Utah has just completed hosting a meeting of the nation's mayors who were in the state to discuss global warming and what could be done on a local level to address the issue. Coinciding with this visit Utahs conservative morning newspaper The Deseret Morning News (
Link,
about); conservative television station KSL(
Link,
about), and Polling outfit Dan Jones & Associates(
Link) conducted a poll (
Link) of 624 Utahn's. The following question in particular struck me as surprising.
What do you think is the primary cause of global warming?
19% say natural fluctuations in earth's climate. 50% say it's human caused burning of fossil fuels, mostly from our cars and power plants. 19% say it's a combination of the two.
This means that a significant number of conservatives in this state are not on board with the Bush Administration talking point that there is no proof that humans contribute to global warming.
Furthermore, the poll showed that 73% of Utahn's believe that the earth is warming. If such a significant number of Utahn's, the reddest of the red, are in disagreement with the administration, why can't an environmental agenda get a bigger foothold in Utah politics.
Its my opinion that Kos was correct when he stated (in this story)that "Environmentalism is a damaged brand." The picture "Environmentalism" paints for Utahn's is one of "tree huggers" who wish to close access to the natural areas of the state. This is a state with 5 National Parks, numerous National Recreation Areas, National Forests, as well as State Parks, State Recreation Areas, and other wild areas. Many Utahn's are very in touch with nature, and love to utilize our natural resources in a responsible way. The threat of being shut out of these areas drives them away from environmentalism. A message and practice of conservation can and would be a great wedge issue in this state. If it can be a wedge issue here, it certainly would be a good national wedge issue.
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