Do We Care About Conservation?

In this election, conservation and the environment have taken a back seat to issues such as the economy and education. 

On Jay Nixon’s site, he mentions agriculture, rural communities and energy policies, but does not talk about conservation.  On the other hand Dave Spence’s site doesn't mention any type of environmental issues at all. The candidates' lack of information on their views of this issue shows that they do not believe that the environment is a huge issue in Missouri. This lack of rhetoric can still tell us a lot about the candidates and the way this issue is covered in journalism.

Nixon is the candidate that does not completely ignore this issue. He recognizes that agriculture makes up a large part of the Missouri economy and exports. One of his platforms states that he will make policies to benefit rural communities and help agriculture. Here, Nixon is recognizing the issue, but is not making it the center of the campaign. Like Spence, he believes other issues such as education and the economy both take a front seat to the environment and conservation.

Dave Spence is all about the economy and job creation. His lack of looking at other issues that could potentially be important to Missourians shows his background in business and his belief that there is one main issue that the people of Missouri care about.

Because of the way that candidates have not been drawing attention to the environment, the media has not been drawing it to attention either. The candidates have been able to influence the press into not recognizing it as a relevant issue in this election.  Nixon did make some headlines with the environment when he called for hunters to donate deer they have killed to a charity to help feed the hungry.

Overall, the environment is an issue that is being left out of this race, because the candidates and the press see other issues to be more pressing. The real question is that while this shows that the environment is not a huge deal to the candidates or media, is it possible that it is still an important issue to the people?