A Voice from the Wilderness

For those of you who have not yet read the recent excellent report on Global Warming by the Economist newspaper, I strongly encourage you to do so.  The entire survey is relevant to the AXP campaign, of course, but I wanted to draw attention to one small nugget of info tucked away in the middle of the report.  This is a reference to the National Wildlife Federation's 2006 "Nationwide Opinion Survey of Hunters and Anglers," which is probably not something most of you read on a regular basis (smile).  But being based as I am in Ohio, a state not well known for its liberal convictions as regards topics like gay marriage, Homeland Security, and That Man in the White House, the survey gave me some comfort that out here in the Midwest, there may be more support for AXP's goals than those of our readers domiciled on the coasts might assume. 

The survey covered some 1,000 hunters and anglers (note the agile and politically correct dodging of "fishermen," as I suppose "fisherpersons" would be a bit of a stretch), of whom a good quarter identified themselves as Republican, and just about half as evangelical Christians.  Not a group one might guess would be all up in arms about climate change (pun intended).  But that guess turns out to be utterly wrong.  Over three-quarters of these respondents said that not only had they noticed significant climate change occuring as they tramped the fields and forests of the US, but that they agreed that global warming is the culprit.  And a full two-thirds believed that the problem was urgent and that, further, the USA should take a leading role in combatting the phenomenon, via regulation of fossil fuels or incentives to develop cleaner technologies, or any number of other steps.  Now, the NWF was not so brave as to ask the respondents if they thought part of the solution would include reducing their use of pickups and SUVs, but the findings are significant nonetheless.  Check out the survey for more details.

So an odd coalition may be emerging, including not only what I'll call the "academically" green (whose archetype is probably the university professor riding a bike to school and running a compost heap in the backyard), but the "field and stream" greens, too.  As these hunters and anglers notice shorter winters, drying wetlands, and more frequent brushfires, they may be coming to the same conclusions as their less outdoorsy fellow citizens. 

Now if we can just figure out how to install a nice Cabelas fishing rod rack in the back of a Prius...