What Do Americans Worry About? The Real Public Agenda

The following is excerpted from The Center for Media Research and summarizes Gallup data released this week. As you look through the data, note where environment, green, transportation and related issues to our class fall on the public agenda as 'worry' that may translate into policy 'action'.

Article Begins Here - Who, Me Worried?

According to 13 issues Gallup measured in a March poll, summarized by Lydia Saad, 71% of Americans say they worry about the economy "a great deal," more than worry about 13 other issues. 64% worry a great deal about federal spending and the budget deficit. Race relations is the only issue about which the majority of Americans is "only a little" or "not at all" concerned.

Americans' Concerns (% of respondents; Fourteen National Issues)
	Degree of Concern
Issue	Great Deal	Fair Amount	A Little/ None
Economy	71%	22%	7%
Federal spending and budget deficit	64	23	12
Availability and affordability of healthcare	58	25	17
Unemployment	57	27	15
Social Security system	51	26	22
Size & power of federal government	48	24	28
Availability & affordability of energy	46	33	21
Crime and violence	44	30	25
Illegal immigration	42	23	34
Hunger and homelessness	41	34	26
Future terrorist attacks in US	40	29	31
Drug use	40	24	35
Quality of the environment	34	34	31
Race relations	16	28	54
Source: Gallup, March 201

 Gallup has tracked 10 of the 14 items measured this year every year since 2001, except for 2009. Federal spending/the deficit as well as the size and power of the federal government, both hallmark concerns of the national Tea Party movement, are new to the list this year. The "possibility of future terrorist attacks" was added to the list in 2002 and Social Security in 2005.
The availability and affordability of energy is the only issue about which Americans have grown significantly more worried since last year, from 38% to 46%. The current level of concern about this is similar to what it was from 2006 to 2008.

Energy Availability and Affordability Concern (% of Respondents Saying "A Great Deal")
Year	% Who Worry ("A Great Deal)
2001	46%
2001	32
2003	27
2004	35
2005	39
2006	48
2007	43
2008	47
2009	n/a
2010	38
2011	46
Source: Gallup, March 2011

The economy and unemployment are top-ranking concerns for Republicans, independents, and Democrats. Additionally, majorities of Republicans and Democrats are highly worried about Social Security.
Beyond these areas of common concern, however, the parties diverge. Large majorities of Republicans say they worry a great deal about federal spending and the size and power of government, and more than half worry a great deal about immigration. All of these issues are absent from Democrats' top concerns. In contrast, Democrats' top-ranking issue, healthcare,  is not a great concern to most Republicans.
Among the four issues of concern to a majority of independents, the economy and unemployment are issues they have in common with both major parties, while federal spending is primarily a Republican concern and healthcare, a Democratic one.

Top Concerns By Party Affiliation (At least  50% Worried "A Great Deal")
	Republicans		Independents		Democrats
Rank	Issue	Worried	Issue	Worried	Issue	Worried
1	Federal spending	79%	Economy	72%	Healthcare	69%
2	Economy	76	Federal spending	65	Economy	64
3	Size/power of government	62	Healthcare	58	Unemployment	60
4	Unemployment	58	Unemployment	55	Social Security	53
5	Illegal immigration	55
6	Social Security	52
Source: Gallup, March, 2011

 Of note,says the report, women are significantly more likely than men to be worried about healthcare, hunger/homelessness, Social Security, crime, unemployment, the environment, and drug use.
Young adults aged 18 to 34 are significantly less likely than older Americans to be concerned about Social Security and the size and power of the federal government. Young adults are significantly more likely to be concerned about the quality of the environment.
Americans' economic anxiety has not abated over the past year, as 7 in 10 Americans continue to tell Gallup they personally worry a great deal about the economy. This has ranked as Americans' top concern on this measure since 2008. Healthcare led the list from 2002 through 2007 and remains among the top five today.
This year's additions reveal that federal spending and the budget deficit worry Americans nearly as much as the economy. The interesting distinction is that all three party groups worry about the economy, while the deficit concerns far more Republicans and independents than Democrats.
Special note: This year's survey was conducted before a 9.0 magnitude earthquake struck Japan on March 11, launching a series of events that has sparked a nuclear crisis in that country and has raised Americans' concerns about the safety of nuclear power, says Gallup
For more about Gallup measurements and this study, please visit here.

