US opinion focused more on local environment, less on climate

Environmental News Network: The U.S. public, while aware of the deteriorating global environment, is concerned predominantly with local and national environmental issues, according to results from a recent survey. "The survey's core result is that people care about their communities and express the desire to see government action taken toward local and national issues," said David Konisky, a policy research scholar with the Institute of Public Policy and assistant professor in the Truman School of Public Affairs at the University of Missouri, who conducted the study. "People are hesitant to support efforts concerning global issues even though they believe that environmental quality is poorer at the global level than at the local and national level. This is surprising given the media attention that global warming has recently received and reflects the division of opinion about the severity of climate change."...

Ostrich and chick, shot by Andrew Massyn, Wikimedia Commons