Sunday, April 24, 2005
Celebrating Progress on Earth Day
I think that Earth Day should be an occasion for celebrating the nation's environmental progress. But, the good news about the environment is bad news for the environmentalist lobby as pointed out by this article on how Environmentalists seek to revive cause :
" As the world marked the 35th anniversary of Earth Day on Friday, environmentalists debated the future of a movement that seems to be losing steam.
President Bush's re-election, the failure to slow global warming and the large number of Americans who dismiss environmentalists as tree-hugging extremists has the movement's leaders looking for new approaches.
And while polls show most Americans want clean air, clean water and wildlife protection, environmental issues rank low on their list of priorities -- behind jobs, health care, education and national security.
"There's this paradox where Americans hold these views, but when it comes time to take action, there are many, many issues that trump environmental concerns," said Peter Teague, environmental programs director at the Nathan Cummings Foundation. "
Well, that may be due to the progress made to date. As G. Tracy Mehan III tells us :
"You’re not hearing much about this, but the environment seems to be doing quite well, ..... America is making astounding progress with a greenhouse-gas emissions rate that is less than a third of its economic-growth rate. On March 1, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) released its draft annual inventory of greenhouse-gas emissions which reported that emissions increased a mere 13 percent while the U.S. economy cruised along at 46 percent for the period of 1990 to 2003. Clemson economics professor Robert E. McCormick has observed that higher-income countries emit more carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases, but they also sequester more carbon through landfills, better farming, less burning of wood products, reforestation, and the like. In other words, if the economy continues to grow, McCormick says, “the U.S. is likely to become a carbon sink.”"
and : "This expected progress is consistent with the data for the last 30 years or so. In June of 2003 the EPA released its first “Draft Report on the Environment” in order to provide a national picture of U.S. environmental quality and human health. The document garnered all available scientific data from more than 30 federal agencies, ..... the report documented undeniable progress in terms of environmental protection.
Thus, air pollution declined 25 percent over the past three decades despite (or maybe because of) gross domestic product increasing by 161 percent, a 42-percent increase in energy consumption, and a jump in vehicle-miles-traveled of 149 percent. The percentage of days that air quality violated an applicable health standard dropped from almost 10 percent in 1998 to 3 percent in 2001. Releases of toxic chemical to all media (air, land, and water) also declined by 48 percent since 1988."
In another article, Sally C. Pipes relates impressive progress on clean air and renewed forest growth and argues that the progress is due to grassroots and market activites as much or more than government regulation. Pipes notes that the facts tell a story of progress, not gloom, in which bald eagles, forestlands, and wetlands have all prospered and multiplied. As she says:
"For example, while activists continue to warn about the dangers of carbon dioxide, man-made emissions of the gas have increased by only half of what was predicted. Even the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) projects that car emissions — one of the largest contributors to the problem — will be reduced by more than 80 percent over the next 25 years. .......
Air quality in the ten largest metropolitan areas — four of which are in California — has improved by more than 53 percent since 1980. The midwestern states have done even better. Their numerous coal-fired power plants were long seen as the largest contributors to ozone pollution and acid rain, but now the Department of Energy is reporting a massive shift.
In the department’s state-by-state breakdown, ten midwestern and southern states have reduced the total amount of sulfur-dioxide emissions by 93 percent for the whole country.
At the same time, wildlife is thriving in this cleaner environment. Forestland in the eastern half of the United States is increasing at a net rate of one million acres a year. Wetlands are also multiplying. After three centuries of decline, we now see a growth of some 26,000 acres a year on private land alone.
And the proud bald eagle? Our national symbol has made quite a comeback — from only 500 nesting pairs in 1965 to 7,500 today. It can finally be taken off the Endangered Species List."
The bottom line is that, while there are environmental challenges ahead, we have accomplished a lot and our economic growth is not the problem but the engine that drives that progress.