Ray LaHood on Cash for Clunkers

In case you want to hear the pitch 'from the horse's mouth' so to speak, here is a link to Ray LaHood on CNN from the day C4C started. Note that the word 'environment' isn't used once, and a hardly a passing mention of GHGs.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vWTfoXHjqiQ&feature=player_embedded

Another Infrastructure Funding Idea

Infrastructure Savings Bank. Via New York Times.

Edward Glaeser's New Book: Triumph of the City

Edward Glaeser argues in his new book that the city is humanity's greatest invention and our salvation for the future. Glaeser says that the 2/3 of Americans who live in cities (which take up only 3% of the country's land mass) are healthier, more prosperous, and more environmentally conscious than other Americans.

http://www.c-spanvideo.org/program/Triumpho


Here is the link to his recent talk on C-SPAN (hosted by the Manhattan Institute, a public policy think tank based in New York City) about his new book Triumph of the City: How Our Greatest Invention Makes Us Richer, Smarter, Greener, Healthier, and Happier

Peak Travel?

Induced demand, latente demand and 'the extra mile' have come up a number of times in class as possible collateral effects to changes in land use, the transport system or energy prices. However, this recent study examines the empirical data and suggets that at least in some industrialized countries we may have reached the saturation point for travel.

Further speaking of bicycles...

anti-bike lane rebuttal

Japanese nuclear problem is not only for Japan...

http://www.globalpost.com/dispatch/news/regions/europe/germany/110315/japan-nuclear-germany-atomic-power

Japanese nuclear disaster will be the worst example of the evolution of the green value in the international nuclear poewr...
I think our world need to decide important decision soon.

Private Sector Public Transit

Public transit operated by private companies tragically continues to have problems with safety.

New York Times article: How Flaws Undid Obama’s Hope for High-Speed Rail in Florida

The March 11 edition of the New York Times features the article How Flaws Undid Obama’s Hope for High-Speed Rail in Florida which offers the following in its analysis of the demise of the Florida HSR project:

"The story of the line’s rise and fall shows how it was ultimately undone by a tradeoff that was made when the route was first selected.

The Tampa-to-Orlando route had obvious drawbacks: It would have linked two cities that are virtually unnavigable without cars, and that are so close that the new train would have been little faster than driving. But the Obama administration chose it anyway because it was seen as the line that could be built first. Florida had already done much of the planning, gotten many of the necessary permits and owned most of the land that would be needed."

'Dignified' afterlife of MTA subway vehicles

The Infrastructurist today features some reporting on the disposal of retired MTA subway vehicles as artificial reefs for marine habitat, including a slide show in The New York Times and photographs by Stephen Mallon courtesy of Co.Design of the expansion of Red Bird reef off coast of Delaware.

At least fish find the R-44 vehicles quite hospitable (implicitly more so than the older namesake Redbirds), for all their sub-par reliability while in service with the MTA (All 278 subway vehicles have been withdrawn from use as of last September.).

“We call these the DeLoreans of the deep....The one problem I see with them,” Mr. Tinsman said, “is that just like the DeLoreans, there are only a limited number.”

Jeff Tinsman, Delaware Dept. of Natural Resources and Environmental Control

Contrast this end-of-life outcome with that of the Boeing Vertol LRVs retired from MBTA Green Line.

Speaking of bicyclists...

I think that this is the cyclist whom Fred imagines:

What happens when you ask Americans to build a train...

The sad (and graphic) end to Fred's Boeing Vertol story from yesterday.

(for when you need 4 minutes of mindless distraction from your paper or other work)!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n64duG73Sak

MTA procurement during decline and renewal: the good, the bad, and the ugly

"While Grumman and Rockwell were incapable of manufacturing sturdy subway and bus equipment, they were able to manufacture satisfactory components for the space program" (New York Daily News, 16 Dec. 1980, p. 33)!

