Tracking the real environmentalists: they're more mainstream than some groups care to acknowledge.(Green matters: environmental policies)

Ever notice how the anti-environment crowd wants everyone to believe that the environmentalists are in the minority? That they wield too much influence for their numbers? And that they're irrational crazies?

Have you noticed bow easy it is to believe them? Any person with environmental concerns who has paid any attention to the Bush administration's actions is pretty sure to feel inconsequential.

But if environmentalists are just a bunch of fringe loonies, why, then, do we find ourselves with such an abundance of environmental news, so much so that we hardly can pick a topic to write about in this limited space? We're not just talking about tree-huggers and hard line activists. We're talking about middle-of-the road scientists, federal, state, and local governments, academics, major corporations, and countless individuals.

Ordinary Americans

Even more telling are the pervasive attitudes of the American people revealed in a number of polls. Americans are broadly supportive of the goals of the environmental movement, says a Gallup Poll. Four of five respondents said they agreed with the goals of the environmental movement and more than two-thirds said they were either active with the movement or sympathetic to its goals.

The League of Conservation Voters commissioned a poll that found, among other things, that 69% of voters support either stronger environmental laws or stricter enforcement of existing laws, and President Bush's approval on the environment and energy policy remains low with just 33 and 32% respectively who say he has done an excellent of good job on those two issues.

Americans favor reduction in global warming by 4-1, according to a Zogby International poll. They feel that the United States should reduce its emissions of greenhouse gases like carbon dioxide that are said to contribute to global warming. In polling of adults across the country, 79% said they favor a reduction, while 17% disagree.