Communicating Status and Trends in Environmental Quality : Reactions of Legislative Staff, Reporters, Activists, and Citizens: Research Project Summary

Abstract

When agencies wish to communicate the status or trend in an environmental condition (for example, whether ozone levels currently exceed the federal ambient standard; whether ozone levels have been declining in the past 20 years), they often use quantitative information, particularly in the form of a chart or graph. This research project explored how various audiences would react to visual presentations of status and trend measures across a variety of environmental topics (air quality, drinking water quality, endangered species, etc.). The general reaction was positive, although people attentive to government (legislative staff, reporters, activists) were more skeptical about the information than were ordinary citizens. Making status and trend presentations understandable and accurate can be a problem, and many citizens made the error of inferring local environmental conditions from measures that used statewide data only.