Environment vs. Energy

A Gallup poll from May 27th states "The new results are based on a May 24-25 USA Today/Gallup poll. In March, by 50% to 43%, Americans said it was more important to develop U.S. energy supplies than to protect the environment, continuing a trend in the direction of energy production seen since 2007. Now, the majority favor environmental protection, by 55% to 39% -- the second-largest percentage (behind the 58% in 2007) favoring the environment in the 10-year history of the question."

The last part is what really got me, that this question has been asked over a period of ten years yet this is only the second time that the environment has taken precedent over energy. Obviously a lot of this has to do with current events, so I am curious as to what events were taking place when the environment came out on top before.

 I think people feel like the environment and energy need to be two separate things however they essentially work in conjunction with one another. Gallup also explained that Democrats have had a consistent view of putting the environment over energy which has only grown stronger and on the flip side Republicans favor energy. Not a big surprise with these two differing views, but still interesting to note their patterns.

It is clear that the state of the economy has shifted a lot of views on the topics of energy and the environment because people are going to prioritize, starting with themselves. The oil spill has quickly reversed much of the thinking Americans have had over the past couple years and now we are seeing a strong shift towards pro-environmentalism.