Well now, this is a bit of a downer on what is one of the most exciting days of the year for your local tree expert. (Ok, how many of you know today is Earth Day..and how many more know that this is almost synonymous to Christmas for a tree guy?) We had wondered if the shrinking economy would make us Americans (both people and companies) begin to pull back on helping the environment if it meant digging even farther into our already overstretched pockets... and well, it looks like there are some mixed views.According to the Arizona Republic, a series of polls that were done in January confirmed our fear, that Americans felt more concern for the economy than the environment. "For the first time in 25 years, people told Gallup they would sacrifice environmental protection for economic growth. The green movement started to look like a luxury, and some of its leaders wondered if it would become another victim of the recession," reports the Arizona Republic.
But it's not all black and white. Even though many of us have begun to worry about bringing in the bread and butter (and who can blame this basic instinct to first preserve yourself in the present), we still haven't forgotten that caring for Mother Nature is also preserving ourselves in the future.
"The environment is an integral part of our survival," says Tia Holmes, Miss Earth Maryland 2009. "If more people were aware of all of the things they could do to help the environment, then it would not have ranked so low on the importance scale [...] Going green in many ways is much cheaper than not."
Thankfully, when your Year Round Tree Expert asks, "is the economy affecting our love for trees?" we can still say for a good many of us that the answer is a resounding no!
Sources:
Picture courtesy of Tia Holmes, Miss Earth Maryland 2009.
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