Texans OK Higher Costs, Sacrifices to Aid Natural Resources

Texans OK Higher Costs, Sacrifices to Aid Natural Resources

Worried about the deteriorating environment, most Texans are willing to pay higher prices and sacrifice economic development if it helps protect the state's natural resources.

That is the finding of a Rice University poll, billed as the first comprehensive statewide survey measuring Texans' attitudes toward the environment. The random telephone survey, which polled 1,000 Texans last summer, averaged about 20 minutes in length and has a margin of error of 3 1/2 percentage points. Results were released Monday.

Stephen Klineberg, a Rice sociology professor who directed the survey, said he was surprised by the degree of concern Texans share about the environment.

Eleven percent of the respondents, without being prompted, listed the environment as one of the most serious problems facing their communities. Their most immediate concerns, Klineberg said, are crime, drugs, unemployment and poverty.

"Environmental problems usually do not generate the kind of direct and immediate impact on people that brings an issue spontaneously to mind when survey respondents are asked to name the most serious problems," Klineberg said.

"Given this context, it is striking to find that 11 percent of the respondents spontaneously mention specific environmental problems," such as air pollution, toxic wastes and coastal erosion, he said.

Indeed, in a recent Texas Poll, only 4 percent of the 1,000 respondents cited the environment as one of the top issues facing Texas. The Texas A&M University conducted that poll in early August for Harte-Hanks Communications.

In the Rice poll, a majority of Texans - 56 percent - say they often recycle cans, bottles or newspapers. More than one-third of the respondents say they avoid buying or using environmentally damaging products, and the same number say they often pick up litter in public places.

The poll found that Texans overwhelmingly support a deposit on glass bottles to reduce litter and encourage recycling. A majority also said everyone should be required to recycle their trash.

"Texans regard garbage disposal, along with water pollution, as the most serious environmental problem in their communities," Klineberg said.

The poll also found that even though Texans worry about unemployment and the economy, they favor placing environmental concerns above economic development.

For example, four of five respondents said natural resources must be preserved for the future, even if consumers have to pay more for products. And three out of five said endangered species should be protected even at the expense of economic activities, such as new construction projects.

"No matter how the question is asked, they are clear and consistent in responding with a resounding `No!' to any suggestion that economic development might need to be given precedence over environmental concerns," Klineberg said.

Texans are prepared to make changes in their lifestyles and spending patterns in order to protect the environment, the survey found. For example, almost two-thirds said they would be willing to pay $200 more each year for goods in return for new pollution controls designed to reduce future medical or cleanup costs.

But most Texans are not willing to pay more for gasoline to encourage conservation or energy efficiency. Almost two-thirds rejected the notion of "higher gasoline taxes to encourage more efficient cars and more uses of buses and trains."

Klineberg said respondents were divided on higher gasoline taxes according to geographic areas. Rural Texans - who often do not have access to mass transportation - oppose higher gasoline taxes, while a majority of respondents in Austin, Dallas, Houston and San Antonio favored the higher taxes.

Klineberg, who has doctorates from the University of Paris and Harvard University, said one of the most surprising findings of the survey is the "ecological worldview" Texans have developed.

"There are clear signs among Texans of an emerging environmental consciousness," he said. "Texans are clear and consistent in seeing human beings as needing to live in harmony with the natural resource environment."

Environmental survey

Sample questions from the Rice University poll:

1. We will be able to solve our environmental problems through better technologies alone, without having to change our lifestyles: Agree 31% Disagree 65% Don't know 4%

2. Do you favor a law requiring a deposit on glass bottles sold in Texas, to reduce litter and encourage recycling? For its 83% Against it 15% Don't know 3%

3. Do you favor a law requiring people to recycle their trash (making everybody keep bottles, cans and newspapers separate from the rest of the trash)? For its 77% Against it 20% Don't know 3%

4. Any new pollution controls, imposed to reduce future medical or cleanup costs, would make companies raise prices on the goods they sell today. If the new controls meant that you would have to pay $200 more each year for the things you buy, would you be in favor or opposed to them? In favor 63% Opposed 33% Don't know 4%

Numbers may not add up to 100 percent because of rounding.