Do You Trust Scientists About the Environment?

Abstract

New Hampshire residents highly value their state's natural environment and the ecosystem services it provides. In a 2013 Granite State Poll, 98 percent of respondents said that clean water is very important to their own quality of life.Scenic values of forest and farmlands (66 percent) and outdoor recreation such as hunting, hiking, or swimming (63percent) were not far behind. People also rated New Hampshire's forests very important to their quality oflife, both for economic reasons (63 percent) and for carbon storage to reduce global warming (61 percent). Butthese highly valued ecosystem services—clean water, healthy forests, wildlife, scenic landscapes, and shorelines—face challenges posed by human activities.