During February and March in each of the past 21 years, the Sociology Department at Rice University, working with Telesurveys Research Associates, has asked representative samples of Harris County residents a series of identical questions. The annual countywide, random-digit-dialed, computer-assisted telephone interviews measure the public’s attitudes and life experiences, tracking their evolution during a period of remarkable change.
The questions addressing environmental issues during recent years point to two central themes.

Theme #1: Area residents’ concerns about traffic and mobility have continued to grow, accompanied by mounting support for mass transit initiatives.

• Respondents are asked each year in the one open-ended question that begins the interviews, “What would you say is the biggest problem facing people in the Houston area today?” The percentage spontaneously mentioning traffic, transportation, or mobility as the biggest problem in Houston grew from 12% in 1997, to 22% in 1998 and 1999, to 31% in 2000, to 34% in 2001 and 33% in 2002.
  
  Meanwhile, mentions of crime or safety as Houston’s biggest problem declined from 34% in 1999, to 21% in 2001, to just 13% in 2002. This was a smaller proportion expressing anxieties about personal safety than at any time since 1988. Concern about the economy, however, is a different story. The proportion spontaneously mentioning economic issues (poverty, unemployment, or economic insecurity) grew from 9% last year to 19% this year. In 2001, 67% rated “job opportunities in the Houston area” as “excellent” or “good”; that figure dropped to 52% in 2002.
• In the 2001 survey, 77% of the respondents said that Metro “should” conduct a referendum to determine voter support before building a light-rail system along Main Street. When asked how they would vote if such a referendum were held, 60% said they would vote “for” the light-rail proposal; only 31% said they were against it. There were no meaningful differences in support for the light-rail project between city dwellers (62% said they would vote for it, with 31% against) and those living in the suburbs (at 59% to 32%). It seems clear that a strong and broad-based consensus has developed on this important initiative.
• On four different occasions, respondents were asked this question: “How important for the future success of Houston is the development of a much improved mass transit system?” The numbers believing that improved mass transit was “very important” for Houston’s future grew from 47% in 1991 and 45% in 1993, to 62% in 2000 and 58% in 2002. The percentage saying that “a much improved mass transit system” was “not important” declined from 19% in 1991 and 16% in 1993, to 10% in 2000 and 13% in 2002.

Theme #2: There were slight and somewhat contradictory shifts in environmental attitudes, along with continued strong support among area residents for initiatives to protect the environment.

• Fully 50% of survey respondents in 2002 rated “the control of air pollution in the Houston area” as “poor” (31% gave a rating of “fair” and 17% said “excellent” or “good”). These are the lowest ratings ever recorded in the surveys with regard to any local issue. Last year, when respondents were asked about “the control of air and water pollution in the Houston area,” 44% gave a rating of “poor,” up from 30% in 1999. Clearly, the Houston public is not yet convinced that real progress is being made in the effort to bring the region into compliance with federal air quality standards.
• At the same time, the percentage of respondents who said that they were “very concerned” about “the effects of air pollution on (their) family’s health” dropped from 56% in 2000 to 46% in 2002. The numbers saying they were “not very concerned” about the health effects of Houston’s air pollution rose only slightly (and non-significantly), from 13% in 2000 to 17% in 2002.
• Moreover, in keeping with the movement currently under way to restore the higher speed limits on Houston’s freeways, the numbers of area residents who said they were in favor of “the efforts to reduce air pollution in Houston by lowering all speed limits to 55 miles per hour” dropped from 51% in the 2000 survey, when lower speed limits were only hypothetical, to 43% in this year’s survey.
• The proportion believing that the federal government is now spending “too little” in general on “efforts to improve and protect the environment” dropped from 60% in 2000 and 61% in 2001, to 50% in 2002. The latest findings are comparable to those in 1999, when 53% said that too little was being spent on the environment, and in 1998, when the figure was 47%.
• Finally, in a question asked for the first time of the residents in this, the oil-field manufacturing capital of America, the respondents split evenly (46% in favor, 46% opposed) to “allowing drilling for oil in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge in Alaska.”

In sum, the growing economic insecurities area residents have experienced during the past year may have had a slight dampening effect on some measures of environmental concern. None of the findings from the 2002 survey, however, would appear to indicate any lessening in the strength of public support for initiatives that will enhance this city’s aesthetic appeal, address its declining mobility, and substantially improve the overall quality and health of its environment.