Kyle Drennen
Media Research Center
11/16/2010
During Monday’s12PM ET hour on MSNBC, anchor Contessa Brewer helped promote the network’s “Green is Progress” week by demanding greater government intervention to force people to follow an environmentalist agenda: “Until government says these are the standards that everyone has to aspire to, we’re not really making progress.”
Brewer made the comments while interviewing Practically Green CEO Susan Hunt Stevens and introduced the segment by touting the latest poll numbers on environmental awareness: “87% of Americans say they personally care about protecting the environment. 75% of Americans believe projects that protect the environment could also give us an economic boost….38% say the government should be most responsible for protecting the environment.” However, she fretted people weren’t making enough sacrifices: “…everybody says in a survey, ‘oh, do you want to live greener? Do you personally care about the environment?’ Yes. ‘Are you willing to spend 25 cents extra in a federal gas tax that would definitely help improve the use of fuel?’ Not so much.”
Later, Brewer assured viewers that she was a true believer: “I’m on the record saying that I care, and, I mean, I have my own compost bin and I use biodegradable soaps and all of that kind of stuff.” She then concluded that the only way to get others to follow her example would be through government enforcement: “…research shows we can do that all we want, but until government here…sets policy. Until government says these are the standards that everyone has to aspire to, we’re not really making progress.”
The article, with transcript, continues at MRC.
