TIMES ORANGE COUNTY POLL : Residents Ready to Pay for Clean Environment : Most of those surveyed are ready to recycle and to pay more for mass transit and safer household products. They say individuals, not government, are the answer.

Pessimistic about the state of the environment, Orange County residents are ready to recycle bottles and cans, spend tax dollars on mass transit and buy household products deemed safer for Mother Nature--even if they cost more, a new poll shows.

In the 20 years since the nation first celebrated Earth Day on April 22, 1970, the environment has gotten worse, both nationally and in Orange County, according to three-quarters of 600 residents randomly surveyed by telephone in a Times Orange County Poll. Nearly half said Orange County’s environment will only go downhill in the next two decades.

And when asked how well county officials are doing in managing growth and protecting the environment, Orange County residents issued a less-than-exemplary report card. Overall, officials got a grade of about C-minus, with 34% saying they deserved a D or F.

When asked to name the county’s No. 1 environmental problem, 55% said air pollution. Next on the list were concerns about overpopulation (16%), water pollution (8%), oil spills (5%) and pesticides (3%).

At the same time, the poll reflects a new optimism that individuals--not government--can make a difference and reverse the ecological nose dive. “We can’t wait for politicians to wake up and rescue us,” said Telly Winston, a Tustin schoolteacher who took part in the poll. “It’s up to us, the little guys down the block.”

To that end, a surprising 82% of those polled said they support passage of new laws making recycling of newsprint, glass bottles and aluminum cans mandatory.

Another 67% said they shop for items such as biodegradable disposable diapers and plastic trash bags promoted as “safer for the environment” even though such goods are generally more expensive.

And 78% said they favor using tax dollars to build mass transit systems, with nearly half saying they would be “very likely” to commute to work on such a system if the stops were convenient.

This apparent shift in attitude and behavior stems from heightened concern among residents about the myriad of threats facing the environment, the poll found. But that awareness--and the optimism that individuals can somehow undo the harm done to the environment--is tempered by a hefty dose of pessimism.

“It’s a gloomy picture, and it appears to underscore how enormous people believe the problems really are,” said Mark Baldassare, whose firm of Mark Baldassare & Associates conducted the poll. “Because people are worried, they want to get involved. They want to take matters, in a sense, into their own hands.”

Only 5% of residents believe Orange County’s environment is better today than it was in 1970, and as the nation prepares for the 20th anniversary of Earth Day with rallies and marches next Sunday, only 28% believe the situation will improve in the next two decades.

The frustration apparently is shared by a growing number of Americans. A USA Today poll found that 83% say they are concerned about the environment, and that 64% believe that each person’s efforts can make a difference.

In Orange County, only recently seeing signs of environmental activism, new concern has arisen with the alarming sight of Alaskan crude oil washing up on sunbathing beaches and the window-rattling sound of helicopters attacking the Mediterranean fruit fly with aerial pesticide sprays.

The Times Orange County Poll found 77% of the respondents said their own interest in the environment has increased in the past few. Yet only one out of 10 said they belong to an environmental group, although more than 50 organizations now exist locally.

Nationally, support for such groups is higher, with 46% of those surveyed in a recent Gallup poll for Newsweek indicating they have contributed money to an environmental group. Locally, personal involvement in specific causes has lagged behind because people focus more on their personal lives, activists say.

“A lot of people are concerned and they want a good environment,” said Richard Kust, president of the 2,500-member Sea and Sage Audubon Society based in Santa Ana. “But they are busy, trying to making mortgage payments or raise families and they don’t know how to connect with the (environmental) movement.”

Still, the most visible signs of a “green wave” sweeping the county--and the nation--may be seen on a personal level, with nearly 50% of Orange County residents saying they always recycle newspapers, glass bottles and cans and 82% favoring mandatory recycling, despite the county’s conservative, anti-government reputation.

