Earth Day arth Day- special in its reports on wlrnl they are former Congressman Paul G. Change Division write about Efirst incarnation in l ~l70; doing now. Former U.S. Rogers. who was i1woh·ed in ongoing efforts to design special novv as we approach Senator Ga\'lord Nelson. the the deliberations leading to refrigerators that are free of its 20th-anniversary founder of -Earth Day, the 1970 Clean Air t\ ct; and chemicals that damage the observance 011 April 22, outlines the legacy of Earth two activists who fi gured stratosphere nnd to make this 1990. This issue of EPA Day as he sees it. prominent] ' in 1970 Eart h new technology available in Journal is dedicated to Earth Next is a series of articles Day events- Denis Hayes. developing countries. Day and its meaning then looking back and looking who headed the national Second. Joel S. Hirschhorn, a and now. ahead, occasioned by this En vironmental Teach-Jn Senior Associate at the President George 13ush 20th anniversary of the "year office that coordinated Earth Congressional Office of leads off the issue with an of the environment." For in Day. and Edward v\I . Furia. Technology Assessment. article that refl ects his addition to Earth Day, other who directed Philadelphia's explains the steps needed if perspective on the environmental landmark Earth Week program. American industrv is to environment CJt home and events helped to make ·1970 a Next. il lustrating the adopt a preventi,'e approach abroad. EP1\ Admin istrator special year: in particulnr, burgeoni ng activity that may to industrial waste rather William K. l~ c ill v follows the birth of EPA: the make 1990 another year of than the traditional effort lo with a piece arti~ : ulating a establ ishment of the the environment, an article control wnste at the goal that he feels should Presid ent's Counci I on by /ournof writer Roy Po pki n "end-of-I he-pipe.·· become n key focus of the Environmental Quality and reports on the growing Then Paul and Anne nation's environmental an environmental im pact commitment within the Ehrlich. a husband-and-w ife in itintives: pollution review program (both entertainment industry to team of environmentali sts. prevention. mandated bv the Na ti onal promoting environmentt1l describe the nature of the 1\11 articlt) bv FP1\ /ournul Environmc1;tal Po licy 1\ r: t of awareness. en vironmental cri sis in thei r wri ler )<1ck Le;,v is describus 1970); and the passage of the Two articles report on vi ew and outline an the spirit and charnc:ter of tho Clean J\ir 1\ct of that vear. subje ·ts that demonstrate approach for dealing with it. first Earth Day. and an Th authors arc EPi\'i first how dramali cnl ly the Next. providing an industry ace: om pan y i ng ft:a tu re Administrator. V\lilliam 0. en vironmental agenda has perspective. Jera ld terl-l orst. surveys a group of p(~op l e l~u c: ke l s h u u s; the first changed since I 970. Pi rst. Director of 1ational Public who wcru kev f! nviron rncntal Chairman of the President's John S. Hoffma n <.rncl Robert Affairs for the Ford Motor players i11 I ~l7 0 and alsu Council. r~u sse ll E. Trai n; Kwartin fro m EP1\'s Clobnl Company. gives a rundown on efforts to clenn up a major pollution source. th e automobile. The phenomenon of the "Greens·· in West Germany and other European countries is explained in te rm s of its political dynami cs by Konrad von Moltke. a senior fellow at The Conservat ion Foundation and form er Director of the lnstitule for lnternational Environmental Policy in Bo nn. In a related arti cle, Bowcloi n Co ll ege professor Joh 11 Rensenbri nk discusses the prospects for a Greens movement in the United Stnf es. This issue of the magazin e concludes wi th a report on the clean-u p tasks confronting anolher industrinlized society- the Soviet Union- authored by Alexei Yabl okov, n kev environmental officiai' in that country. o

New York City's Fihh Aven ue was closed to motor vehicles for Earth Day 1970. The result was one of the biggest people jams in the city's history. United States Office of Volume 16, Number 1 Environmental Protection Communications and January/February 1990 Agency Public Affairs 20K-9001 &EPA JOURNAL

William K. Reilly, Administrator Lew Crampton, Associate Administrator for Communications and Public Affairs Leighton Price, Editorial Director John Heritage, Editor Karen Flagstad, Assistant Editor Jack Lewis, Assistant Editor Ruth Barker, Assistant Editor Marilyn Rogers, Circula tion Manager

EPA is charged by Congress to What I Believe About the -The Council on Thinking About Our protect the nation's land, air, and water systems. Under a mandate of Environment Environmental Quality Environmental Future national environmental laws, the by President George Bush 2 by Russell E. Train J8 by Anne and Paul agency strives to formulate and Ehrlich 40 implement actions which lead to a compatible balance between Pollution Prevention: An -The Clean Air Act of human activities and the ability of Environmental Goal for the 1970 Cleaning Up the Auto: A natural systems to support and 90s by Paul G. Rogers 21 Rough Ride nurture life. by William K. Reilly by Jerald F. terHorst 43 EPA Journal is published by the U.S. Environmental Protection -Earth Day: One View Agency. The Administrator of EPA The Spirit of the First Earth by Denis Hayes 24 The Greens of Europe: has determined that the Day A New Environmentalism publication of this periodical is necessary in the transaction of the by Jack Lewis -Earth Day: Another View by Konrad von Moltke -.t6 public business reguired by law of by Edward W. Furia 1.7 this agency. Use of funds for The Legacy of Earth Day Do the Greens Have a Future printing this periodical has been The Stars Take on the Here? approved by the Director of the by Gaylord Nelson Office of Management and Budget. Environmental Crisis by John Rensenbrink 48 Views expressed by authors do not Looking Back; Looking by Roy Popkin , o n ecessarily reflect EPA policy. No Ahead: A Perspective from Another permission necessary to reproduce contents except copyrighted photos -EPA The Changing Agenda: Country: The Soviet Task and other materials. by William 0. -Re-Inventing the by Alexei Yablokov 50 Contributions and inquiries should be addressed to the Editor, Ruckelshaus Refrigerator EPA Journal (A-107), Waterside by John S. Hoffman and Mall, 401 M Street, SW., Robert Kwartin .12 Washington, DC 20460. -Preventing Industry Waste by Joel S. Hirschhorn :rn

Fron! Cover: Earth Day 1970 : A Design Credits: The text of EP1\ journa l i~ printf'cl scene in Washington, DC. Photo by Ron Farrah on recycled pc1pPr. Dennis Brock, Bla ck Star. fames Fl . lngrnm Robert Flanagan

EPA Journal Subscriptions The annual rate for subscribers in the U.S. for EPA Journal is $8. The charge to subscribers in foreign countries is $10 a year. The price of a single copy of EPA Journal is $2.25 in this country and $2.81 if Company Name or Addrtronal Address Line sent to a foreign county. Prices include mail costs. Subscriptions to EPA Journol as well as to other federal government magazines are Street Address handled only by the U.S. Government Printing Office. .I I I I I Anyone wishing to subscribe to EPA journal should fi ll in the form IZ rp Code at right and enclose a check or money order payable to the I I Superintendent of Documents. The requests should be mailed to: Payment enclosed (Make checks payable to Superintendent of Documents) Superintendent of Documents, D GPO, Washington, DC 20402. D Charge to my De posit Account No ...... What I Believe About the Environment by President George Bush ------ast summer, I took my 13-year-old Lgrandson on a fishing trip to Jackson Lake, Wyoming. The memory of that day lingers- the two of us casting our lines, sinking long, flashy spinners deep into the crystalline vvater. After some effort, we caught a few Mackinaw trout and let therr. go. But the real catch ""as for our eyes. From our small boat, we watched elk warily emerge from the forest at dusk to drink at thP. lake. And rising oul of the forest in the distance were the Tetons- jagged, immense, snow-capped, invincible. , o words, no photo, no painter could do them justice. Of course. there was a time when all of orth America was as primitive and pristine as Jnckson Hole. But aside from protected areas like the Crand Tetons. the buffalo hunters and the settlers changed the face of the land. forever.

We no longer enjoy the luxury of leisurely action. Environmental protection must become a higher priority for us all.

Natoonal Paik SetV•Ce photo The exploi tati on of natural resources one place on Earth can have serious Policy Act into law. All the historic was a natural way of life for the consequences for other, sometimes environmental laws of the 70s fo ll o\\'Ocl pioneers. In fac t, it was the only way of remote, parts of our pl anet. In fac t, some this bold step: the Clean Air Act. the life. So our ancestors did what they had scientists compare the Earth to a single Clean Water Act, and th e laws to do to build a great nation. simply organism, a liv ing system whose ability regulating pesti cides. to xi c substances. ussuming that the land offered a to survive depends on its overall and hazardous wastes. limitless bounty. well-berng. It was also roughly 20 years ago that Today, of course, we know better. It is not possible to restore our EPA began its historic mission under And knowing bett er, we must act better. environment to a perfectly natural state. the strong l adership of Bil l President Tcddv Roosevelt de Jared Yet we've also learned that a growing Ruckels haus. And in this same tradition 80 years ago that ·;10t hing short of economv can onlv be sustained with a Bill Reilly brings to EP t\ his own defending this country in wartime healthy -env ir onn~en t. This requires a distinctive brand of "compares in importance with the great balance-trade-offs, tough decisions, leadership- leadership based on both central task of leaving this land even a careful planning, exact studies, and environmental expertise and real better land for our descendants than it creati ve proposals. commitment. is for us." He was one of the first to Seeking that balance, environmental In the fi rst year of th is perceive that nnture is not an infinite leaders like Senators Ed Muskie. Administration, we've taken on mun\' resource. Environmental destruction in Howard Baker. the late Henry Jackson. tough environmental problems. On )L111 e and others put aside party differences in 12, I announced ways we can use the the late 1960s to craft landmark market to reduce emissions of ncid rain. comprehensive environ men ta I urban smog, and toxic air pollution- nil legislation. On January 1. 1970, included in the first major overhaul of President Nixon begun the new decade bv signing the rutional Environm ntal

