We Can’t Afford Not to Invest in Environment

Remember when traffic congestion was what people moved to Orange County to get away from ? Remember when oil spills were something that happened to other people’s beaches? Or when no one thought about what happened to trash once it left the curb?

It’s amazing what one of the state’s biggest growth rates--not to mention a major oil spill off Huntington Beach in February--has done for the environmental movement in Orange County. Today, even as the 20th anniversary of Earth Day is celebrated, residents indicate that they have a deepening awareness that the ecological system on which they depend is fragile. They also are conscious of their role in generating the mounds of trash and tons of air pollutants and indicate a willingness to change their behavior to reflect that concern. According to a recent survey conducted for The Times, for example, 82% of Orange County residents favor mandatory trash recycling of glass bottles, newsprint and aluminum cans. In this, residents appear to be ahead of their elected leadership: So far only six of the county’s 29 cities offer recycling. Irvine, which was the first, expected 40% participation but instead got 70%, an indication that people are looking for ways to take action. In addition, more than two-thirds of those surveyed said they buy items advertised to be safer for the environment, even though they cost more.

The survey conducted by Mark Baldassare and Associates also indicated that 72% of the county’s residents favor using tax dollars to build mass transit systems, and nearly half said they would “very likely” use public transit to get to work if the stops were convenient.

Voting for increased taxes for transportation and transit is another matter, however. Orange County residents have twice voted against a half-cent sales tax increase--a boost approved in every other urban county in the state--for projects aimed at easing traffic congestion. They will get another chance in November. Meanwhile, a statewide measure, Proposition 111, which is on the June 5 primary ballot, deserves support. It would increase gas taxes by 9 cents over the next five years to pay for freeway widening and many other vitally needed highway and transportation projects.

Overall, 77% of Orange County residents--Republicans and Democrats alike--said they are more interested in the environment now than they were several years ago, reflecting a national trend that was sparked to some degree by the Exxon Valdez oil spill in Alaska’s pristine Prince William Sound. But there must also be a willingness to invest in the environment and to change lifestyles to preserve and recycle resources. One of comedian Lily Tomlin’s characters in the play, “The Search for Signs of Intelligent Life in the Universe,” says: “It’s hard to be politically conscious and upwardly mobile at the same time.” But this may be just what is needed to preserve the good life that Orange County residents have worked so hard to achieve and make Earth Day 20 years hence something worth celebrating.