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The article discusses how a Yale School of Forestry & Environmental Studies survey of 1,000 adults nationwide found that Americans are seriously concerned about the country's environmental health and want more political action on the environment. A majority of voters--84 percent--say a candidate's stance on the environment will be a factor in how they decide to vote this November. Poll results indicate that three out of five Americans rate the quality of the country's overall environment as "only fair" or "poor," while just 3 percent say the environment is "excellent." American opinion of global environmental conditions is even more striking: Three-fourths rate global conditions as "only fair" or "poor", and 63 percent say conditions are worsening. According to the poll, 67 percent of Americans say the U.S. government does not do enough to protect the environment. Fifty-six percent of Americans, especially younger voters, say that the candidates should talk more about their environmental plans.

This article reports that activists are criticizing a proposal by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to speed up its regular review of air-quality standards. By law, EPA must revisit its National Ambient Air Quality Standards every 5 years. Staff scientists evaluate the latest research and propose ranges for new standards, which are then reviewed by the agency's Clean Air Scientific Advisory Committee. Because EPA regularly misses its deadline and gets sued, an internal EPA committee proposed several suggestions in for speeding up the process. EPA chief scientist George Gray said that the idea behind this proposal is not to have the policy drive the science.