I think Sally Pipes sums it up well : " All the good news may put green lobbies in a panic, but perhaps it’s time Americans gave themselves a pat on the back. We have taken on and solved a visible problem, and made real contributions to technologies that will bring about a greener and cleaner Earth."
" As the world marked the 35th anniversary of Earth Day on Friday, environmentalists debated the future of a movement that seems to be losing steam.
President Bush's re-election, the failure to slow global warming and the large number of Americans who dismiss environmentalists as tree-hugging extremists has the movement's leaders looking for new approaches.
And while polls show most Americans want clean air, clean water and wildlife protection, environmental issues rank low on their list of priorities -- behind jobs, health care, education and national security.
"There's this paradox where Americans hold these views, but when it comes time to take action, there are many, many issues that trump environmental concerns," said Peter Teague, environmental programs director at the Nathan Cummings Foundation. "
Well, that may be due to the progress made to date. As G. Tracy Mehan III tells us :
"You’re not hearing much about this, but the environment seems to be doing quite well, ..... America is making astounding progress with a greenhouse-gas emissions rate that is less than a third of its economic-growth rate. On March 1, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) released its draft annual inventory of greenhouse-gas emissions which reported that emissions increased a mere 13 percent while the U.S. economy cruised along at 46 percent for the period of 1990 to 2003. Clemson economics professor Robert E. McCormick has observed that higher-income countries emit more carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases, but they also sequester more carbon through landfills, better farming, less burning of wood products, reforestation, and the like. In other words, if the economy continues to grow, McCormick says, “the U.S. is likely to become a carbon sink.”"
and : "This expected progress is consistent with the data for the last 30 years or so. In June of 2003 the EPA released its first “Draft Report on the Environment” in order to provide a national picture of U.S. environmental quality and human health. The document garnered all available scientific data from more than 30 federal agencies, ..... the report documented undeniable progress in terms of environmental protection.
Thus, air pollution declined 25 percent over the past three decades despite (or maybe because of) gross domestic product increasing by 161 percent, a 42-percent increase in energy consumption, and a jump in vehicle-miles-traveled of 149 percent. The percentage of days that air quality violated an applicable health standard dropped from almost 10 percent in 1998 to 3 percent in 2001. Releases of toxic chemical to all media (air, land, and water) also declined by 48 percent since 1988."
In another article, Sally C. Pipes relates impressive progress on clean air and renewed forest growth and argues that the progress is due to grassroots and market activites as much or more than government regulation. Pipes notes that the facts tell a story of progress, not gloom, in which bald eagles, forestlands, and wetlands have all prospered and multiplied. As she says:
"For example, while activists continue to warn about the dangers of carbon dioxide, man-made emissions of the gas have increased by only half of what was predicted. Even the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) projects that car emissions — one of the largest contributors to the problem — will be reduced by more than 80 percent over the next 25 years. .......
Air quality in the ten largest metropolitan areas — four of which are in California — has improved by more than 53 percent since 1980. The midwestern states have done even better. Their numerous coal-fired power plants were long seen as the largest contributors to ozone pollution and acid rain, but now the Department of Energy is reporting a massive shift.
In the department’s state-by-state breakdown, ten midwestern and southern states have reduced the total amount of sulfur-dioxide emissions by 93 percent for the whole country.
At the same time, wildlife is thriving in this cleaner environment. Forestland in the eastern half of the United States is increasing at a net rate of one million acres a year. Wetlands are also multiplying. After three centuries of decline, we now see a growth of some 26,000 acres a year on private land alone.
And the proud bald eagle? Our national symbol has made quite a comeback — from only 500 nesting pairs in 1965 to 7,500 today. It can finally be taken off the Endangered Species List."
The bottom line is that, while there are environmental challenges ahead, we have accomplished a lot and our economic growth is not the problem but the engine that drives that progress.
I think Sally Pipes sums it up well : " All the good news may put green lobbies in a panic, but perhaps it’s time Americans gave themselves a pat on the back. We have taken on and solved a visible problem, and made real contributions to technologies that will bring about a greener and cleaner Earth."
