Biodiversitynotes 1st quarter

Americans and Biodiversity: New Poll Shows Growing Awareness, Strong Support for Biodiversity

The results of the Biodiversity Project’s new biodiversity poll, “Americans and Biodiversity: New Perspectives in 2002,” are in and the news is encouraging! According to this nationwide survey, more Americans are familiar with the term biodiversity than in the past. Support for species and habitat protection is also strong and growing.
The survey was conducted by the polling firm Belden Russonello & Stewart (BR&S). Interviews were conducted in early January 2002 with 1,500 adults. The poll has a sampling error of plus or minus 2.5%.

Biodiversity: Not Just for Scientists Anymore
While ‘biodiversity’ is still far from a household word, the poll shows that awareness of the concept is up substantially from 1996. In 2002, 30% of the public say they have heard of the term “biological diversity,” while only 19% had heard of it five years ago. More significant, 47% of the public thinks that saving biodiversity is “very important” to them personally and that figure increases to 55% after respondents are informed about it.
More Americans appreciate the value of species, even ones we don’t like In 2002, 56% of respondents disagreed with the statement that, “The world would be better off if some species like mosquitoes and poison ivy were eliminated.” Only 46% disagreed in 1996.

Strong Rationales for Biodiversity
Much of the poll focused on testing messages for and against biodiversity protection. Messages that invoked values such as stewardship and respect for God’s creation had strong and wide appeal. The most compelling reasons for protecting biodiversity (those ranked “extremely important”) were:

· A personal responsibility to leave the earth in good shape for future generations (58%).

· A desire to protect nature for you and your family to enjoy a healthy life (51%).

The best informational arguments for biodiversity conservation were those that emphasized:

· Benefits (ecosystem services) nature provides to people (e.g. “Forests clean our drinking water”);

· Known Health benefits, such as medicines derived from plants and animals;

· Importance of habitat conservation (e.g., “save one habitat, and you save hundreds of species”); and

· Quality of life benefits (“forests improve our lives by giving us quiet spaces and beautiful landscapes).

Mixed Feelings
The poll also tested public sympathy for the arguments that opponents frequently invoke. By an overwhelming majority, Americans rejected the familiar argument that endangered species protection was not worth the cost in jobs (63% disagreed, up from 53% in 1996).
On the other hand, Americans were mixed when presented with the statement that increasing protection for wildlife would result in too many government restrictions (47% agreed, 49% disagreed, a statistical dead heat). The public was also split on whether national security concerns justify loosening environmental regulations on mining and oil drilling (47% agreed, 49% disagreed).

Gap Between Responsibility and Cognizance
A large portion of Americans also fails to grasp the impact of their personal choices and actions on the biosphere; 44% of those surveyed agreed with the statement, "what I do does not impact the health of natural habitats."

Strong Support for Solutions
The public supports a variety of steps to save species and habitat. As in 1996, the poll showed strong support for maintaining the Endangered Species Act (ESA). In 2002, 52% of those surveyed supported a strong ESA (up from 50% in 1996), while only 26% thought the number of plants and animals protected should be reduced (same as in 1996).
The public also rated tough enforcement of anti-pollution laws and regulations that limit habitat destruction as the most effective measures to protect biodiversity (59% and 53% respectively rated these measures as very effective). The public also showed strong support for providing tax incentives for land owners who protect natural areas and to consumers to encourage use of environmentally friendly products.

Insights Into Audiences
Demographically, maintaining biodiversity is most important to Americans who are younger, low-income, Democratic and Independent and Californians. Protecting biodiversity is less important to older, Republican and Midwestern Americans. The views of some audiences became more favorable the more they learned about biodiversity; these audiences included women, those fifty and older, and African-Americans and Hispanics.
The poll was commissioned by the Biodiversity Project and made possible through the generous support of the New York Community Trust, the Town Creek Foundation, the Homeland Foundation, the Charles Stewart Mott Foundation, the Moriah Fund, the Munson Foundation and the Weeden Foundation. You can order the poll findings and analysis for $25 a copy, or download a copy from the password-protected portion of our Web site. Contact Erin Oliver, at eoliver@biodiverse.org, or call (608) 250-9876, to place an order or to receive information on how to download a copy of the poll from our Web site.

