Data from the International Social Survey Program indicate considerable variation in the desire of respondents for increased spending on the environment in Australia, Austria, Great Britain, the United States, and West Germany. This paper explores this variation with the following objectives: (1) to determine the extent to which the social bases of environmental concern are consistent across nations; (2) to determine how the issue of the environment has been politicized in the five industrialized nations, focusing on the association of Old Leftist concerns and environmental concern; and (3) to determine the extent to which the social bases of environmental concern can explain the cross-national variation. The study uses a regression analysis, testing variables representing the social bases of environmental concern from past research in the United States, a scale representing commitment to the platform of the Old Left, and dummy variables for each country. The results show that the social bases of environmental concern are the same in the five countries studied, including a consistent positive association of Old Leftism with environmental concern. However, substantial variation between countries in the overall level of concern remains. Potential sources of the remaining variation are examined. While environmental degradation is almost certainly one of the inevitable opportunity costs of industrialization, not every industrialized nation shows the same concern for this cost. Survey evidence from five industrialized nations indicates vastly differing levels of public concern for the environment. Specifically, survey data supplied by the International Social Survey Program (ISSP) reveal five countries (Austria, Australia, Britain, USA, and West Germany) that vary greatly in the concern shown by the respondents in answering the question: 'Would you like to see more or less government spending for the environment?' Table i shows that more than a third of Germans and Austrians feel that much more should be spent on the environment, while fewer than half as many Americans, Australians, and Britons feel the same way. Combining the 'Spend much more' and the 'Spend more' responses, we see that 83 percent and 73 percent of German and Austrian respondents favor more spending, respectively, followed by Americans (44 percent), Britons (37 percent), and Australians at U niersity of C alirnia, an D igo on A uust 9, 2014 http://ijpoordjournals.org/ D ow nladed from 336 INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF PUBLIC OPINION RESEARCH TABLE I Concern for the environment Question: 'Would you like to see more or less government spending for the environment?'