upon age, sex, and educational attainment. Because of this year's larger sample size and the types of analyses done for this report, the results reported here are based on unweighted data. (A detailed report of statistical analyses may be obtained from the National Environmental Education and Training Foundation).

Summary and Overview

Two out of three survey respondents (68%) failed to correctly answer nine or more of 12 simple questions on the environment.
Only one in ten makes the "Environmental Dean's List" with 11 or more correct answers.
There is an alarming lack of knowledge on some of our most critical environmental problems:

- Only 23% of Americans are able to identify run-off as the leading cause of water pollution.

- Only 33% of Americans know that burning fossil fuels is America's primary method for generating electricity, or what impact this has on air quality.

Misinformation may be as much of a problem as lack of knowledge

People are two times more likely to believe (incorrectly) that factories are the main source of water pollution than they are to know the correct answer.
Nearly half of all Americans think (incorrectly) that dams produce most of our electricity.

Policy-Makers Are Thwarted

Lack of public environmental knowledge impedes policy-makers' ability to address some of our most complex environmental problems.
Solutions to some issues (such as run-off water pollution) lie, in part, in individual citizen action. Such solutions will be difficult to achieve if three out of four Americans think other sources are the cause of the problems.
It will be difficult to address issues such as acid rain and global warming if most people think power production comes from air-safe hydropower.

There's Some Progress Being Made

The news on environmental knowledge is not all bad. Some environmental issues are generally known to the public, e.g., that most garbage ultimately ends up in landfills (83%), that species loss is due to habitat destruction (73%) and that vehicles are the leading cause of air pollution (69%).
The US Environmental Protection Agency has 74% public name recognition.

The Majority of Americans are Supportive of Environmental Protection

Over the past six years, support for environmental protection and regulation has remained high and constant.
Women continue to be more supportive of environmental protection than men, but both are clearly supportive.
Americans have been very consistent over the past six years in their belief that the environment and economy can go hand in hand, and four to one reject polarized positions on the environment.

Environmental Knowledge Can Have Counter-Intuitive Effects

Increased knowledge of the environment helps people notice more compromises and lessen their overall support for certain types of environmental regulation as the only solution to environmental problems.
Increased environmental knowledge does not affect general attitudes about the value of the environment and does not lessen support for clean air and water regulation.
Environmental knowledge makes people less inclined to think we might face an environmental catastrophe in the next ten years.

Americans Are Highly Engaged in Environmental Activities and Causes

Some 90% of our respondents regularly engage in at least six of 10 activities to protect the environment-saving water, conserving energy, recycling, etc.- with 25% engaging in nine of these activities or more.
Only one person in the survey said he or she never engaged in any of the listed activities.
Fully 28% of Americans volunteer their time for an environmental cause.

Knowledge of Environmental Issues Positively Influences Participation in Pro-environment Activities

Individuals who know that garbage ends up in landfills are more likely to recycle and cut down on household trash than individuals who do not know this fact.
Individuals who know the major source of water pollution are more likely to take action to prevent it.
Childless adults who know that cars are the major source of air pollution in the U.S., and who have alternative transportation available, are more likely to use the alternative. Americans Overwhelmingly Want Our Children to Have Environmental Education in School
Fully 95% of adult Americans and 96% of parents support children being taught environmental education in the schools. Adults also require Environmental Education.
There is no evidence from the survey that adults with children have more environmental knowledge than adults who don't have children, though conventional wisdom says children teach their parents about the environment.