2 EPA JOURNAL Pre 1dent Th odore Roos v t, n early env ronm nta 11st, lov d h1k1ng rd cal'!'lp ng In this 1903 photo, he 's hewn w th John Mui•, who founded the S1err CIJb.

the Clean Air Act to be proposed in providin g world en\'ironmental more than a decade. leadership. Later in the year, we called for $710 At home, we've brought to m\' million for Clean Coal Technology: a Administration outstanding · ban on nearly all uses of asbestos by environmental professionals. like 1997; and a ban on the export of Mic hael Deland. \\·ho chair the hazardous waste. In addition, we've important Council on En\'ironmental accelerated our leadership on global Quality. \i\le've broken new ground by change, proposing a 28-percent increa e declaring that pollution pre\'ention is in global environmental research and our ultimate goal. For too long. we '"e offering to host an international focused on clean-up campaigns and conference next fall to negotiate a Sierra Club photo penalties after the damage i done. It' framework treaty on global change. time to reorient our policie to But the federal government is only the peoples of Europe in May. In Mainz, technologies and proces es that reduce part of the story. Twenty years ago, the West Germanv, 1 said that mv or prevent pollution-to stop it before it environmental movement was gaining generation remember a world ravaged starts. In the 1990s. pollution strength in the city halls and state by vvar. And, of course. Europeans ha\'e prevention must go to the source. capitols of our nation, as well as in rebuilt their proud citi s and re tored To a\ e the Earth \\'ill require our be t Washington. And th e new commitment their majestic cathedrals. But I told efforts. Everyon must \'Olunteer to to a cleaner, safer environment wasn't them: "What a tragedy it would be if help. Busine , labor. and consumer just confined to government. It grew your continent were again spoiled, this must cooperate. Environmentalists and from the bottom up- not just from time by a more subtle and insidious industrialists must be partners. not school boards, city councils, and state adversaries. Local communities. large legislatures- but from millions of and small. must enlist. And ·o must homes. If our response is to be families-we all can learn tog nerate Americans came together as effective, then all th e nations l ss waste and to recvcle the waste that environmental volunteers­ of th e world must make w e do produce. In fact, those fam ilie · spontaneously, almost instinctively- to common cause in defense of that do recycle ha \'e found it makes save the Earth. And it was this economic, as well as ecological. sense. movement that created the first Earth our environmen t. Finally. there is one simple thing that Day on April 22, 1970. Earth Day began you can do on Earth Dav. regardles of as a spectacular movement of citizen your age or ability. I ask you to join me lendership. It has become an American danger- that of poisoned river and acid in sowing a legacy of cleaner air and tradition, worthy of future generations. rain." I told them of America's more beautiful horizons. I ask vou to A president quickly learns lo see environmental tragedy in Alaska. I perform a simple act. I a ·k yoti to plant policy in the broadest terms possible. noted that countries from France to a tree. Urban and housing policy must be Finland suffered after Chernob,•l. and You don't have to be a poet or a related to transportation, transportation that West Germany is strugg lin.g lo sa\'e painter to appreciate a tree. Tree cool policy to eneroy, energy polic ' to the Black For st. The bottom line is the Earth on a summer's day. They quiet agriculture, and so on. Applying thi this: Environmental de !ructi on respects the noise of a freeway. They pro\•ide a same perspective, one cannot fai l to see no border . natural wind break in winter. r\nd 8 \'l'r\' that deforestation, ozone depletion. When I suggested that the United tree makes 1\ meri ca a littl greener. a · ocean pollution, and the threat of global States and Western Europe extend a little more like the verdant nati on the warming interconnect to challenge our hand to the East, the people of Europe Pilgrims knew. future. \Ve no longer enjoy the luxury of on both s ides of the Iron Curtain I hope that Earth Day will once again leisurely action. Environmental responded with enthusias m. Since then. demonstrate that sol u lions to protection must become a higher working with my counterpart in environmental problems are emergi ng priority for us all. Western Europe. we ha\'e reached from the good will, genero ity, and If our response is to be effective, then agreements to shar our environmental vision of the American people. We h ave all the nations of the world must make technical and regulatory knowledge already given the world so much. Let's common cause in defense of our with Eastern Europe. give the world an example of environment. This is a message I took to I hope these agreements become a volunteerism a nd environmental model not just for Europe, but for the leadership on April 22 . 1990, and in the world. And I am determined that in the years to come. o 1990s, the United States of Ameri ca wi ll continue to assume respons ibili ty by

JANUARY FEBRUARY 1990 3 Pollution Prevention: An Environmental Goal for the 90s

by William K. Reilly

espite their popularity, national Dcelebrations of anniversaries often turn out to be what the eminent historian Daniel Boorstin has called "pseudo-events"- long on hype and nostalgia, short on s ubstance. Earth Day 1990 should be an exception to that r ule. The 20th anniversary of Earth Day, like the first Earth Day on April 22, 1970, marks a turning point in the h istory of our relationship with planet Earth. In 1970, as a result of mounting public concern over environmental deterioration- rivers on fire, ci ties clouded by soot, waterways choked by raw sewage, autom obi les pumping out some 20 limes the smog-producing emissions of today's cars-we began as a nation to address the most obvious, most acute environmental problems. The ational Environmental Policy Act was signed by President Nixon on

New Year's Day 1970. In short order, 8 the Clean Air Act of 1970 was passed. _g In December 1970 EPA was created. The ~ Clean W, ler Act of l 972 soon fo ll owed. "' 13ecousc these readily identified made by the American people paid off An outfall. Despite progress in environm 'ntal problems were so controlling such point-source immediate, so obvious, it was relatively handsomely. Yet the achievements, as significant as discharges, we still face easy to see what had lo be done and to massive pollution problems. summon the political w ill to do it. they are, have been overtaken by new. As more env ironmental laws were growing environmental challenges and enacted, they shared a common expectations. As the technology approach: They authorized EPA to improved to detect ever-smaller levels develop rules and regulations that of contamination, and as we learned dictated, lo a large extent, how o ur more about the heal th and wastes. This p rogram added a huge new society would control its pollution and environmental problems associated w ith task to EPA's already ambitious other wastes. pollu tion, we found that deeper cuts in mandate. From the inception of The regulations defined treatments for pollution were necessary. True to the Superfund until now. EPA has devoted wastes, set discharge limits, mandated theory of diminishing returns, reducing tremendous effort to the regulatio n and proper uisposal methods. and provided the remaining increm ents of pollution cleanup of hazardous wastes. e nforcem •nt authorities. For the most proved more diffi ult and more The big picture emerging fro m the part, this command-and-control expensive than the initial ones. first two decades of environmental approach achieved dramatic successes New problems also surfaced. Few can protection is one of a nat ion investing in reducing discharges of pollutants forget the drama with which Love Cana l considerable money and effort in a basic from point sources. In other words, the entered the public consciousness. The problem: how to cope w ith all the substantial environmental investments tragic story of the Love Canal wastes generated by our modern community, buil t above an abandoned industrial society. hazardous waste d ump, resulted in the Superfund program to clean up (lfoi/1_1' is Adn1i11istrator of EPA.) improperly disposed-of hazardous

4 EPA JOURNAL And now the entire world is the very natural systems which sustain growth. Increasingly, businesses are confronted by alarming new discoveries human life on Earth. recognizing that pollution prevention of global environmental problems For all these reasons, I believe the can save them money. As the magazine urgently requiring attention. Despite our dawning of the third environmental The Economist recently suggested, good best efforts at pollution control. this decade finds us at a historic turning growth will be "green" growth. country still faces a massive point- a time when we must find a new Jim Mac eill, Secretar General to the accumulation of waste here at approach to meeting our needs. If we World Commission on Environment and home--and accelerating devastation of don't, we may seriously compromise the Development, recently laid out his nature abroad. ability of the poor to improve their vision of sustainable development. It 's Global warming, stratospheric ozone standard of living and of future "not the type of gro,-vth that dominates depletion, acid rain, deforestation, soil generations to meet their needs. We today," he wrote, "but growl h based on erosion, species extinction, habitat must find ways to continue economic forms and processes of d velopm nt destruction: This daunting array of new growth and progress without irreversibly that do not undermine the integrity of environmental challenges not only depleting the natural capital of the could overshadow environmental gains planet. already recorded, it could destabilize 1 am encouraged that today our Pollution prevention must institutions and our people seem ready to accept a new ethic, a new sense of become a fundamental part of stewardship on behalf of the all our activities, all our environment. And right at the heart of initiatives, and all our this is a new approach to managing economic growth. Garbage-one of the major challenges for waste: pollution prevention. pollution prevention. Here, barges bring Pollution prevention must become a solid waste from New York City to Fresh fundamental part of all our activities, all Kills, the world's largest landfill our initiatives, and all o.ur economic the environment on which they depend." · As MacNeill points out, an essential condition for sustainable development is that a nation's basic stock of ecological capital not decrea e over time; in other words, developed and developing countries alike must learn to live on the interest of the ea rth's tock of renewable resources, without encroaching further on the principal. Doing so, Mac eill believes, wiU require a significant redu 'lion in the energy and raw-material content of every unit of production. And to accomplish this, the nations of the world will have to adopt for-reaching strategies aimed at abating and. morn importantly, preventing pollution. Finding creative approaches to pollution prevention is a priority for

