Environmental Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
usually saving money in the process. As a result, stu-
dents have helped convince almost 80% of universities
and colleges in the United States to develop recycling
programs.
Students at Oberlin College in Ohio helped design
a more sustainable environmental studies building.
At Northland College in Wisconsin, students helped
design a “green” dorm that features a large wind gen-
erator, panels of solar cells, recycled furniture, and wa-
terless (composting) toilets.
At Minnesota's St. Olaf College, students have car-
ried out sustainable agriculture and ecological restora-
tion projects. At Temple University in Philadelphia,
students passed a resolution expressing a willingness
to pay an extra fee if the school gets much of its elec-
tricity from wind power.
Students also recognize that college campuses are
major polluters. A recent Yale University study re-
ported that the school emits more greenhouse gases
than 32 developing countries. Students at Columbia
University are pressuring the New York legislature to
cap carbon dioxide emissions and the university to
make more socially and environmentally investments
with its endowment funds.
Such student-spurred environmental activities
and research studies are spreading to universities in at
least 42 other countries. See Noel Perrin's Guest Essay
on environmental activities at U.S. colleges on this
chapter's website.
ments made in environmental understanding and sup-
port for environmental concerns in the United States.
Three major groups are strongly opposed to many en-
vironmental proposals, laws, and regulations.
First,
leaders of some corporations and people in positions
of economic and political power see environmental
laws and regulations as threats to their wealth and
power.
Second,
some citizens see environmental laws
and regulations as threats to their private property
rights and jobs.
Third,
some state and local govern-
ment officials are tired of having to implement federal
environmental laws and regulations without federal
funding (unfunded mandates) or disagree with certain
regulations.
One problem is that the focus of environmental is-
sues has shifted from easy-to-see dirty smokestacks
and burning rivers to more complex and controversial
environmental problems such as climate change and
biodiversity loss. Explaining such complex issues to
the public and mobilizing support for often controver-
sial, long-range solutions to such problems is difficult.
See the Guest Essay on environmental reporting by
Andrew C. Revkin on the website for this chapter.
Solutions: Developing Environmentally
Sustainable Political and Economic Systems
We need to work together to find and implement
innovative solutions to local, national, and global
environmental, economic, and social problems.
Many environmentalists call for people from all politi-
cal persuasions and walks of life to work together to
develop a positive vision for a transition to more en-
vironmentally sustainable societies and economies
throughout the world.
A major goal is to promote the development of
creative experiments at local levels—such as the one in
Curitiba, Brazil (p. 152)—that could be implemented
in other areas over the next few decades. A second goal
is to get citizens, business leaders, and elected officials
to cooperate in trying to find and implement innova-
tive solutions to local, national, and global environ-
mental, economic, and social problems.
According to business leader Paul Hawken, mak-
ing a cultural shift to more environmentally sustain-
able societies over the next 50 years
How Successful Have U.S. Environmental
Groups and Their Opponents Been?
Environmental groups have helped educate the
public and business and political leaders about
environmental issues and pass environmental laws,
but an organized movement has undermined many
of these efforts.
Since 1970, a variety of environmental groups in the
United States and other countries have helped in-
crease public understanding of environmental issues
and have gained public support for an array of envi-
ronmental and resource-use laws in the United States
and other countries. In addition, they have helped in-
dividuals deal with a number of local environmental
problems.
Polls show that about 80% of the U.S. public
strongly supports environmental laws and regulations
and does not want them weakened. Polls also show
that less than 10% of the U.S. public views the environ-
ment as one of the nation's most pressing problems. As
a result, environmental concerns often do not get
transferred to the ballot box. As one political scientist
put it, “Environmental concerns are like the Florida
Everglades, a mile wide but only a few inches deep.”
Since 1980, a well-organized and well-funded
movement has also undermined much of the improve-
means thinking big and long into the future. It also
means doing something now. It means electing people
who really want to make things work, and who can
imagine a better world. It means writing to companies
and telling them what you think. It means never for-
getting that the cash register is the daily voting booth
in democratic capitalism.
Several guidelines have been suggested for foster-
ing cooperation instead of confrontation as we deal
with important environmental problems.
