Headline News, Science Views (1991) / Chapter Skim
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3 A Sustainable Future
3 A Sustainable Future
Pages 53-78
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From page 55... ...
The amount of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere continues to increase. Does all this prove that the "greenhouse effect" has begun, bringing us a warmer Earth, rising sea level and a host of unpleasant consequences?
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From page 56... ...
Global average temperatures reveal a roller coaster course during the past century with a small net increase of only about ~ degree Fahrenheit. Some temperature records for example, for the United States reveal no evidence of change.
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From page 57... ...
The task before us is to try to step wisely even though our path remains obscured by an uncertain atmosphere. August 2 7, 1989 Robert M
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From page 58... ...
Previous studies estimated that shrimp trawls kill about ~ 1,000 sea turtles annually. However, after reviewing studies of turtle mortality, counts of stranded carcasses and other evidence, our committee concluded that the actual total may be as much as three or four times higher.
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From page 59... ...
To conserve these species successfully, TEDs must be used in shrimp trawls at most places from Cape Hatteras to the Mexican border and during most times of the year. In addition, a greater effort must be made to protect beaches where turtles lay eggs.
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From page 60... ...
Even some of the most vocal proponents of preserving Antarctica as a wildlife refuge have themselves visited the frozen continent and now, as advocates of leaving it alone, seem to want to pull up the drawbridge behind them. ~ have been to Antarctica as a member of the press and cannot imagine denying another human being access to the range of experiences to be had there: the glare of the six-month summer sun off the polar ice cap, that first eyeball-to-eyeball encounter with a curious Emperor penguin along the ice edge, the wad!
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From page 61... ...
Observations in Antarctica showed that man-made chemicals CFCs cause the depletion of stratospheric ozone, since observed on a smaller scale globally. Studies of the West Antarctic Ice Sheet reveal the extent of the so-called "greenhouse effect" and resultant global warming, which would raise sea level worldwide.
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From page 62... ...
To address some of these thorny questions, the Council of the National Academy of Sciences convened a special committee of biologists, of which ~ was a member. Its task was to examine the most frequently voiced concerns about genetically engineered organisms in the light of accumulated
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From page 63... ...
First of all, it is important to put recent developments in what is known as recombinant DNA research into historical perspective. Genetic engineering with recombinant DNA is essentially a new approach to an age-old activity, namely breeding.
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From page 64... ...
In my view, the real promise of the new genetic engineering techniques is that they can help us solve some of our most serious problems in better ways than we could before. To cite just one of many examples, we now kill insect pests with tons of toxic pesticides, inadvertently killing other organisms, disrupting ecosystems and contaminating the soil, our drinking water, even ourselves.
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From page 65... ...
Current plans are to build a deep geological repository for high-level radioactive waste in Nevada if the site proves acceptable, with the facility opening in the year 2010. There is a strong worldwide consensus among scientists that this kind of geological isolation is the best and safest long-term option for dealing with the wastes, which now are stored primarily at reactor sites around the country.
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From page 66... ...
Continued insistence on a totally predictable system for an unpredictable world assures that our country will encounter delays, rising costs, frustration and a loss of public confidence. It also virtually guarantees that most of the nation's high-level radioactive
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From page 67... ...
Many Americans whose closest contact with farming is the neighborhood supermarket worry about pesticide residues in their food, water pollution due to farming, soil erosion, antibiotics in animal products or just the size of their weekly grocery bill. Many farmers share these concerns, and a growing number of them are interested in experimenting with alternative systems that require lesser amounts of pesticides, fertilizers, antibiotics and fuel.
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From page 68... ...
Designed in an earlier era, they discourage crop diversity, crop rotations, certain soil conservation practices or reduced applications of pesticides. The chief offender is the federal commodity program, which covers nearly 70 percent of the nation's cropland.
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From page 69... ...
Government grading standards require fruits and vegetables to meet stringent cosmetic standards that have little, if any, bearing on nutritional quality. The "perfect" produce at our supermarkets comes at the cost of additional pesticides.
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From page 70... ...
For pesticides found to cause cancer in laboratory animals, the law seems to adopt a zero-risk standard, precluding EPA from evaluating scientifically whether residues pose any real risk to human health. At EPA's request, an expert committee of the National Research Council studied this problem and issued a report and recommendations last year.
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From page 71... ...
EPA has accepted such an approach in its new plan, a step that marks real progress toward making the pesticide regulatory system work. Our analysis showed that the consistent application of a negligible-risk standard by EPA could reduce the potential risk of pesticide residues significantly.
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From page 72... ...
* Agriculture and Water Quality fan van Schi~fguardle In 1982, ducks and other waterfowl began dying mysteriously at the Kesterson National Wildlife Refuge in central California.
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From page 73... ...
These options should give appropriate weight to all interests, including environmental ones. Alternatives might include retiring land from agricultural production, raising water prices, and disposing of drainage water in the ocean where physically possible.
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From page 74... ...
Nations There's a movement called "deep ecology" among some environmentalists that could affect one of our planet's most precious and endangered resources: its biological diversity.
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From page 75... ...
As a conservationist, ~ am attracted to the core philosophy of deep ecology. Where ~ run into trouble with it, however, is in places like rural Central America or on the agricultural frontier in Ecuadorian Amazonia places where human beings themselves are living on the edge of life.
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From page 76... ...
If you tell a frontier farmer that he must not clear forest or hunt in a wildlife reserve because this threatens the planet's biological diversity, he will politely perform the cultural equivalent of rolling his eyes and saying "Sure." The same can be said for the government planner in the nation where the pioneer farmer lives. In other words, deep ecology makes interesting conversation over the seminar table, but it won't fly on the agricultural frontier of the Third World or in the boardrooms of international development banks.
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From page 77... ...
Nations, director of research at the Center for Human Ecology in Austin, Texas, presented a longer version of this article at a conference on biodiversity sponsored by the Smithsonian Institution arid the National Academy of Sciences.
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