2 EPA; it's also the theme of EPA's Earth ,g Day 1990 celebration. My intent is that C> "' as time goes by, the pollution ~ prevention ethic will work its way into

JANUARY1FEBRUARY 1990 5 the fabric of our society, becoming an Manufacturers and distributors need for a retreat from environmental integral part of our way of life. to eliminate unnecessary packaging. regulation or from vigorous How can pollution prevention And we all need to rethink the enforcement. Pollution prevention contribute to sustainable development? wisdom of disposable, ''use-once-and­ complements and reinforces the An obvious example, and one that is throw-away" products, however continuing efforts to ensure proper close to home for all of us, is municipal convenient they may seem. waste treatment, disposal, and cleanup. sol id waste- garbage. On the household level, we need to What I am saying is that until now, start composting our kitchen garbage our nation's laws and regula tions have and yard waste, if possible. At the very concentrated a lmost exclusively on As the magazine The least, each of us should begin to waste treatment and waste cleanup. As separate our garbage according lo local vital as these efforts are, they can Economist recently suggested, recycling programs. The transition to achieve only a limited amount of good growth will be "green" recycled materials is an important part environmental protection. In fact, the growth. of limiting encroachment on natural biggest environmental gains we have capital. It's no coincidence that made have been in the handful of cases countries that have alread) made when industry has phased out or found By now, most Americans are well considerable progress in recycling substitutes for problem substance . The aware of the growing burden the garbage aluminum, steel, paper, and glass are at banning of DDT in the early 1970s is glut is placing on the nation's landfills the top of the list of international probably the best-known example. and other disposal facilities. But along economic performers. Another is the drastic reduction of lead with the disposal problem, we rnust also At EPA, we're doing our part by in gasoline; since EPA began its efforts pay attention to the supply side of the looking for ways to encourage markets to remove lead from gasoline, lead equation- the insupportable drain on for recycled and recyclable materials. levels .in the ambient environment, as natural resources represented by the For example, we've issued federal well as in people's blood, ha e dropped millions of tons of trash that we throw procurement guidelines that require the dramatically. away every day. Much of that waste federal government, as well as state and Borrowing from the late Rene Dubas, could be saved through pollution local governments using federal funds, EPA's slogan for Earth Day 1990 is, prevention and recycling-preserving to purchase recycled paper and building "Think globally: act locally. You can resources at the front end and returning materials, used oil, and retreaded tires. make a difference. " The Agency is expended resources to productive use at We're also trying t set an example for thinking globally and acting locally by the back end. others by instituting our own applying the concept of pollution EPA has set a goal of achieving a Agency-wide waste-minimization and prevention to its existing programs in a 25-percent re du ti on in the nation's paper-recycling program. number of very down-to-earth '' ays. For waste by 1992. This is a realistic But more is needed. The nation may example, the water program is national goal if everyone need new legislation to foster markets emphasizing pollution pre ention and contributes- government, business, and, and in entives for recycled materials. conservation as it develops guidelines especially, consumers. We also may need new disincentives to for controlling industri al wastewater Thus. in designing products, business unnecessary waste generation, such as pollution. EPA is also identifying and executives need to design for waste excessive packaging of consumer incorporating pollution prevention reduction: to think not just about how a products. Several bills that would techniques in its permitting activities. procJuct will be used, but also about address pollution prevention and waste We have put together a state grant how long it can last and what will minimization are nO\•V pending in program to su pport state and local happen to it when its useful life is over. Congress; and the Bush Administration pollution-prevention progra ms. We're is drafting its own ''Pollution Prevention changing our enforcement policies to and Recycling Act," which will offer a encourage defendants to make comprehensive approach to prevention. fundamental alterations in products and Jn placing such strong emphasis on processes, in addition to coming into pollution prevention, [um not calling ompliance with end-of-pipe standards. EPA is also establishing a Pollution Prevention and Recycling A vvards program to honor the best national

6 EPA JOURNAL James Douglas phoro Woodfm Camp, Inc

the use and release of CFCs. agricultural could have a powerful influence on and urban run-off, indoor air pollution. millions of individual choices and the use and disposal of consumer prevent a great deal of pollution. products containing toxic EPA is a lso sponsoring the first substances-all are examples of big ational Minoritv Environmental Career pollution problems generated by Conference on April 9. 1990. at Howard millions of small sources. University in Washington. DC. The In a speech last fall in Spokane. conference is the lead activitv in EPA's Washington, President Bush said that Earth Da\' celebration and wfll offer expanded opportunitie to minorities for education and employment in The biggest environmental environmental fields. gains we have made have Through education. consumer been when industry has demand, and improved technological innovation, I am convinced that we can phased out or found find vvays to manufacture products cmd substitutes for problem provide-services while using less energy substances. and raw materials, and while reducing. if not eliminating completely. the generation of waste. Th is will bring us "through millions of incli\·idual closer to attaining a sustainable decisions-simple. everyday. personal economy fo r future general ions to enjo\'. choices- \•ve are determining the fa te of My wish for Earth Oa\· l 990. the Earth." We are all respon ible for therefore. is that this celebrati on wi 11 the environment. the President said. and help to bring about a national "it's surprisingly easy to mo\'e fro m commitment to pollution being part of the problem to being µart prevention- through the actions of of the solution."' millions of individuals finding \\'a\'s to Over time , the best way to help prevent, recycle, or reduce waste. people become part of the solution is The nationnl goal for the 19DOs i!nd through ed ucation a nd informati on that beyond should be to push technology to increases their understanding of the its limits, with the ultimate OOjl)Ctin! of enviro nment and helps encourage a creating an efficient , susloinoble national ethic of individual society- a society that will pres£:rve the responsibility. l recently created an en vironme nta l legacy and producti,·ity Agency-wide Environmental Educntion of our nntion and our planet for Task Force to work c loselv with the prevention and recycling efforts. And generations to come. o states to develop an environmental the Agency has set up a Pollution educati on program. The task force is Preventi on Information Clearinghouse to charged vvith developing o strategic: help ensure that successful µrevention plan, sponsoring an Environmental practices are shared as widely as Youth Forum, and participating in the possible. development of national environmental Fina ll y, we're dramatically increasing education legislati on. Environm ntal our support for environmental educati on . when combined \\'ith education. Some of the most intractable legislati vely created morket incenti\'eS. pollution problems confronting us are from decentralized sources-pollution that does not come out of a smokestack or a pipe, but results from the activities of millions of Americans going about their daily li ves. Car tailpipe emissions.

JANUARY FEBR UARY 1990 7 The Spirit of the First Earth Day

by Jack Lewis

n the waning months of the 1960s, cutting their teeth on other political Ienvironmental problems were issues of the 1960s, such as civil rights proliferating like a many-headed hydra, and the anti-war movement. Others, a monster no one could understand let however, had been intensely involved alone tame or slay. Rampant air in environmental causes for many years. pollution was linked to disease and Whatever their background, these death in New York, Los Angeles, and activists were the driving force not only elsewhere as noxious fumes, spewed out behind Earth Day, but also behind many by cars and factories, made city life less smaller and less publicized and less bearable. In the wake of Rachel environmental reforms during the Carson's 1962 best-seller, Silent Spring, closing months of the 1960s. there was widespread concern over The term "Breathers' Lobby" was large-scale use of pesticides, often near coined by the Wall Street Journal in the April 22, 1970, a Wednesday, dense1y popu1ated communities. In late 1960s to denote one of the most addition, huge fish kills were reported prominent components of the grassroots was a glorious spring day in on the Great Lakes, and the media movement: the congeries of anti-air most parts of the country. carried the news that Lake Erie, one of pollution groups that had sprung up America's largest bodies of fresh water, over the previous decade in urban areas was in its death throes. Ohio had across the country. GASP in Los another jolt when Cleveland's Cuyahoga Angeles and Pittsburgh, the River, an artery inundated with oil and Metropolitan Washington Coalition on toxic chemicals, burst into flames Clean Air, the Delaware Clean Air by spontaneous combustion. Coalition, and other similar groups In a response commensurate with the started with sweat equity, then qualified problem, an estimated 20 million for grants and technical assistance from Americans gathered together on April the federal government. Groups focusing 22, 1970, to participate in a on water-quality issues were also spectacularly well-publicized making dramatic inroads: most notably, environmental demonstration known as the Lake Michigan Federation, and Get "Earth Day." The rallies, teach-ins, Oil Out in Santa Barbara, California. speeches, and publicity gambits almost The anti-pollution stance of these all went smoothly, amid a heady and groups, after changing the climate of triumphant atmosphere that was further political opinion at the state and local enhanced by perfect spring weather. But level, quickly permeated editorials and the months leading up to Earth Day had editorial cartoons featured in the been frantic, and the success of the nation's leading newspapers. Even event had been unpredictable up to the Broadway picked up the environmental very last moment. theme when the smash-hit musical Hair Such uncertainty is endemic when lampooned air pollution with a volunteer effort is the driving force hilarious song called "The Air," which behind any activity, let alone one as ended in a choking chorus of coughs. ambitious as Earth Day 1970. Some of Readers were sampling a range of the grassroots activists who coordinated provocative books on the environment: the work of thousands of Earth Day The Whole Earth Catalogue, John Sax's volunteers had come to the The Environmental Bill of Rights, Paul environmental cause rather late, after Ehrlich's The Population Bomb, and Charles Reich's The Greening of America. Students tuned into the counterculture were picking up (Lewis is an Assistant Editor of EPA environmental messages from rock Journal.) lyrics.

8 EPA JOURNAL Students at Cerritos Junior Colle.ge in Norwalk, California, near Los Angeles, gave Earth Day a sendotf in 1970.

