Headline News, Science Views II (1993) / Chapter Skim
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3 THE ENVIRONMENT
3 THE ENVIRONMENT
Pages 41-64
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From page 43... ...
Human activity soon will push concentrations of these gases to levels unprecedented in human history. Virtually all scientists agree on these facts.
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From page 44... ...
If the intensity of global warming increases, nuclear energy may be an important alternative to coal- and oil-fired power units. The main component of a planetary insurance policy should be improved energy efficiency.
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From page 45... ...
No one can predict yet how significant global warming will be, but we need not wait for a clearer signal. Adopting the insurance policies outlined here will produce much benefit for little cost.
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From page 46... ...
For example, if homeowners replaced just three incandescent light bulbs in each household with high-efficiency fluorescent tubes and purchased more efficient refrigerators and water heaters, they could reduce residential electricity demand substantially. If everyone also used a more efficient car, the United States might reduce its emissions of greenhouse gases by as much as 15 percent.
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From page 47... ...
Transportation options such as improving mass transit, parking management or vehicle efficiency beyond certain levels require changes in lifestyle, which may be difficult. The cost of these options varies, from less than one dollar for every ton of CO2 emission reduced to more than $500 per ton.
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From page 48... ...
The committee recommended a coordinated national program of aquatic ecosystem restoration to rehabilitate 10 million acres of wetIancis, 2 million acres of lakes, and 400,000 miles of rivers and streams. The newly emerging science of restoration ecology makes such an ambitious goal increasingly realistic by providing tools to improve the condition of drained bottomIand hardwood wetlands, channelized rivers, fishIess streams and dying lakes.
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From page 49... ...
Restoring an entire ecosystem, however, requires a much broader geographic perspective and a long-term approach that takes full account of the relationship between interconnected water resources and between those resources and their surrounding lands. With myriad social needs tragically unmet, can we afford to pay for a national environmental restoration program?
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From page 50... ...
In addition to all of its domestic dividends, a bolLd national environmental restoration program could confirm the United States as a world environmental leader. It also could give us a head start on what ultimately will be a vast enterprise in the next century: global environmental restoration.
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From page 51... ...
Scientific research is essential if the park system is to continue serving more than 250 million visitors annually while preserving precious resources for future generations. Nearly a dozen independent reviews over the past 30 years have found the Park Service's research effort to be poorly organized and inadequate.
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From page 52... ...
Glacier National Park, the Grand Tetons and other treasures do not exist solely to impress tourists. They also provide an unparalleled source of untouched natural settings to study evolutionary adaptation, ecosystem dynamics and other natural processes.
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From page 53... ...
Unfortunately, more than a decade after Congress established the Superfund program, we still cannot answer that question. A committee that ~ chaired for the National Research Council reported recently that the federal government has no comprehensive inventory of waste sites, no program for discovering new sites, insufficient data for determining safe exposure levels, and an inadequate system
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From page 54... ...
Yet the methods used to assess the public health danger at these sites are questionable, and it is far from clear how much the assessments have benefited nearby residents. Opinion polls show the public believes that hazardous wastes constitute a serious threat, but many scientists and administrators in the field disagree.
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From page 55... ...
Washington also should expand technical assistance to state hazardous waste programs and increase support for university research in "environmental epidemiology." After spending billions of dollars during the past decade to study and manage hazardous waste sites, the American people are entitled to firmer information. The only way to end the uncertainty over whether, or how much, sites en - ' .
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From page 56... ...
· Acute neurologic poisoning by the pesticide aldicarb among California residents who ate contaminated watermelons. Chronic exposure to some environmental substances also has been shown to cause neurological disease.
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From page 57... ...
Until now, EPA scientists have evaluated neurotoxicity mainly by examining the chemical structure of new molecules. For the most part, they have not done direct testing of toxicity nor have they required chemical manufacturers to do so.
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From page 58... ...
Print ads proclaim that living in a house with radon is like "exposing your family to hundreds of chest Xrays yearly." The ads were produced by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPAl and the Ad Council with the best of intentions. High levels of radon pose serious risks of lung cancer.
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From page 59... ...
Instead, it has promoted a mythical picture of indoor radon that substantially exaggerates both the prevalence of homes having high concentrations and the size of the associated risks. EPA recommends that every home be monitored and remedial action be taken in homes with radon levels above 4 picocuries per liter of air.
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From page 60... ...
A moderate but focused program, devoting perhaps $500 million to the 100,000 "hottest" homes, would be much more effective than the unfocused multi-billion dollar programs now being promoted by EPA and Congress. Real estate transactions in high-radon areas may need to include effective radon testing or remediation, much as many states now handle termite problems.
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From page 61... ...
irrigated agriculture, long the biggest water user in the West, clearly must relinquish some of the water obtained historically through the doctrine of "prior appropriation." But how? The best way is through voluntary water transfers, such as an alfalfa farmer agreeing to sell water rights to an expanding suburb.
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From page 62... ...
Selling water rights is not like selling a car or home; the transaction can impose significant costs on others. In some Hispanic villages in northern New Mexico, for example, the entire social system is tied to communally organized irrigation canals.
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From page 63... ...
Voluntary water transfers transacted through the marketplace hold out the promise of bringing adversaries together with deals that are both fair and sensible. For transfers to work effectively, however, everyone with an interest must be seated at the bargaining table.
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