“It shows the level of concern that exists,” pollster Baldassare said. “People apparently are so worried that the environment won’t improve that they are willing to accept more government to reverse the trend.”

Chris Strong, a 33-year-old hospital worker included in the poll, said she believes mandatory recycling is the only option if people won’t voluntarily sort their trash.

“The first couple of weeks when we recycled it was an inconvenience,” said Strong, a resident of Anaheim, one of six Orange County cities offering curbside pickup of recyclables. “But now it barely takes any effort. We’re so used to separating glass, paper and cans. Even if they said we didn’t have to do it anymore we still would.”

In most areas of the county, recycling is strictly voluntary and 30% of the residents said they set aside recyclables only “sometimes,” and 21% responded they “rarely” or “never” recycle.

Mary McDonald, a retired schoolteacher in San Clemente, said it has become too difficult to find a disposal site for her recyclable goods. She used to separate her garbage, but no more.

“Our trash men didn’t want them so we got stuck with the stuff,” McDonald said. “There was a man who would come by for the newspapers, but I couldn’t find anyone to come and pick up the aluminum cans.”

Cindy Wilson, a Lake Forest housewife, doesn’t recycle, but she is among the 67% who said they shop for household products that are marketed as more beneficial for the environment. About 75% of those in the Newsweek poll said they too would spend more for such items, despite studies that question the products’ environmental claims.

Wilson has three children, two of them still in diapers. Although concerned that disposable diapers can take years to decompose--up to 500 years for a single diaper by some estimates--she still buys them, but she now shops for the “biodegradable” brands. Washing and drying cloth diapers, she said, “would consume my entire day. . . .”

“That’s why I try to buy the environmental ones,” Wilson said. “I know they cost more, and some people question whether any of these ‘good-for-the-environment products’ work, but at least I feel better. I’m trying to do something right.”

Environmentalists say they understand the frustration, but argue that cloth diapers are reusable and generate a fraction of the trash. And diaper services can eliminate the inconvenience of laundering, they point out.

About a third of county residents said they have not altered shopping habits in the name of the environment. Steve Holland, a Yorba Linda accountant, said that, in many cases, “nobody has proved conclusively” that such products work as advertised. “Until they do, it’s a waste of money.”

However, money seems to be less of an issue when it comes to water quality. Seventy-three percent said they are concerned enough about the taste, appearance and safety of tap water to buy more expensive bottled water or home filtration systems.

“Why take a chance? It seems like we read in the paper every day about polluted water. I’ve got a family and I’m worried,” said Melanie Williams, a resident of Irvine.

Mass transit, such as a monorail or light-rail train, also is something residents said they would be willing to finance in the interest of easing congestion on county roads and freeways and reducing vehicle emissions.

More than 75% of the respondents favored using tax dollars to develop such a system. Nearly half said they would use it “to commute to work or for other daily trips.” Residents in North and central Orange County would be more likely to ride the system.

Baldassare said there is an emerging link between public support for mass transit and concern over air pollution.

“It’s possible we are arriving at a new awareness of just how bad pollution is becoming,” he said. “People may be more willing than in the past to accept mass transit as the solution to both traffic and air quality.”

But even then, residents such as Troyetta Palmer are not sure they want to part with their vehicles, no matter how easy it is to ride some sort of people mover.

“I love the freedom of my own car,” said Palmer, a 33-year-old Santa Ana office worker who has lived in Southern California for two decades. “I know the smog is bad. I remember when you could go to the top of almost any hill on any day and see Catalina Island. Those days are gone, and my car is probably one reason why. But I love to drive.”

Finding solutions is frustrating, environmentalists say.

“I am pessimistic about the ability of this county’s leadership to grasp the need for ecological balance,” said Tom Larson, a horticulturist and business executive who was the chief architect of the Orange County Guide to Environmental Restoration, a blueprint for reducing pollution.