For those interested in the MTA (formerly NYCTA, or simply TA) as a case study in procurement, the context can be found at nycsubway.org. The following sections are particularly relevant, including explicit summaries of procurement procedures and the state of transit vehicle manufacturing from the 1970s through the 1980s:

"The R-46 Rockwell Truck Fiasco," in The New York City Transit Authority in the 1970s
"All Cracked Up" and "New Subway Cars for New York" in The New York City Transit Authority in the 1980s

Details pertaining to the troublesome R-44 and R-46 vehicles are presented in Chapter 10 of They Moved the Millions by Ed Davis, Sr.

The Prince by Nicolò Machiavelli

For those who want to read The Prince by Nicolò Machiavelli (written c. 1505, published 1515) in the 1908 English translation by W. K. Marriott, it can be found at http://www.constitution.org/mac/prince00.htm: the chapters are available individually, as are the complete text in one text or one PDF document.

And in case Fred ever goes online, he can find the original Italian text as a PDF at http://www.letteraturaitaliana.net/pdf/Volume_4/t324.pdf.

“We’ll put up half the money for California HSR” says Japan’s Ambassador to the United States

“Japan’s ambassador to the United States, Ichiro Fujisaki, was in Los Angeles from Washington, DC for the conference. Ambassador Fujisaki’s opening remarks to the conference were a forceful call for us to use Japanese know-how and equipment for our high speed rail. Most extraordinarily, the ambassador stated that he believes Japan will pay for up to half of the cost of the California’s HSR. [...] Basically our Japanese allies are begging us for the chance to build our train because they know it’s going to profitable.”

—California High Speed Rail Blog, via Infrastructurist.

Longfellow Bridge Pictures

On Tuesday, 1 March 2011, from about 11am to 12pm, Ryusuke and I walked the Longfellow Bridge and took some pictures. We'd like to share the pictures with you in the spirit of collaboration and openness. The pptx file (hopefully) shows where the pictures were taken.

Sometimes They Ask for Regulation

It is not always the case that business is against government regulation, even those businesses that will be negatively affected by the regulation. For example, a few years ago three oil companies asked policy makers across the world to pass climate change regulations. Why would they do something like that? Taking climate change and climate change mitigation legislation as inevitable, they want to have time to adjust their businesses to new rules. Or, for the more cynical, perhaps they think that taking a proactive stance will secure them a seat at the table. Either way, in seeking regulation, they are attempting to minimize risk.

Clean Air Policy: Unintended perils of legislating?

Legislating regulatory authority gone awry!

City’s Lengthy Push for Hybrid-Engine Taxicabs Hits a Legal Dead End (NY Times)

"The United States Supreme Court on Monday declined to consider an appeal by the city on its longstanding effort to mandate fuel emissions standards in New York City’s taxicabs. The city’s plan...had been rejected by lower-court judges as a de facto regulation of emissions standards — a power that, under existing laws, belongs to the federal government"..."I cannot imagine,” Mr. Yassky added, “when Congress wrote theClean Air Act that they intended to handcuff states and cities trying to clean their own air.”"

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/03/01/nyregion/01taxi.html?em

Media coverage of urban pollution - unfair?

Along the lines of our discussion of CO2 emitted per square mile versus CO2 emitted per capita: What is the role of the media in influencing people's perspectives on pollution, climate change, and, most importantly, their relationship to cities?

I came across this article today, which I found to be typical of the media's inflammatory treatment of environmental issues (on of the standard "Most polluted/depressing/corrupt... cities" articles):

http://realestate.yahoo.com/promo/americas-most-toxic-cities-2011.html

Aside from their analytical integrity, such pieces merely perpetuate American's negative perceptions of cities. (This piece, for example: of course cities contain high levels of pollution, being the site of most industry for the past 150+ years. Also, the issue of course isn't how much pollution / polluted space is contained within an MSA, but rather its proximity to residential areas.)

Does such media coverage illustrate American's negative/skewed attitudes towards cities, or are they key in influencing such attitudes? Could the power of the media be harnessed in new or better ways to influence behavior towards more environmentally friendly practices, beyond the usual "recycle more" or "litter less" campaigns?