A Hole in the Sky: Ozone Depletion - Public Opinion About The Ozone

In March 2004 the Gallup Organization conducted its annual poll of Americans' beliefs and attitudes about environmental issues. The results show that damage to the Earth's ozone layer ranks very low on the list of environmental problems about which Americans are worried. (See Figure 1.8 in Chapter 1.) Only 33 percent of those asked in 2004 expressed a great deal of worry about damage to the ozone layer. As shown in Table 3.4, this percentage is down from a peak of 51 percent in 1989. In 2004 another 27 percent expressed a fair amount of concern about the problem, while 26 percent felt only a little concern and 14 percent felt no concern at all.

FIGURE 3.6
Emissions of ozone-depleting substances, 2001

TABLE 3.4
Public concern about damage to the Earth's ozone layer, 2004
PLEASE TELL ME IF YOU PERSONALLY WORRY ABOUT THIS PROBLEM A GREAT DEAL, A FAIR AMOUNT, ONLY A LITTLE, OR NOT AT ALL. DAMAGE TO THE EARTH'S OZONE LAYER?

	Great deal %	Fair amount %	Only a little %	Not at all %	No opinion %
2004 Mar 8–11	33	27	26	14	*
2003 Mar 3–5	35	31	21	12	1
2002 Mar 4–7	38	29	21	11	1
2001 Mar 5–7	47	28	16	8	1
2000 Apr 3–9	49	29	14	7	1
1999 Apr 13–14	44	32	15	8	1
1997 Oct 27–28	33	27	25	13	2
1991 Apr 11–14	49	24	16	8	4
1990 Apr 5–8	43	28	15	10	4
1989 May 4–7	51	26	13	8	2
SOURCE: "Please tell me if you personally worry about this problem a great deal, a fair amount, only a little, or not at all. Damage to the Earth's ozone layer?," in Poll Topics and Trends: Environment, The Gallup Organization, Princeton, NJ, March 17, 2004 [Online] www.gallup.com [accessed March 30, 2004]