Media coverage of the massive youth rallies of 1969-as well as the ghetto riots of 1965 to 1968-helped to impress on the American public that the United States had become an urban country with complex problems compounded by huge numbers of people. Early in the 1960s, most rhetoric about the state of America's air, water, and other resources had revolved around the word "conservation," with heavy emphasis on

To countless participants, Earth Day was a turning point in their lives which they remember to this day with awe and reverence.

the preservation of parks an d recreational areas. The word "environment" came into widespread use only at the end of the decade. By then, committed activists understood that urban environments would be the battlefield for years to come, but they wanted the American public and American political leaders to understand that as well. One prominent politician, Gaylord Nelson, then Senator from Wisconsin, had been frustrated throughout the 1960s by the fa ct that only a "handful" of his Congressional colleagues had any interest in environmental issues. On the other hand, during his travels across the United States, h e had been greatly impressed by the dedication and the expertise of the many student and citizen volunteers who were tryi ng to solve pollution problems in their communities. It was on one such trip, in August 1969, that Nelson came up w ith a strategy for bridging the gap separating grassroots activists from Congress and the general public. While en route to an Julian Wasser/I IMt Magazine environmental speech in Berkeley, California, the Senator was leafing

JANUARY/FEBRUARY 1990 9 through a copy of Ramparts magazine day by torrents of phone calls and Women Voters, and other organizations. when an article about anti-war teach-ins overflowing mailbags. The latter goal was realized, but not the caught his eye. It occurred to him that Senator Nelson's Senate staff lent its former, at least not to the extent the teach-in concept might work equally full support and guidance to the work of originally intended. well in raising public awareness of Hayes and his assistants, only a few of One masterstroke \•vas the purchase of environmental issues. whom were salaried and those only at a full-page ad that appeared in the New In September, in a ground-breaking meager levels. Nelson and Hayes had York Times early in February 1970. The speech in Seatt1e, .Senator Nelson already agreed that the teach-ins should, advertisement announced that on April announced the concept of the teach-in wherever possible, be located not on 22, 1970, at locations throughout the and received coverage in Time and college campuses, but in public spaces United States, citizens would Newsweek and on the front page of the within the ·community, and furthermore, demonstrate for a cleaner environment. New York Times. Several weeks later, at that active participation should be Immediately contributions started to roll his office on Capitol Hill, he sought from labor unions, the League of in, and better yet, the curiosity of incorporated a non-profit, non-partisan organization called Environmental Teach-In, Inc. He announced that it was to be headed by a steering committee consisting of himself, Pete Mccloskey, a The Legacy of Earth Day Congressman from California, and Sidney Howe, then the President of The by Gaylord Nelson Conservation Foundation. The main purpose of the new organization, he declared, was to lay the e can get a rough measure of the groundwork for a major nationwide W impact of Earth Day 1970 on By the sheer force of collective series of teach-ins on the environment the nation by asking some key early in 1970. The purpose of the questions: action on that one clay, the teach-ins was, in Nelson's words, to American public forever "force the issue [of the environment] • What changes on the political changed the political into the political dialogue of the scene did it bring? landscape regarding country." Very quickly, Environmental • What has been achieved? environmental issues. Teach-In received pledges from the Senator himself ($15,000). from the • How did it affect public United Auto Workers and the AFL-CIO attitudes on environmental issues? The politicians got the message. ($2,000 each}, as well as from The • Can we see some sprouting They responded with a series of Conservation Foundation ($25,000) and seeds that might flower into a major legislative initiatives that other organizations. national conservation ethic? have begun to move us in the right Early in December, Senator Nelson direction. There are even glimmers selected a 25-year-old named Denis These questions can be of hope that we, as a society, may Hayes, the dynamic former President of answered fairly briefly. be starting to develop a the Stanford student body, as national My major objective in planning conservation ethic and that the coordinator. Hayes, postponing plans to Earth Day 1970 was to organize a next generation may turn out to be enter Harvard Law School. immediately nationwide public demonstration the conservation generation so set to work making plans for the so large it would, finally, get the vital to our future. inaugural Earth Day. attention of the politicians and Another important change has Hampered from the start by an force the environmental issue into occurred in the past decade or extremely limited budget the political dialogue of the nation. so-a change that now makes it (approximately $190,000). he rented an It worked. By the sheer force of likely that Congress, regulatory office in Washington and gathered collective action on that one day, agencies, industry, around him an enthusiastic cadre of the American public forever environmentalists, and the public volunteers, most of them students. The changed the political landscape can cooperate to make most promising and the most dedicated regarding environmental issues. environmental controls more of these were named coordinators for effective and less costly. For years various regions of the country. Wo1'king every major legislative initiative to in an atmosphere Midwest Coordinator (Nelson, founder of Earth Day control pollution was opposed by Barbara Reid Alexander recalls as "mass 1970, is Counselor to The the affected industries on the confusion," they were inundated each Wilderness Society.) grounds that the proposals were unnecessary, too expensive, or

10 EPA JOURNAL Magnolia blossoms encountered through a gas mask On Earth Day 1970, this Pace College student in New York City used this symbolic gesture to warn of pollution dangers.

network broadcasting giants was piqued. April 22 , 1970, a Wednesday, \Vas a glorious spring day in most parts of the country. 1ewspaper such as the e1v York Times and the Washington Post had given front-page co1 erage the day before to the roster of scheduled events, and the television n etworks also had provided enough coverage to give the impending day something of the a ura of a national holiday. Perhaps the most impressi\'8 observance was in ew York Cit\' whose mayor, John V. Lindsa\ . h~d thrown the full weight of his -influence behind Earth Day. For two hours, Fifth unworkable . The result was We have come to recognize that constant confrontation. Endless right now, and into the next Avenue was closed to traffic between 14th Street and 59th Street, bringing amounts of time and energy were century and the centuries midtown Manhattan to a virtual wasted on political maneuvering. thereafter, no other issue is more standstill. One innovative group of delay, and debates over whether it relevant to the condition of human was necessary to do anything. life than the statu s of o ur demonstrators grabbed attention bv Witness the 10 vears of debate resources: air , water. minerals, dragging a net filled with dead fish over acid rain. - soil, scenic beaut:-1. 1·vildlife down the thoroughfare, shouting to passersbv, "This could be vou!" Later in That kind of d eadlock has habitat, forests. rivers. lakes, the d ay, ·a rally filled Un io-n Square to passed. The business communitv oceans. overflowing as Mavor Lindsnv. assisted now generully acknowledges that If we agree that this an issue of there are serious environmental fundamental consequence to us all. by celebrities Paui" ewman <;nd 1\ li problems that need to be we must very soon respond to McGraw, spoke from a raised platform addressed. A recent statement bv some important. pragmatic looking out over n sea of smiling faces. Chrysler Corporation President , questions: In New York, as e lsewhere. elf-policing Robert A. Lutz refl ects the change: demonstrators left surprisingly little "The party's over. We are making a • How rapidly cnn we make the litter in their wake. necessarv conversion from CJ m ess out of our environment. and In Washington, the fo cus of e\'ents the sooner we clean it up, the throw- a1~· ay societv to a w as the V\las hington Monument and its better." preserve-and-recycle societ\''I adjacent Sylvan Theatre. where Most confrontations in the future • How do we la unch a global thousands of Ea rth Day demonstrators will not be over the need to do movement that will begin lo work congregated to hear speeches as we! l as som ething but rather over ho1N changes in the wuv we treat the songs by Pete Seeger and other much needs to be done, how fast, planet ECJ rth nnd its resources'! performers. One of the most notei.vorthv and how to use market forces to statements, by Denis Haves. made it · help achieve the goal. Many Global cooperation is the ke\'. clear that Earth Day was- u beginning. environm entalists will have to The most importu11t objective of not an end in itself: "lf the environment re-examine their attitude toward this 20th anniversarv celebration is a fad . it 's going to be our lust fad . ... the use of market forces. It is a tool of Earth Duy is a wo.rlclwide We are building a movement. a too valuable to overlook. demonstration of concern so moveme nt with n broild base. a There remains. still, an overvvhelming that it galrnnizes movement which transcends traditional important question. Where does all the political leadersh ip of the political boundaries. It is a move111 c nt of this leave us'? world into a monumenta l that values people more than I think the a nswer to that cooperati \' e effort to stop the technology, people more than political question is that we, as a societv. deterioration of the pla net and boundar ies, people more than profit." fina lly understand that human­ begin its restoration. There was no point in marching to Capitol Hill, for Congress- at the behest activities- manv of them careless 0 The ti me has come to s top the irresponsible. o~ unnecessary- have arms race and begin the race to of Gaylord Nelson and others- had recessed so that members could re turn created a global environmental crisis preserve the planet. o that urgent ly demands our attention. This is a giant leap forward.