Americans and Forests

Forests remained a lower-tier environmental issue for Americans, with only 19% citing “damage being done to US forests” as a major environmental problem (only global warming scored lower). The leading forest conservation messages were:

Forests clean our drinking water: 72%

Habitats are home to many species: 65%

We need to protect our national treasures – every two years we lose forests the size of Massachusetts: 61%

Forests improve our lives by giving us quiet, beautiful places: 61%

John Russonello, a partner of the polling firm Belden Russonello & Stewart, which conducted the 2002 biodiversity poll, offers the following tips on talking about biodiversity issues, based on the data:

· Highlight nature's connection to people, and show how biodiversity benefits people, and other plant and animal life.

· Stress responsibility: both responsibility to protect the earth and personal responsibility for one's actions.

· Make the connection to personal responsibility and the impact that individual choices have on the environment.

· A practical message -- saving one habitat saves hundreds of species -- has wide appeal.

· Build biodiversity-friendly behavior one step at a time by linking protecting the environment to human health.

From the Executive Director
Making our connections to Americans and Biodiversity

Our new biodiversity poll tells us that as a community, we’ve made progress in increasing awareness for biodiversity, and that people still place high value on protecting the diversity of plants, animals and habitats on Earth. Still, nearly 70% of Americans don’t recognize the term biodiversity. It’s also clear that even when people care, and get the concept, there is considerable uncertainty about what constitutes an effective response to stem the loss of species and habitat.
   When we started this project, one of my goals was to promote messages that go beyond “Big crisis at hand: worry more!” These days, more worry won’t sell; Americans already have a full plate of worry.
   People use a variety of tactics to cope with big, bad news, such as the degradation of Earth’s life support systems. Denial is a common approach. The head-in-the-sand crowd that won’t grapple with climate change has this down to an art. You can embellish denial by discrediting the message or the messenger. The tired old phrase “junk science” is often used in this context. Another response is, “thank goodness there are experts out there dealing with this, because it is beyond my abilities to fix this.” This “assumed response on the part of others” means you can worry less, and you don’t have to figure out what to do about it yourself. Then, there is the resignation/lost hope method – “Things are really bad; I can’t do much about it; and now I’m even more depressed about the environment than I was before. Another response is adaptive behavior, which solves an immediate threat, but rarely the large problem. For example, it is easier for people who are worried about the safety of their water to buy bottled water than take on the full spectrum of pollution issues.
   What we’re seeking, of course, is a positive response – action and behavior change that drives the big solutions, not the short-term fixes. To engage people and motivate action, we need to move beyond worry and blame messages – especially now. In workshops I call this, “the sky is falling and it’s your fault” messages. People who care about biodiversity (but aren’t hard-core environmentalists) tell us that they want to know what to do. They don’t want to hear all the shades of gray around an issue. They do want to know this: what products should I buy/not buy, who should I vote for, and what can I do that doesn’t make more demands on my time but still helps? Taking action allows you to take control, even in a small way, over these huge forces that seem hopeless and overwhelming. Success with one action leads to success with others.
   As we pursue our new strategic direction (see “Biodiversity Embarks on New Direction”), our work will place greater emphasis on helping people who care learn what they can do to make a difference. We will be walking our new talk in May when, for Biodiversity Month we will launch a “healthier homes and habitat” campaign targeting gardeners and cooks. Armed with the insights of the new poll and a new strategic plan, we are better poised for success.

Editor’s note:
The sun sets on Science Briefs and Spirit Briefs. We’re re-designing some of our newsletter departments, and long-time readers may note the absence of these topics. Fortunately, the Society for Conservation Biology provides a very similar service to Science Briefs in their “Conservation Biology Tips” which can be accessed on the Web by visiting http://www.conbio.net/scb/ and clicking on “Cons Bio Tips.”
As for Spirit Briefs, our goal is to integrate spiritual values across our programs, and so our work with partners in this field will appear in articles about our ongoing program activity.

At a time when fewer and fewer Americans are reading newspapers, lifestyle and entertainment media, such as lifestyle magazines, offer an effective way to reach distinct segments of the public. Because these magazines offer helpful information that is pertinent to their readers’ lives and interests, they have great credibility among their audiences.
We invited Maria Rodale, the publisher of Organic Gardening and Organic Style to share her observations on how these magazines and other Rodale publications inspire readers to take action - whether it is purchasing organic products, or reducing their overall ecological footprint.

BP - Over the course of its history, Organic Gardening has gained a large and loyal readership, and organic produce is a growing part of American agriculture and American lifestyles. What role do you think OG has played in building a constituency for organics, as well as for environmental health and sustainability in the U.S.?

