Green Motoring Starting To Rust

A new Harris poll indicates that the "back to the caves" movement is beginning to falter. Despite the best efforts of the Green Weenies and government fellow-travelers, Americans are simply not buying into the doom and gloom scenarios about what will happen if we don't start heating our caves with driftwood and riding horses to our former jobs.

A large percentage of the people surveyed indicated that they are all in favor of more fuel-efficient cars, better use of natural resources, and cleaning up the air and water around them. But that didn't mean they were ready to sacrifice all their modern conveniences for draconian green schemes that are unproven, inefficient, and could do more harm in the long run than just continuing with our current usage as genuinely green technologies evolve.

In the midst of belt-tightening in the private sector and continued profligacy in the public sector, 8 percent of those surveyed said they had purchased a hybrid or more fuel-efficient car in 2010 as against 13 percent in 2009. 1% had purchased a hybrid, down 50% from the 2% in 2009. And automobiles were hardly the only area affected. Across-the-boards, Americans decided the sky wasn't falling after all, and maybe there was more hysteria than sound reasoning in all the dire warnings from the eco-extremists.

In 2009, 60% of respondents said they were making a major effort to conserve water. 57% said so in 2010. Those purchasing locally-grown products were at 39% in 2009, 33% in 2010. Locally-manufactured products scored 29% in 2009, 23% in 2010. Purchasing "organic" products dropped from 17% to 15%. The same result for composting food and organic waste.

Energy Star products inexplicably dropped 6%, even though this program long precedes the current green hysterics. 9% fewer donated or recycled electronics. 6% fewer bought bottled water, a trend back to tap water and less plastic in the environment (OK, plastic containers and yuppies sucking on water bottles has always bugged me). Cleanliness and sanitation are up by 5% as people replaced their low-flow showerheads and godawful low-flush toilets. In some states, people are actually breaking the law by installing real-flush toilets. Good for them.

Recycling, one of the great scams of the 20th and 21st centuries, is up, however. Perfectly sensible activities like carpooling and bicycle riding are up a bit, but substantially unchanged. A telling part of the poll was that respondents specifically stated that they were consciously avoiding many of the "green" activities, and a majority said they either had or were going to abandon "green attitudes." 28% said they considered "green" initiatives to be important or very important to them in deciding on which candidates to vote for. 36% said it was important in 2009.

This is all beginning to sound like normal people being wise about their environment rather than acting precipitously by supporting unproven pie-in-the-sky schemes that are likely to make things worse all the way around. Many of he same people who consciously abandoned "feel good" schemes were proud to call themselves "conservationist" (17% in 2009, 20% in 2010). 18% called themselves "green" in 2010 versus 13% in 2009, and 16% called themselves "environmentalist" in 2010, whereas 13% used that term in 2009.

Given that the numbers are well beyond the statistical threshold of a "standard deviation," the conclusion I draw from this is that good old-fashioned sensible use of resources and technology is making a comeback, while blind faith in the eco-gods is on the wane. The Bible admonishes us to be good stewards of the earth. The ecofreaks want us to worship the earth. Gaea is apparently losing ground.