Longtime activist Frank Robinson, a central figure for more than three decades in the effort to preserve the Upper Newport Bay wetlands, pointed to the residential building boom in the past decade and said the county “has worked itself into a ‘building ethic.’ ”

“The very thing that the county depends on for its economic life is causing the environmental problem,” he said. “It’s up to the elected officials to redirect our priorities. But can they?”

But Don R. Roth, chairman of the Orange County Board of Supervisors, said critics are too quick to blame government officials.

The county has no way of controlling the real cause of much of region’s problems: population growth, he said. Since 1980, about 400,000 new people have been born in the county or moved here, pushing the population over 2.3 million. And another 300,000 are expected by the year 2000.

“Is it our fault that in the last year alone 43,000 new babies have been born in this county?” Roth asked. “Is it our fault that the federal government allows up to 10,000 new refugees a month to settle here?

“Maybe we haven’t done a good job with the environment. Maybe we should have put a fence around Orange County a long time ago. But I don’t think people would let us.”

Not In OUR OCEAN: Poll respondents want offshore oil drilling banned here but expanded elsewhere. A32

Orange County Gets Down to Earth A Times Poll shows residents are increasingly concerned about the environment. County’s Environment Over the past 20 years, has the environment gotten better or worse? 75%: Worse 5%: Better 10%: Don’t know 10%: Same Mandatory Recycling Would you favor a law requiring trash recyling? 82%: Favor 16%: Oppose 2%: Don’t know Personal Politics In recent years, has your interest in the environment increased or decreased? 77%: Increased 3%: Decreased 20%: Same What environmental issue in Orange County worries you the most? Air Pollution: 55% Overpopulation: 16% Water pollution: 8% Oil spills: 5% Pesticides: 3% Other: 13% Source: Times Orange County Poll Earth Day 1990 Orange County Snapshot How to Save Mother Earth Commitment to save the environment begins at home. Many Orange County residents are pitching in by recycling and making other conservation efforts. Here are a few things you can do. Water your lawn at night. Set lawn mower blades high. Lawn grass should be 2-3” high, which encourages longer roots and enables the dirt to retain water. Aerate your faucets. Water flows from your faucet at a rate of 3 to 5 gallons a minute. Attaching a low-flow aerator will cut that in half. Use reusuable containers. Instead of plastic wrap or foil to store food. If 25% of American homes used 10 fewer plastic bags a month, 2.5 billion bags a year would be saved. Just wet and rinse your toothbrush; don’t let the water run Otherwise, you can easily use 5 gallons each time you brush. Stop junk mail. The unwanted mail you get this year could equal 1.5 trees. To be taken off lists write to Mail Preference Service, Direct Marketing Assn., 11 W. 42nd St. P.O. Box 3861 New York, NY 10163-3861 Use cloth diapers. Each year, Americans use 18 billion disposable diapers. They take up to 500 years to decompose, use up 1.26-million metric tons of wood plup and consume 1% of all landfill space. Source: The Earth Works Group Consumption The average Orange County household uses 326,000 gallons of water per year. Each man, woman and child produces 2.1 tones of trash per year-more per capita than in any other metropolitan area in the nation. Added up, Orange County generates 4.4 million tons of solid waste a year. The average household uses 500 kilowatt hours of electricity per month. That is enough to burn 500 100-watt light blubs for 10 hours. Source: Utility companies Reaction 73% of Orange County residents say they are concerned enough about the quality of drinking water to buy bottled water ot filter their tap. 78% say they approve of spending local tax dollars to build a mass transit system in Orange County. 49% say they always recycle their newspapers, glass and cans. Source: Times Orange County Poll How Poll Was Conducted

The Times Orange County Poll was conducted March 30-April 1 by Mark Baldassare & Associates. The telephone survey of 600 adult Orange County residents was conducted on weekend days and weekday nights using a random sample of listed and unlisted telephone numbers. The margin of error for a sample this size is plus-or-minus 4% but would be higher for subgroups. All responses were anonymous, but some agreed to be re-interviewed later for news stories.