JAN UARY FEBRU ARY 1990 11 1970 Earth Day participants were so alarmed about the environment that some thought the world couldn't survive another 20 years. But we did. What happens in the next 20 years?

the environmental m ovement. A lot people were saying this was a fl ash in the pan. History has proven them wrong." With the founding of EPA in December 1970. the historv of the environmental movemen t ~nte r ed a new phase. The Agency was fused together from 44 organizations scattered in nine departments, and it gave a m uch stronger profile to the federal effort to curb environmental decay across the nation. Also during the 1970s, in keeping with the stepped-up pace of environmental reform, conservation organ izations began to take more active stances on u rban enviroumental issues. These private lobbying groups soon found. that they needed lawyers. Paul M Schmick photo Copynqhr Wd>h"1g1on Po'1, reprinted tiy permission of the DC Public Lrbmy setent1sts, and economists to make their voices heard. The whole tenor of Earth Day was also the foundation of to their constituencies and address environmental activism increasingly man y environmental careers. Denis Earth Day rall ies. Interestingly. m any of took on an aura of "professionali sm" Hayes a nd Ed Furia. who are headino these po liticians had to borrow prepared 0 that was a far cry from the bold and the 20th anniversary celebration of texts from elson and Environmental sometim es simplist ic generalities ~arth_Day, are typical of many Teach-In, lnc. PhiladP.lphia, Chicngo. 1nd1v1duals who built environmental debated on Earth Day 1970. Los Angeles. and most other major careers on the mome ntum generated Yet today-d espite the rise of Ameri can cities were also scenes of specialists and experts- grassroots that_ d ay_. One former participant. Tom Earth Day rallies; in fact. 80 percent of Jorl111 g, 1s today the Commissioner of emotions still boil over in the face of all observances were urban affairs. New York's Department of clearcut loca l issues . such as d efective To countless parti ci pa nts. En rth Dav Environmental Conservation: another. landfills or hazardous medical w nste, was a turning point in the ir lives whfch which can quickl y galvanize a John Turner. is Director of the U.S. Fish they rem ember to this day with awe and and Wildlife Service. The list goes on. community of homeowners. reveroncc. "Jt was something magical Public opinion polls indicate that a The signs are promisi ng that Earth and catalytical." remarked D~rnis Haves. Day 1990 will suffer from no dearth of perma nent change in national priorities " touching a hugr~ cross-section of · volunteers or money. Its budget of ~ollow ed Earth Day 1970. When po ll ed Arnericons." Byron Kl;imard. t hl~n a 111 May 1971. 25 percent of the U.S. $ 3 million is 15 times greater than the grassroots coord inator with Tli l! budget of the 1970 event. and it s scope pub.U c declared protecting the onservation Foundation. was ulso environment to be an importnnt goal-a w il l be worldwide. rather than stricth· impressed by "one of tlw largest confined to the United Slates and - 2500 pe rcent increase over 1969. Thal peaceful demonstrations in human percentage has continued to grow, albeit Canada. In fact. there is every reason to history, Ian eve nt I snc: red in 1n v expect that Earth Day 1990 vv il l be an ~nore slowly, so it is fair to say that the mem ory.·· "/\ charmed ovenl ... ·.. fl jovous ideals espo used on April 22, 1970, appropriate legacy of that April dav 20 occasion." "a pulilic-rnlatio11s · years ago w hen , even if onlv for however naive and s implistic they were 24 masterpiece," "foundation of n national hou rs, people reall y did seem lo matter Ill ma ny ways, have left an e nduring environmental conscioustH)SS .. were legacy. They are. in the words of Barry more than p rofit and more than words of praise conjurntl hv othnr Commoner, "permanently imbedded in technology. o participants. · our culture." Sam Love, who was Southern Coordinator for Environme ntal Teach-In, ful ly agrees: "What has surprised m e, is the staying power of

12 EPA JOURNAL Earth Day 1990 Viewpoints Steel Workers of America, on the Board of the American Lung Association. and What are some of the most Chairman of the Clean Air Coalition. important issues Earth Day 1990 Now legislative director for the Steel should emphasize? EPA Journal Workers, he is stil l active in both groups asked seven people who were and is leading the union's efforts in leaders in the 19 70 Earth Doy relation to pending Clean Air Act observances to respond to this Sam Love: The onetime southern legislation. "Earth Day 1970 was question; each was also asked regional coordinator of Environme1ital directed at our piece of the earth- the what he or he is doing 20 years Teach-In, Inc., Love is now a United States." Sheehan savs. "We after the first Earth Doy. Here are Washington fi lm-maker with the Public didn't even know what we-meant by our their answers: Production Group. which produces own problems: we weren·t ready to look films, public service announcements, beyond them. In the intervening years, and television releases for we have seen that \·\'e ha\ e to deal with environmental groups. Like Alexander, environmental problems on an Love stresses lifestyle changes: "The international level. In 1990, we need to most important issue for 1990 is use the word 'Earth· in a broader sense." encouraging lifestyle changes, including conservationism. We have to move beyond the 1970s' general concern about the Earth to more specific targets. and we need to be more informed to do Ruth Clusen: Former national that." environmental chair for the League of Women Voters, she sees Earth Day 1990 as a lime for reflection on how far we've come and how far we've got to go. Michelle Madoff: She ·ees dealing with Although her primary interest today is solid waste and protecting the water serving on the Board of Regents of the supply as key issues for 1990. In l 970. University of Wisconsin, she is still she was President of Pittsburgh's Group active with the Lake Michigan-oriented Against Smog and Pollution (GASP). Clean Water Coalition and local Green Lee Botts: Pollution prevention is the Today, as a Pittsburgh City Council Bay area environmental groups. Ruth key issue today. says Lee Botts. a 1970 mem ber, her main concern "i ·and will Cl usen says, H Solid waste is the major fo u nder of the Lake Mic higan be solid waste and recycling it. \Vith public concern at this time," but even Federation (and still a Board member) landfills filling up and waste from more than that, Ea rth Day 1990 ''is a and currently a consultant to the outside of Pennsylvania com ing into the time to look at how far we have come Chicago Department of Streets and state, the city government is faced with and whether we have met the promise Sanitation. where she is grappling vvith being mandated to have a plan for the of the first Earth Day. We need to look the problem of how Chicago can recycle city by next September. Bv Ea rth Dav. backward a nd forward at the same plastic wastes. " In 1990, we need to we have to be well along the way to.a tim e." concentrate on pollution prevention," solution. so that's our Earth Day she says. "We need to take advantage of priority. The second most important a major change in the attitude of issue--here and throughout the industry. In 1970, industry was the nation-is protecti11g our water .supply enem y; now many industries are against pollution." working w ith environmentalists, as in our Chicago project. In 1990, we need to concentrate on pollution preventi on. We are still hung up on the contamination Barbara Reid Alexander: Lifestvle that's already there. Instead. we need to changes and environmental edu-cation foc us on giving up sources of pollution. are the most important issues facing us and on prevention. We need a new law on Earth Day 1990, says Barbara Reid li ke the ational Environmental Poli cy Alexander, who 20 years ago was Act to provide a pollution-prevention Jack Winder: Indi,·idu;i] action in M idwest coordinator at n ationul Earth incentive." environme11tal matters shoul d be Earth Day h eadquarters. Now associated with Day 1990's fo cus, says attorney )<1ck the Maine Public Utilities Commission, Winder. 20 years ago c -.; ucutivn director she urges 1990 Earth Duy observers to of the Metropolita11 v\'ashi11 gt on focus on "educating a new generation to Coalition fo r Clnan 1\ir and todav a 11 be environmentally concerned and enforcement attorne\' for the EPA. "The active. Having taken the first steps over 1990 focus should b.e on individual the past two decades. we mus t move on participation ... on the simple concept to the next level of hard 1 that everyone can make a difference, issues-creating a ne'"' lifestyle that Jack Sheehan: Worl d-wide whether it be by recycling household fr ees us from dependence on toxic environmental issues should be the waste or by filing a la wsuit against a mate ri als. plastics, and the like, and focus of Earth Day 1990. believes this polluter. The second major priority is promoting conservation. Earth Day labor-union environmentalist. Twenty water pollution and related issues. should help each individual learn what years ago, he was involved in particularly protection of the water he or she can do to make a difference." environmental programs for the Un ited suppl>".,

JANUARY FEBRUARY 1990 13 Looking Back; Looking Ahead

etrospectively dubbed the year of the Renvironment, 1970 saw not only the first Earth Day, but also a number of EPA other environmental landmarks: the birth of EPA, the enactment of the by William D. Ruckelshaus National Environmental Policy Act, the creation of the President's Council on Environmental Quality, and the passage s we observe the 20th anniversary of mobile and stationarv sources was far of a new Clean Air Act establishing Earth Day, it may be constructive to more intense on a per-capita basis than notional air quality standards for the A look back to the origins of EPA 20 years todav. The toxic waste issues that have first time. ago in order to gain perspective on the dominated the headlines in the last Jn the following five articles, these nature of the environmental issue today decade were there in the 60s, but we landmark events are respectively and to explore what the future may hold were focused on the problems we could considered from the vantage point of for EPA and the country. smell. touch, and feel: the problems that their 20-yeor anniversaries; the authors Born in the wake of the first Earth television loved and our senses attested all played prominent roles in the year Day, EPA opened its doors in to on the way to work every morning. of the environment and continue to be downtown Washington. DC, on In the la te 60s, the public reacted to actively involved in environmental December 2, 1970. For the first time, these problems by organizing and issues. concern about environmental pollution putting pressure on the political system. was elevated to a national issue. The and as always, the politicians causes of this sudden escalation of the responded. What ensued was the environment to the national scene were creation of the Counci I on many and varied. Environmental Quality and EPJ\ at the For one thing, color television national level. Similar agencies were saturated American living rooms, and created in states all over Ameri ca. J\ the visible effect of a vellow outfall cascade of environmental laws and flowing into a blue ri~er, or brown smog regulations follovved. against a bright blue sky was far more impressive than those same images in black and white. On our ne,Nh· colored TV screens, we saw spaceship.s heading The turmoil of the early 80s for the moon, and the subsequent left some deep and abiding photographs of our planet- looking so scars on the Agency. small and vulnerable in the firmament-gave us a sense of our limits and a concern about exceeding Like few other public issues in our them. history, the environment has drawn a rt was no accident that our heightened high level of public a\'-'areness and environmental co ncerns coincided with commitment from the day EPA began to an unpopular war in Southeast 1\sia. the present. Public opinion polls over The impact of the Vietnam War on the years have shown the consistency of America was dramatic and tore at our the public's concern for a safe and clean spirit and our sense of ourselves. Many environment. Events in the ICJtter half of became persuaded that i.l country tlrnt the 1980s have served to raise that seemed to care so little for life in a concern to even higher levels. J\nd far-off land might also ignore the today, once aga in, we are experienci ng a environmental underpinning of life here strong, predictable political response. at home. Modem environmentalism in The resurgence of public concern for America has always had a certain the environment resulted from the spiritual quality about it. I believe the emergence ot new environmental issues coincidence of its ri se with the Vietnam during the 1988 presidential election. War both defined and contributed to Publicity about global wnrming in the that quality. summer of 1988. coupled with intense Certainly in the 1960s. 1\merica had heat and drought, followed by the environmental problems. Cross television-recorded images of medical pollution problems abounded. Eaw waste closing beaches from const to sewage and industrial discharges coast was more than the public or the spoiling our rivers vvere more the rule politicians could bear. For the first time than the exception. 1\ir poll ution fr om in the history of this country. the environment- became a key issue in a presidenti al campaign. Jn 1988. the (Ru cke/shaus, EPA's firs t Administrotor, environmental records of the two major is currently Chairman cmd Chief ca ndidates were debated throughout the Executive Officer of Browning-hrris country-from a heaving ship in Boston industries. In c.)

