Ask survey respondents whether they worry about the environment and they may feel obliged to answer affirmatively, lest they come across as ecologically insensitive louts. But people maintain hierarchies of worries in their minds, and a new Gallup poll gives a good look at how Americans rank their fears about various aspects of the environment. AS you can gather from the chart, respondents tend to be most concerned about caters that pose an immediate threat to their health. Under the circumstances, a corporation that cleans up a dirty pond today would probably get more images improving mileage for its efforts than one that acts to forestall a distant threat, even if the latter effort is more cosmically important. Although global warming stands relatively low on the poll’s roster of perils, concern about it has been picking up steam in recent years. As recently as 2003, just 28 percent of respondents to a Gallup poll described themselves as worrying a great deal about it. The number of people who worry a great deal about the environment in general has also risen, but at least steep trajectory (from the 34 percent in 2003 to 43 percent in the new poll). One surprise: Notwithstanding the rise in worry about global warming, there has not been a corresponding increase in the number of people who believe it is caused by human activity (61 percent in both surveys). For better or worse, 22 percent of the current survey’s respondents claimed to understand the issue of global warming “very well,” with another 54% saying they understand it fairly well. Who knew that Americans en masse were so scientifically literate?

Percent of Adults Who Worry a Great Deal About Each Environmental Problem

Pollution of drinking water – 58%
Contamination of soil, water by toxic waste – 52%
Air Pollution – 46%
Loss of Tropical Rain Forests – 43%
“Greenhouse Effect,” or global warming – 41%
Extinction of plant, animal species – 39%
Acid Rain – 25%