MR - Organic Gardening has been around for 60 years. We lived through years of being ridiculed by the establishment, but hundreds of thousands of readers have known from the start that we were on to something important. My father was the first person to start the process of creating organic standards back in 1972 as well. All along we have been trying to help people garden organically in their own back yards -- and to understand the relationships between a healthy environment and healthy people.

BP - I once read an editorial in Gourmet that described magazines as providing "instructions for how to live." As you look at various communications outlets, what makes magazines distinctive from other media, especially as we look at their role in communicating about how people can respond to environmental concerns?

MR - Magazines are timely, engaging and create an ongoing relationship with the readers. Plus people can keep them and refer back to them. We hear all the time from people who have decades of the magazine stored in their garage!

BP - You've recently launched Organic Style. I love the slogan: no sacrifice; no compromise; no guilt. Who are you trying to reach with this publication, and what do you hope they will learn from reading it?

MR - We are trying to reach the woman who is interested in organic and curious about it (and is also looking for more balance in her life) but doesn't want to wear all beige undyed organic cotton clothing, eat tofu three times a day and live in a yurt. We want to broaden the appeal of organic and environmentally friendly lifestyles to people who don't want to give up anything that they love.

BP - What role can a magazine play in fostering positive social change? Are you promoting a specific set of changes that foster sustainable living, are you trying to expand a dialogue with your readers or both?

MR - Both. Information and education and inspiration all together can create change in people's hearts and lives. Information alone doesn't do it – people need to be shown how, coached gently and to feel an emotional connection and need. Magazines are a perfect vehicle for this.

Biodiversity Project Shares Poll Data with Environmental Leaders

Debates over biodiversity are raging in the news these days. To get our poll data in the hands of the people who need it now, the Project released findings of its new survey, “Americans and Biodiversity: New Perspectives in 2002,” at a briefing held in Washington, DC, on February 28, 2002. Over 60 participants attended the briefing, from leading advocacy, scientific and educational organizations and institutions. The briefing was also broadcast over the Internet, to participants at locations across the country, from Boston to Seattle.   (Our thanks to the Green Media Toolshed for helping us coordinate the Web-cast!)
   John Russonello and Kate Stewart, from the polling firm Belden Russonello & Stewart (the firm that conducted the poll), presented the poll findings and their analysis of the results. They also discussed audience-targeting strategies, based on groupings of poll respondents by attitudinal and lifestyle characteristics.
   On March 1, 2002, the Project held a follow-up strategy session with many of the groups that attended the poll briefing. At this meeting, we discussed effective public education messages on biodiversity, long-term audience cultivation strategies and opportunities for collaboration.

Do the Right Thing:
Ethical Backgrounders on Biodiversity

We’ve all seen it time and time again: the fate of a species or critical habitat hangs in the balance between the “he said-she said” claims of scientists, economists and lawyers. How many times have you wanted to stand up and shout, “We need to save [insert favorite threatened species or habitat] because it’s the right thing to do!”
Through a grant from the Henry Luce Foundation, the Biodiversity Project is producing a series of background essays and communication tips on the ethical and theological underpinnings of biodiversity conservation. Written for environmentalists, scientists and educators, the goal of the ethical backgrounders is to help broaden the debate about biodiversity conservation beyond the realm of science and economics. The kit will help users speak knowledgably, credibly and comfortably about the ethical and theological basis for biodiversity protection.
The ethics kit will contain a nine short essays on contemporary biodiversity issues and the major theological and ethical traditions that have shaped, informed and inspired nature conservation. Rabbi Daniel Swartz, executive director of the Children’s Environmental Health Network, and Michael Nelson, an environmental ethics professor at University of Wisconsin – Stevens Point, will be the primary authors. The kit will also provide tools to help biodiversity advocates find the right way to talk about ethical and religious perspectives. Other resources in the kit include; an essay about the Earth Charter, a case study featuring a "right versus right" scenario, written by the Institute for Global Ethics, and communications tips on biodiversity and values-based communications, written by the Biodiversity Project. For more information, contact: Marian Farrior at mfarrior@biodiverse.org.

Got Water?
A Look at Public Attitudes About Water in the Great Lakes Region

Through a generous grant from the Joyce Foundation, the Biodiversity Project is designing and commissioning a public opinion research project to assess attitudes about water supply and related issues in the Great Lakes region. The research will be organized in three phases: a series of six focus groups, twenty interviews with key decision-makers in the region and a 1,500-person regional phone survey.
The goal of the research will be to learn where and how we can mobilize public support to protect water supply in the Great lakes region. Working with the polling firm Belden Russonello & Stewart and a group of regional water experts, we will identify key values related to water supply, concerns about water protection among Great Lakes communities, resonant messages and language and barriers to water protection efforts. The findings will help identify and refine target audiences, and public outreach strategies for water advocates in the Great Lakes region. For more information, contact Cindy Coffin at ccoffin@biodiverse.org.