14 EPA JOURNAL Harbor to an abandoned Superfund site answers will determine how effectively engaged in "EPA bashing" on a wide in New Jersey. Both candidates made our country and the rest of the world scale. That has contributed to the major speeches about the environment respond to the increased demand for further erosion of trust in the Agency, and featured one another's action on the new environmental and in recent times has led to highly environmental past in their television agenda. dedicated civil servants leaving ads. Without question, today's EPA is far government service. Nor is the environment strictly an different than it was in 1970. It is more As the Agency became an inviting American phenomenon. Green politics mature. It is more focused on public and vulnerable public target, it attracted have emerged from minority status and health than it was 20 years ago. EPA is the inevitable legislative response. The become a political movement to be more seasoned, more bureaucratic, but history of environmental legislation in reckoned with in countries throughout in my view, no less committed than it the 80s is characterized by a singular Europe. (See article on p. 46.) Such was in the heady days of the early 70s. lack of trust in EPA by Congress. That is events as the massive destruction that Despite that commitment, I have manifested in increasingly prescriptive resulted from a chemical spill on the concerns about the future of EPA. The legislation that strips away Rhine River and the nuclear disaster at turmoil of the early 80s left some deep administrative discretion from EPA Chernobyl only served to bolster the and abiding scars on the Agency. It managers and often sets impossible emergence of the Greens. Even in the affected EPA's ability to interact goals for the Agency. These goals may Soviet Union and the rest of newly effectively with Congress in defining its gain political mileage, but their extreme enfranchised Eastern Europe, the public mission and goals. The scandals broke nature ensures practical failure. The has demanded more environmental the fragile ties of trust that must exist result has been missed deadlines, protection, and the leaders are between an entity like EPA and the unfulfilled promises of purity, failure to beginning to respond. public if the Agency's judgments are to achieve goals, another round of EPA EPA sits in the middle of this new be trusted and the Agency itself is to bashing, followed by even more awareness and increased demand for remain self-confident. Both public trust stringent goals; and the spiral of action. Like it or not, EPA is the and a self-confident EPA are necessary mistrust continues. repository for this nation's hope, ingredients for true environmental What is so remarkable about all this is concerns, and frustrations about the progress. that EPA, when given well-defined, environment. How can and should EPA In addition, the turmoil-and the high realistic goals and adequate resources, respond to the new forces that buffet it degree of politicization attendant to performs as well as, if not better than, on all sides reflecting the ever-changing it-has resulted in a stridency and other institutions of government. If you concerns of the public, the Congress, or bitterness in the environmental debate look back over the 20 years of EPA 's the special interest groups? What are its that was unheard of in the 70s. Too existence, the progress made in cleaning responsibilities in the decade to come? often the focal point of public and up the gross pollution problems of the What are the responsibilities of the political rancor is EPA. Congress, past and addressing the more difficult other institutions in our society that environmental groups, and industry, affect environmental policy? The pursuing their own agendas, have

JANUARY/FEBRUARY 1990 15 issues of toxic pollution of today is something new, something we didn't priorities. Surely the current disconnect quite impressive. Of course. there have have in the late 60s and early 70s, and it between Congressionally allocated been missteps; certainly not every ought to end. There must be room in the resources and priorities to be addressed reasonable goal has been achieved, but America of the 90s to debate these can be remedied. It is in the best overall the record on the environment issues and disagree about solutions to interest of EPA, the environment, and in America is as good as, and probably problems without the participants being the country to do so. better. than anywhere in the world. dismissed as "tree-buggers" or "industry As environmental demands increase Just imagine the condition of our stooges." in breadth and depth, allocating harbors and rivers had we not embarked We need to address the increasing resources will become an increasingly on the sewage treatment program of the inability of our political processes to larger challenge for all our elected 70s and the vigorous enforcement of the make final decisions about needed leaders. Let me give you an example. A Clean Water Act in the 80s. Imagine the facilities for the disposal of waste in our major chemical company, as a result of skies over our major cities had we not society. Regardless of the merits of its SARA Title III chemical emissions aggressively implemented the Clean Air public participation in environmental report, has decided to reduce those Act, controlling both smokestack decisions, the "not-in-my-backyard" emissions by more than 90 percent by emissions and severely restricting (NIMBY) syndrome is here to stay. We 1992. That decision will cost the automobile pollution. One of the major need to institute processes that come to company almost $200 million. The health threats to our society-airborne an end, that provide closure, that ensure company has estimated that if all lead-has now been virtually the finality of decision-making without industrial concerns in this country sacrificing the quality of decisions. To undertook the same control program, maintain the status quo is to ensure the total cost would approach $20 Like it or not,· EPA is the gridlock. billion. repository for this nation's EPA must re-enter the fray: EPA must Recently, when I asked the senior hope, concerns, and re-assert itself and help define the scientists and engineers of the firm frustrations about the environmental agenda for the future and whether they honestly believed that a environment. set realistic goals. This alone could lead significant public health improvement to a far more efficient allocation of what would result from that action, they necessarily will be inadequate answered no. Their action stemmed eliminated. We should take pride in the resources, and ultimately a from a combination of public fact that we have been able to achieve re-establishment of trust in EPA by the spiritedness, enlightened self-interest. these gains. These precedents should public. and a desire to be out of the line of fire. give us confidence that the new issues The process of setting these goals The point was not whether reducing that confront us-toxics and acid rain, needs to be based on a solid scientific those emissions of chemicals is a good and the planetary problems of ozone understanding of the problems we face, or bad thing. In a world of limitless depletion and global warming-can be a thorough and objective review of the resources, it is probably something effectively addressed by our solutions that are available, and a worth doing. But in a society faced with government, given proper direction and realistic assessment of the costs of each real and hard choices about resource incentives. of those solutions. A very open allocations, is this the best way to spend Any doubt concerning America's goal-setting process will lead to a $200 million or $20 billion to serve progress on the environmental front greater public understanding and public health'~ I doubt it. may quickly be erased with the acceptance of the goals that are set and These kinds of choices are being purchase of a few plane tickets. My the solutions chosen. made by institutions and individuals in travels as a member of the United Right now the Agency, according to our society every day. The choices often Nation's World Commission on its own analysis, is spending an involve the commitment of resources Environment and Development during enormous amount of its precious against one devil at the expense of a the 80s took me to any number of Third resources to control environmental more formidable one. The dynamics of World countries where the hazards that pose relatively small risks the choices made are driven by a environmental problems make ours pale to our society. At the same time, many combination of public opinion, into insignificance. In Latin America, known environmental hazards are Congressional legislative reaction, and Africa, and Asia, the pollution problems barely being addressed because of the EPA implementation-the process that are so fundamental, so massive, and so low priority for them dictated by generates public policy. EPA cannot pervasive in every aspect of human life Congress. Some would say the answer is escape responsibility for the human as almost to defy description. While that to give EPA more money. The Agency health or environmental implications of should not deter us from addressing our may need increased resources, but the the policies or the choices made as a continuing environmental problems in fact is there will always be problems result of that process. The failure to this country, it should show us how waiting when those of higher priority help society understand \l\'here its best much we have achieved and provide us are brought under social control. interests lie is no less because "Congress with the confidence to allocate more As with all problems facing our made me do it." wisely our resources for environmental society, today's reality in Washington is This is where EPA 's role as educator improvement in the future. one of limited resources, and choices is important. More knowledge about To achieve that wise allocation, and must be made by EPA, like everyone public health or environmental risks consider what to do next. we need to else. Congress, working \·vith the EPA exists within EPA than anywhere else. lower the decibel level of environmental comparative risk analysis already That knowledge must be shared. It rhetoric in this country. The bitterness available, must thoroughly re-examine and anger that have characterized the the existing allocation of resources in debate in recent years represent terms of real health and environmental

