Environmental Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
human control. The changes in temperature and precipitation that have
already begun will have great regional economic consequences for agri-
culture and for people who live near low-lying coastlines. Because the
prevention of climate change is impossible, accommodation is called for.
Air pollution in the United States has shown meaningful decreases of
nearly all pollutants over the past few decades, but pressure must be kept
on the motor vehicle and energy industries because they are responsible
for most of the noxious materials in our air. The federal government and
an increasing number of states appear determined to do this.
Everyone is harmed by environmental degradation. It is unfortunate
that the environmental movement has become the turf of left-wing liber-
als. In poll after poll, Democrats emerge as more concerned about the
environment than Republicans. Why has the view of environmentally
concerned Republican President Theodore Roosevelt been forgotten by
political conservatives? Why is conserving nature not viewed as worth-
while? After all, the normal functioning of the natural world stabilizes
our climate, maintains the oxygen content of our air, fertilizes our soil,
replenishes our water, and pollinates our crops. We are part of nature,
so we should respect it and not modify it in a way that would damage
us. That should be a commandment that everyone should follow.
Why Does Environmental Pollution Continue?
Because the most important impersonal goals to humans are jobs and
money, and because most people in Western countries are reasonably
satisfi ed with their living conditions, signifi cant change is considered a
threat and is resisted strenuously. Those who pollute are concerned that
changes in the status quo will cost them money, or that they will become
unemployed due to industrial changes, and they want such changes
delayed or canceled. But as young people are increasingly aware, the
days when a person could keep the same job for his or her entire working
lifetime are gone. All workers must be prepared to alter their occupations
whenever conditions change in order to survive in an industrial economy.
It may not be anyone's fi rst choice, but it is inevitable. It is the price of
what is generally accepted as progress.
I believe most of the nation's pollution problems refl ect the fact that
many, if not most, Americans have too much money for the nation's
good, a conclusion few Americans are willing to accept. The problem in
the United States is affl uence, not population growth. Extreme examples
of expenditures may get the idea across: women spending thousands of
