Bass

Abigail Bass
UWRT 1103-029
Professor Elizabeth Caruso
29 February 2016
Should the environment be a big topic in politics?
The environment has always been a topic that interested me since I was very little. I have
always been perplexed by how the government handles the environment and environmental
issues, which is what led me to want to work in politics to help protect the environment.
Everyone always talks about how the environment is in danger, but it seems as if nothing is ever
being done to protect it. This led to me wonder if the environment is so important and in such
danger, why isnt it a bigger topic in politics?
This first question led me to an article by Glen Sussman, a professor of Political Science
at Old Dominion University, where he discusses many things dealing with the environment
including why it isnt a bigger topic in politics. He goes on to say other issues have
superseded the environment, including the economy, jobs, and foreign and defense policy
(Sussman). I understood how some of those issues could be seen by some people as more
important than the environment, but it made me wonder if the environment could deal with any
of the other policies Sussman discussed. It turns out that the environment could deal with foreign
policy. The problem with pollution in the environment is that it can travel across land and water
to other places where pollution may not be a big problem (Turin). This means that countries have
to work together to try to cut down on pollutant emissions to protect not only their country but
also countries that already have pollution control measures in place. The environment could be
considered a foreign policy because the problem of pollution involves the input and cooperation

Bass

of many countries to find a solution. An example of a foreign policy that deals with the
environment is the Kyoto Protocol. This was a policy made during the 1990s to try to cut down
carbon emissions all around the world (The United Nations Website). This was a very important
piece of environmental policy that led me to wonder what other policies and programs were
created to help protect the environment.
That question led me to the Environmental Protection Agencys website where I learned
about what they do to help protect the environment. The EPA is a program in the United States
that was created to help regulate and enforce laws drafted by Congress to help protect the
environment (Our Mission and What We Do). It was created in 1970 after there was an outcry of
support when the book Silent Spring was released in 1962 (Legacy of Rachel Carsons Silent
Spring). I remembered hearing about this book while I was in an environmental science class I
took in high school. Silent Spring is a book by Rachel Carson that dealt with pesticides such as
DDT and the harmful effects it had on the environment (Environmental Diplomacy). Before this
book was released, not many people cared about the environment or the effect they had on it
(Environmental Diplomacy). It helped to show how one small thing could grow and impact other
things that you would have never thought possible. A great example of this problem is the food
chain (ODonnell). If there is pollution that goes into the ocean, and a small fish eats it, the small
fish is not the only organism that is affected by it. The small fish will get sick and once it is eaten
by a bigger fish, that bigger fish will also get sick. This cycle will follow the food chain all the
way up to humans, and once we eat a fish that was infected, it will make us sick as well. That is
one of the many reasons why the environment is important and should be treated as such in
politics.

Bass

After finding all of this information on how important the environment is to everyones
lives and the earth as a whole, I wondered how it is still not a big topic in politics. Then I realized
that it could be due to a persons background and what they believe. This led me to an article by
Kathy Frankovic that discussed whether the economy was more important than the environment
and some of the factors that could contribute to their beliefs. In this article, there were charts that
showed the difference between who thought the economy or the environment was more
important based on party identification. Based on those charts, democrats were much more likely
to say that the environment and the economy were equally important and it was more likely that
republicans would say the economy was more important than the environment (Frankovic).
After seeing how much party identification affected a persons opinion on this issue, I
wondered what other factors could affect their opinion. It turns out that there are many other
factors including age, gender, race, region, and income (YouGov Poll). I decided to focus on the
age factor the most. According to the YouGov poll, individuals between the ages 18-25 are more
likely to believe the environment is more important than the economy and individuals 65 years
and older are the least likely to believe that the environment is more important than the economy
(YouGov Poll). The most interesting part of this information is how different the beliefs of
individuals of different ages are. This made me wonder why individuals of different ages had
contrasting opinions on whether the environment was more important than the economy. It turns
out that a big part of why the age groups have such different opinions could be due to their
political ideology. According to PEW research, individuals between 18-29 years of age are more
likely to be liberal and individuals 65 years and older are more likely to be conservative
(DeSilver). Liberals are more likely to be democrats than conservatives so that explains why the
younger group is more likely to support the environment as being more important than the

Bass

economy. However, there are still going to be other differences that cannot be accounted for in
research. These sources that dealt with political party identification helped me to better
understand the differences between people who believe the environment is important and those
who do not.
In conclusion, the environment has not always been a large topic in politics, but deserves
to be treated as such. There are always going to be people who disagree with each other, and it is
important to understand that, but it is also important to understand how to work together to
accomplish a common goal. Not only are we responsible for the well being of the planet, but we
are also responsible for creating legislature and punishments that will prevent other careless
people from harming it.

Works Cited:

Bass

DeSilver, Drew. "The Politics of American Generations: How Age Affects Attitudes and Voting
Behavior." Pew Research Center RSS. Pew Research Center, 09 July 2014. Web. 24 Feb.
2016. http://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2014/07/09/the-politics-of-americangenerations-how-age-affects-attitudes-and-voting-behavior/
"Environmental Diplomacy: Environment & US Foreign Policy." U.S. Department of State. U.S.
Department of State. Web. 23 Feb. 2016.
http://www.state.gov/www/global/oes/earth.html
Frankovic, Kathy. "Is Economic Growth More Important than the Environment?" YouGov: What
the World Thinks. YouGov, 5 Feb. 2015. Web. 23 Feb. 2016.
https://today.yougov.com/news/2015/02/05/economic-growth-more-importantenvironment/
"Legacy of Rachel Carsons Silent Spring National Historic Chemical Landmark." American
Chemical Society. ACS, 26 Oct. 2012. Web. 23 Feb. 2016.
http://www.acs.org/content/acs/en/education/whatischemistry/landmarks/rachel-carsonsilent-spring.html#change-in-perspective
ODonnell, Liz. "Why Is Our Environment Important?" LoveToKnow. LoveToKnow. Web. 24
Feb. 2016. http://greenliving.lovetoknow.com/Why_is_Our_Environment_Important
"Our Mission and What We Do." EPA. Environmental Protection Agency, 29 Sept. 2015. Web.
24 Feb. 2016. http://www.epa.gov/aboutepa/our-mission-and-what-we-do
Sussman, Glen. "The Environment as an Important Public Policy Issue." The Environment as an
Important Public Policy Issue. 2006. Web. 18 Feb. 2016.
https://ww2.odu.edu/ao/instadv/quest/Environment.html

Bass

"The Economist/YouGov Poll." YouGov. Web. 23 Feb. 2016.

https://d25d2506sfb94s.cloudfront.net/cumulus_uploads/document/2i0856mn58/econTab
Report.pdf
"The United Nations Website - The UN Climate Change Convention and the Kyoto Protocol."
UN News Center. UN. Web. 24 Feb. 2016.
http://www.un.org/wcm/content/site/climatechange/pages/gateway/the-negotiations/theun-climate-change-convention-and-the-kyoto-protocol
Turin, Dustin R. "Environmental Problems and American Politics: Why Is Protecting the
Environment so Difficult?" RSS. Student Pulse, 2014. Web. 18 Feb. 2016.
http://www.studentpulse.com/articles/943/environmental-problems-and-americanpolitics-why-is-protecting-the-environment-so-difficult