16 EPA JOURNAL should be shouted from every podium environment and the future course of four-fifths of the world's populati on in or forum a\'ailable in the hopes that human lives. the underdernloped and developing wiser policy will re ·ult. At the end of the educational countries yearning to approximate the People need to know what their process, people from all sides of the standard of liYing now enjoyed b~· us. Agency is doing and why. and what the debate--environmentalists. smelter Unchannelled and uncontrolled, that intended or expected result will be. workers, communitv leaders-were al I inexorable push to economic That shared knowledge builds trust and sporting buttons that read "BOTH.·· The development will create an assault on leads to real environme ntal buttons meant that the environmental our environment the likes of which we improvement. One of the most useful risks inherent in the operation of the have never seen. Agency initiatives in recent years took smelter could be controlled to Ho\\' the de\'eloped nations, and how place in Tacoma, Washington. in the acceptable levels. and the community we as a leader of those nations. respond mid-1980s. EPA undertook a massive would still have the economic benefit of to our own cha! lenges-and the path we educational effort to make sure that the that smelter. In other word . thev could set for the re t of the \\'Orld- will say community understood the risks have"BOTH." , much about what kind of world will be associated with the continued operation We must constantly strive to make left to coming generations. ltimately. of a local copper smelter. how those our process of dealing with what is at stake in free societies and environmental risks more realistic. those now throwing off the shackles of efficient, and effective. If for no other 40 vears. is the abil itv of free The question for us really isn't reason, let's do it to celebrate the 20th institutions to soh·e t-hese difficult. whether humanity will survive anniversary of Earth Day. Our nation complex. and emotionally wrenching and the world are faced with major problems. The emerging democracies our environmental assaults. I environmental challenges for the future. are watching us. as are the \'ast think we will. The question is There is broad and intensified interest population in the unclerde\·eloped whether free institutions will in the environment. There is increased world. They want to see if we can cope survive. demand to achieve greater levels of with our own complexities and do it cleanup of the problems we know within the context of freedom. If we about. At the same time. there is can. our dedication to freedom will risks would be reduced by various scientific evidence of new and seem increasingly attracli\'e to them a· control options. and what the true potentially serious environmental they struggle for an enhanced standard impact of those various options would problems yet unaddressed. of living. be on the continued operation of the Increased public pressure is not The question for us really is n't smelter-and thus on the commun ity restricted to the industrialized world. whether humanitv will survive our itself. That exercise proved, very Certainly, it is very intense and environmental assaults. I think we will. dramatically, that when fully armed immediate here in the United States. but The question is whether free institutions with all the facts of a situation. the in the future, the greatest pressure on will survi\'e. public can and \v ii i make rational. the developed world and on the When confronted with a choice intelligent decisions about the environment is going to come from the between authoritarianism and chaos. people will always choose the former. Whether we can address our environmental problems within a system of political and economic freedom is an opm1 question in the last decade of this CL'ntun" Is fruedom indeed the ba111wr to .which all should repair '~ Certainly that is the \\'O rld's question a11d our clrnllcmgc. t\t the next observanct! ol Earth Day. perhaps i11 20 years. l hope ,,.c! e<111 cc>lebratc' tho success of attaining a lirnhlt> environmcmt. c!11ha11cc!cl dPndopnwnt. and expnndc!cl frc•cdom. ~

Rcprmred by permission Tnbune Media Se1wces

JANUARYFEBRUARY1990 17 Looki11g Back; The Council on Environmental Quality

by Russel l E. Tra in ------he environmental movement came of Once 1 EP J\ was signed. the Council Tage in the 1970s. Fittingly. President replaced this interagency committee and ixon's first official act of the decade was vastly more effective. The Council was to sign into law the t ational had the enormous task of developing Environmental Policy 1\ct ( 1EPJ\). one and promulgating guidelines for federal of the most far-reaching and innovative agency ompliance ,,·ith the pieces of environmental legislation in environmental impact statement our history. requirement of the act. The A key element of NEP1\ was the environmental impact statement was a creation of the Council 011 revolutionary concept in go\'ernment. It Environmental Quality (CEQ) in the brought about a radical change in the Executive Offi ce of the President to way government decisions werr made serve as a focal point for eil\'ironmental because it required bureaucrats to look policy development. I became the first at alternatives to proposed Chairman of the Council shorth· after actions-including the alternati,·e of President Nixon signed i\JEP/\, -bu t my doing nothing- if a planned course of involvement with the legislation goes action would damage the e1wironment. back to my tenure as president of The We had many interagency struggles Conservation Foundation. and controversies because some In the late 1960s. The Conservation agencies were extremely reluctant to go Today, CE Q clearly needs Foundation began lo focus 011 building along with the process. But in fact the more staff and an augm ented ecological principles into development environmental impact statement opened budget to go with it. activities. The Senate Interior up the process of decision-making for Committee, then chaired bv Senator input by other agencies and the public "Scoop" Jackson. had simiiar concerns. in an unprecedented wny. and with the help of The Conser\'ation Early on. the Council made the Foundation hired Dr. Keith Cald\\'ell. a decision that each individual agcnc~· professor of political science at the had to act as its own implementing University of lndianu. as a consultant. authority fo r NEP1\ requirements. Thnt Cald,.vell originated and de\'eloped the v"as important because there had been concept of environ mental impact some suggestion that CEQ ,,·o uld analysis. which becanrn an integral part oversee all go\·ernment actions and of NEPA. Together with the creation of make its own determinations concerning CEQ. environmental impact analysis environmental impacts. alternati1·es. ;ind requirements-obliging federal agencies so on. First of all. this suggestion ,,·as to consider en\'ironmental factors in impractical from a workload standpoint their decision-making processes-wore and seconclh'. ii would h<1\·e meant that really the heart of NEPA. individual agencies would not have felt In 1 ~J68. President Nixon askml me to responsible for addressing chair a task force on the On\'iro11ment to environmental considerations in their advise him on envi ronmental issues. programs. They would ha\'e perceived it Our principal recommendation was to as someone ebe's job. namely CEQ's. So create a mechanism for dernloping from the beginning. the Council tried to environmental policv within the \\'hite delegate authority to the agencies House--a fo rerunner of the CEQ themselves, focusing the Council's own concept. In 1969. the ad ministrn tion role on developing guidelines. acted on that proposal by setting up. by overseeing NEPJ\ imp\cme11latio11. and executive order. an int(?ragenc\· reacting when a poor job was being Committee on Environmental Quality. done. The Council strcssl:d that the chaired by the president's scienc:e agencies thernscl\'es must keep full advisor. In short, the committee worked responsibility for their own (Train. f irst Choirman the of th e imperfectly and took little leadership 0 11 environmentnl performance. Council on Environmentol Quolity omJ environmentdl matters. The Council had some dramatic a former Administrator of EPr\. is successes. For example. in 1970. we currently Choirman of th e Dourd of recommended that the President halt Wo rl d Wildlife Fund and Th e work on a ba rge canal across northern Conscrvotion Foundation.)

18 EPA JOURNAL Reviews of the potential environmental impacts of federally aided highways were one of the innovations of the National Environmental Policy Act. This aerial view shows construction of an interstate higf-iway in Wisconsin.

Mike 811sson photo

Florida, although one-third of the work environmental area. we lwd the pick of that regionall y needed clel'clupnwnl. had been completed. I sent the the crop. Bi ll Reill y came in as a young such as water-treatment plants or loll'­ President a memorandum slating that attorney and played a major role in ;rnd moderate-income housing was not the environmental costs of the ca nal fa r developing the National Lrnd Use excluded bv local gol'crnmcnts. Though outweighed the benefits beca use it Policv Act that President Nixon m il ll\' of these princiµlcs were threatened to destroy a unique scenic subn{itted to Co ngress. inco;·puratecl into ot her laws. many area, a major wildlife habitat, and a But that legislation was loo fo r alwad others- such as wetland large sport fish population. Other of its li me and never sc~riouslv protection- were long neglected i111d me adverse effects. such as pest infestnlion considered by Congress. It 11·c; ulcl hH\'l! univ 1w 11· being gi\'lm their full due. and water pollution, also were fenrcd. required st<1tes. as a condition for T;hc Co uncil quickly aduµ ted th e rnle The Pres ident ordered work stopped obtaining fed eral financial assistancu. to of developing an annu C11 cnvironnw11 tal on the canal, despite strong protests assume responsib ili ty for land-use messnge fo r the Prnsident to send to from the shipping industry and local decisions that have i111 p<1cls lie:.·oncl tlw Congrnss. This message beca me~ the developers. This controversial decision local jurisdiction ll'irnre the dm:i sion is repository for a wide rnnge of lc!gislativo dramaticall y demonstrated the new made. The bil l would also h a\'C~ required initiat i1·es as 1·vell as executive actions force the environmental ethi c had in states. fo r the fi rst time. lo: protect areils in the em·ironmental nrea. The Council government decision-making. of critical en1·ironmental value such ilS had a great deal of clout through having Within a few years. the staff of CEQ coastal wetlands and historic dist ri cts: responsibility fo r putting together this numbered about 54, the same size as th e control land use around public facil it ic:s message. LJ 11d cr CEQ staff direction. Council of Economic Advisors. It WC.J S a such as ai rports. high\\'a1· in terchnnges. various in tcragencv co mmittees were superb staff . The environment was a hot and major recre(ltion areas: and assure working on envi ronmental problems issue at the time, and since young inl'olving drinking waler. strip mining, people grad uating from college and law and air pollution, for example. Through school were anxious to get into th e

JANUARY1FEBRUARY 1990 19 Acting on the recommendations of the newly created Council on Environmental Quality. President Nixon called a halt to construction of the Trans-Florida Barge Canal in 1970.