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Biodiversity Project Embarks on New Direction

Careful readers of our newsletter may have noticed a new Project mission statement in our recent issues. Recently the Project’s board and staff completed a strategic plan that will take our work in exciting new directions over the next five years. It also clarifies our mission, which is to, “advocate for biodiversity by designing and implementing innovative communications strategies that build and motivate a broad constituency to protect biodiversity.”
   In essence, our new mission statement emphasizes our primary goal, which is to broaden the base of support for habitat conservation by cultivating new constituencies – we like to think of this as the “affirmative agenda” for environmental protection. We plan to achieve this goal by speaking directly to the public through education campaigns that help real people understand their connection to the natural world. In keeping with the collaborative nature of the Project’s work, we hope to develop these campaigns with partners in the environmental education, advocacy, land conservation, scientific and religious and ethical fields.
   We will still continue our work to boost the communications capacity of our partners in the movement by providing sophisticated opinion research and outreach tools; we will also continue to play a leading role in promoting collaboration among organizations working on biodiversity. However, our future capacity-building work and efforts to convene leaders in the field will primarily be focused in the context of our public education campaign work.
   The Project’s strategic planning process was made possible through a generous grant from the David and Lucile Packard Foundation, and the planning process was facilitated by Institute for Conservation Leadership.

May 2002 is American Biodiversity Month, a national celebration of America’s rich diversity of life. During May, scientists, educators and citizen groups are organizing events that will celebrate biodiversity through educational activities and scientific exploration.
Biodiversity Month is being coordinated nationally by the International Biodiversity Observation Year (IBOY -- an initiative of DIVERSITAS, the international program on biodiversity science). May was chosen for Biodiversity Month to coincide with the United Nations as they celebrate International Day for Biological Diversity on May 22.
You can participate in Biodiversity Month by hosting an activity or joining one in your area. The Biodiversity Month webpage (http://www.biodiversitymonth.org) offers a list of events, resources to help plan an event, and forms to register your event with Biodiversity Month.

How big is your Ecological Footprint?
The average American uses 30 acres to support his or her current lifestyle. This corresponds to the size of 30 football fields (without their end zones) put together. In comparison, the average Canadian lives on a footprint one third less, and the average Italian on 55 percent less.

How much can nature provide?
At current population levels, there is an average of five acres of land for every person in the world. With an expected global population of 10 billion in the year 2050, each person will have less than three acres to meet his or her material needs, not to mention the habitat needs for the more than 25 million other species on the planet. Already, humanity's footprint may be over 30 percent larger than what the earth has to support us.

What can we do?
We can help by making choices that will reduce our ecological footprint. Later this spring the Biodiversity Project will be launching a “healthy homes and habitat” campaign that will help people learn more about those choices that can make a difference. We will be encouraging American consumers to shop “green” by taking advantage of the growing number of sustainable options available at the grocery store, from organic produce to shade grown coffee. Our suggestions for ways to make homes and habitat healthier will also feature information on tips for biodiversity friendly lawn and garden care and making smart seafood selections.

You can calculate your ecological footprint by visiting the Redefining Progress Web site at http://www.rprogress.org/. Redefining Progress has partnered with the Earth Day Network Worldwide Campaign to create a campaign for Earth Day 2002. This campaign will engage people across the globe in an assessment of their impact on our planet using the Ecological Footprint.

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Treasuring Our Natural Heritage: A Biodiversity Documentary

What is biological diversity and why is it so important to our future? Those critical questions are addressed in clear and compelling terms in Treasuring Our Natural Heritage, a three-part documentary series being presented by Idaho Public Television and the Natural Heritage Center. The series is funded by the National Science Foundation and narrated by Merlin Olsen. To encourage your local PBS station to broadcast the series in your region, contact the Program Director or Director of Broadcasting at your station. You can use the PBS website to find the phone number for your local PBS station. Go to http://www.pbs.org , select STATION FINDER in the upper right-hand corner, enter your zip code, and select your local station. Program Directors are making their broadcasting decisions for the summer months so contact them as soon as you can!

Content

Biodiversity Project Shares Poll Data with Environmental Leaders

Got Water? A Look at Public Attitudes About Water in the Great Lakes Region

Got Water?
A Look at Public Attitudes About Water in the Great Lakes Region