Evaporation Is The Cause

Americans are not guilty. And that worries some people. Greatly.

According to a new survey commissioned by the Rechargeable Battery Recycling Corporation, a non-profit group formed by the rechargeable battery industry to promote battery recycling, just 12 percent of Americans now feel guilty that they’re not doing everything they can for the environment. That’s down from 22 percent in last year’s survey.

And the person who wrote the article seems to know why Americans are not guilty.

...evidence suggests a different reason for the overall decline in “green guilt”: When the economy is bad, concern for the environment evaporates.

A recent Gallup poll, for example, found that, for the first time in 25 years, a majority of Americans think economic growth should be given priority over protecting the environment.

Another poll, from the Pew Research Center, found that for Americans surveyed, the environment ranked 16th among a group of 20 national priorities, and global warming ranked dead last.

The economy, meanwhile, was No. 1.

High energy prices (especially oil) had a role in tanking the US economy. And who are the big guns in "do not drill for oil in America"? Environmentalists. So in effect they put a gun to their own heads pulled the trigger and found that there was a bullet in the chamber.

I kept telling them that pushing alternative energy before it made economic sense was a bad policy. Well they wouldn't listen to me. Now look at where they are. Next time they should pay attention. What are the odds of that?