All the sustainable bloggy folk are reporting on a new poll in the Wall Street Journal.

On the bright side, "nearly three-quarters of U.S. adults agree that protecting the environment is important and standards cannot be too high."

Then again, "Only 12% of U.S. adults describe themselves as active environmentalists."

Reader support helps sustain our work. Donate today to keep our climate news free. All donations DOUBLED!

There’s a lot to be unpacked in this, but I gotta skeedaddle home. Read the whole thing. I’ll just say: greens are rather obsessed with the idea that if they just get the facts out there, people will want action. (This is particularly true on global warming.)

Grist thanks its sponsors. Become one.

But the facts are already out there. People already want action. But there’s a difference between wanting action in the "I’d say so on a poll" way and wanting action on the "I’d make it a voting priority" way.

We don’t need more facts and studies and "proof." We need to figure out how to motivate people. Those are separate undertakings, and it’s the latter greens are failing at.