this interaction, we were able to shape executive office. assuming it is given implement without a major commitment an enormous number of adequate authority by the President. It to CEQ by the current t\dministration. recommendations. The series of has the potentinl to revive the CEQ should not try to operate as the environmental legislative proposals of cooperation and coordination that it Administration's voice on the the early 1970s represented the greatest built to put together the comprehensive environment. Such a rol e for CEQ outpouring of legislution in any si ngle environmental messages it sent to became unnecessary when EPt\ came subject area in the nation's history. Congress in the early 1970s. That is into existence-especially when EPA is The creation of EPJ\ in December where CEQ's real role lies. and it is an headed by a strong environmentalist 1970 might be collstrued to indicate that extremely important one. like Bill Reill y. Michael Deland is an CEQ no longer had an important role to Today, CEQ clearly needs more staff outstanding choice for Chairman of play. That was not the case in 1 SJ70, nor and an augmented budget to go with it. CEQ. He is a strong environmentalist. is it true today. CEQ. bec<:1use of its Currently, it has a staff of only about with a lot of experience in the field. He locu tion in the Execu ti ve OffiCf~ of the has dealt in the past 1Nith many President, has the unique opportunitv to controversial issues. and he is work in th e maim where environmenta l CEQ should not try to operate intelligent and tough but fa ir-minded. responsibility overlnps \\'ith the With tal ented environmentalists at EP1\ jurisciiction of other agencies. This is a as the Administration's voice and CEQ, and \Nith a renewed crucial role, bec:nuse the environment by on the environment. commitment bv the President, the its very nature cuts across the entin~ United States ;viii be mad\' to confront fabric of government. J\gricu ltural the difficult environment n.1 problems of policy, trunsport;1tion policy. and energy ten, one-fifth what it was in the e

20 EPA JOURNAL Looking Back; Looking Ahead

istorians of the environmental The Clean Air Act of 1970 Hmovement are likely to peg Earth Day 1970 as a key turning point in the American public's consciousness about by Paul G. Rogers environmental problems. r believe that Congress' enactment of the 1970 amendments to the Clean Air Act a few months later was an equally significant landmark. For the 1970 amendments m oved environmental protection concerns to a prominent position on Capitol Hill, where they by and large have remained ever since. It seems a p propriate. as Congress is consider ing n ew amendments to the Clean Air Act, to assess what lessons m ight be learned from the events of t,,.o decades ago. The ju xtaposition of Earth Day and the 1970 amendments was no accident. As a representative body. Congress was respon ding to the heightened public concern about environmental pollution that was symbolized by the Earth Day demonstrations. Some have said that Congress reacted to public pressure too qu ickly and rushed through clean-air legislation that was not up to the task of responding to real air-pollution con cerns. [ disagree. While the 1970 amendments may have been the fi rst time that poll ution-control efforts obtained such a high profile in Congress. they were not Congress' firs t effort to address air-polluti on problems. On the contrary. we drafted those amendments to correct previous pollution-control strategies that had fa il ed. With the passage of the 1970 am endments. Congress adopted new a pproaches to regulation such as national air quality standards and statutory deadlines fo r compliance that are commonplace today. but represented a significant turning point in 1970. To put the 1970 ame ndments in proper context . one needs to look bac k at Congress' prior efforts to control air pollution , parti cularly th <) 1\ ir Quality Act of 1967. That statute authori zed the Secretarv of Health. Education. and Welfare ·(who then had chief responsib ility for federul environmental prote tion programs) to designatu so-called air quality regions throughout AP W•de World photo the country; the states were given pri mary responsibi lity for adopting and (Rogers served as Cha ir of the House Shortly after Earth Day 1970, enforci ng pol Iu tion-con trol standards Congress enacted the lancimark Clean Subcommittee on l-lealth and th e w ithin those regions. Enviro nment d u ring th e 1970 Clea n Air Air Act amendments. Progress has been made on air quality, but much Some of us involved in the e nactment Act deliberatio ns. I-l e is currently a more needs to be done. This 1963 of the 1967 statute had significant partner in th e low f irm of Hogan a nd photo shows a massive smog episode d oubts as to the viab ili ty of the regional Hartson in Wa shington, DC.) in New York City. approach to air-pol Iu t ion control: after Da vid F. Grady assisted in the all, air contaminati on does not stop at preparation of this article.

JANUARY~EBRUARY 1990 21 neatly defined regional boundaries. control (and, indeed, environmental is itself a significant achievement for Nevertheless, Congress as a whole and protection generally) would have to be a which the 1970 Clean Air Act American industry were not yet change in attitude about the value of amendments deserve a share of the convinced of the need for a national environmental protection. credit. strategy for pollution control; therefore, During the House floor debate on the But a positive change in altitude and as a first step, the 1967 statute's regional amendments, one of my colleagues assumptions about environmental approach became the law of the land. quoted a small town mayor, who (in protection does not in itself clean up The approach was a notable failure. expressing the previous conventional dirty air. Congress is still struggling By 1970, fewer than three dozen wisdom that environmental protection with the difficult question of hO\•V to air-quality regions had been designated, and economic growth were not achieve that goal. Thus it is fair to ask as compared to an anticipated number compatible) is reported to have said: "If what lessons the 1970 amendments in excess of 100. Moreover, not a single you want this town to grow, it has got to might hold for Congress as it sets about state had developed a full pollution­ stink." Before 1970, there were still revising the Clean Air Act once again. I control program. many persons and companies believe several lessons may be drawn. This unsatisfactory record, coupled throughout the United States who • Strike while the iron is hot. While the with the public pressures created by the agreed with the mayor that pollution 1970 amendments gradually evolved to Earth Day movement, provided the was the inevitable price of progress. In correct previous statutory initiatives that necessary impetus to convince Congress the 1970 amendments, however, had failed, their actual enactment by the that national air quality standards were Congress signalled its firm belief that full Congress was accomplished with the only practical way to rectify the unaccustomed speed. This \•Vas made United States' air-pollution problems. possible because of the high priority Similarly, the record of inaction under The 1970 amendments moved assigned to environmental issues on the the 1967 law led Congress to impose public agenda following Earth Day. statutory deadlines for compliance with environmental protection Today's political climate is similar. the emissions standards authorized concerns to a prominent Rising public concerns over under the 1970 statute, in the hope that position on Capitol Hill, where well-reported environmental problems those deadlines would spur action. they by and large have such as acid rain, global warming, and Thus, the two key provisions in the remained ever since. fouled beaches, coupled with the high 1970 act were not a frenzied reaction to profile that environmental issues took in public pressure, but instead were a the 1988 presidential elections, provide deliberate response aimed at correcting economic growth and a clean this Congress with one of the most the demonstrated failures of previous environment are not mutually exclusive promising opportunities for legislative regulatory efforts. goals. initiatives on clean air in recent years. Of course, no one would argue that In order to change these previously Since this positive combination of the 1970 statute achieved all of its entrenched attitudes, it was necessary to events is likely to have a somewhat objectives; the deadlines were extended, get the attention of industry and the limited life span, Congress should seize and for the most part. the national American people. By taking the the opportunity-as it did in 1970-and standards were not attained. Yet I then-bold step of making air-pollution act now to revise the statute. believe that history, on balance. should control a national responsibility, with judge the 1970 amendments as a major strict deadlines for compliance, • Avoid artificial limits on and positive turning point in the Congress accomplished that purpose in pollution-control efforts. just as the national environmental-protection effort. the 1970 statute. Even though the 1970 amendments demonstrated The 1977 Clean Air Act amendments deadlines originally imposed in the Congress' acknowledgment that air confirm this judgment. 1970 amendments ultimately were not pollution could not be effectively For just as important as its deadlines met, the amendments unquestionably addressed on a regional level. the and innovative nationwide succeeded in fostering a profound current effort to amend the statute standard-setting approach was the 1970 attitude shift in this country. should take into account the increasing statute's underlying purpose: to raise A consensus has emerged from the emphasis on the international nature of the consciousness of the American experiences gleaned under the 1970 air-pollution problems. The recent public and American business regarding amendments that environmental Montreal Protocol on reducing use of the importance of pollution control. In protection and economic grovvth can, chlorofluorocarbons and our ongoing enacting the 1970 statute, Congress and must, be accomplished dialogue with Canada regarding acid knew that a central element in any hand-in-hand. Indeed, I suspect that if rain are but two examples of the successful approach to air-pollution the mayor quoted by my colleague were growing recognition that air pollution to seek election today, he or she would be soundly rejected at the polls. This attitudinal change in American society

22 EPA JOURNAL localized governments, but the extent to which international cooperation is needed to fight air pollution. Similarly. the use of statutory deadlines to force compliance 'Nith air quality standards is. if anything. more appropriate today. given our greater information base and technological capabilities upon which to base such deadlines. What is needed is not so much a change in approach from the framework of the 1970 amendments. but a reinvigorated commitment on the part ~ .j'.:._ /·' ~ -·· of government, industry, and the / . ~ ' \;-..•., population at large to meet the new 4"~ · . · ~. J'-. . . compliance deadlines that are likely to Pal Mamn carroon be part of the Clean r\ir 1\ ct expected to pass later this year. As our environmental problems accumulate. and as our concerns about air pollution grow broader and more does not stop al state or regional complex. we cannot afford to let the boundaries: it crosses national A consensus has emerged from current opportunity to amend the Clenn boundaries as well. Air Act go by \Nithoul success. The 1970 Ju st as in 1970 Co ngress took the the experiences gleaned under Clean Ai r Act amendments were n ground-breaking step of making the 1970 amendments that vvatershed that pm·ed the way fo r the air-pollution control a nati onal effort. environmental protection and widespread consensus in our country Congress today should not hesitate to economic growth can, and today that air-µollution r.u ntrol must be lay the groundv.rork for international must, be accomplished a top priorit y of the fed eral go,·ernmcnt. approaches to environmental issues. hand-in-hand. Those of us who had a hand i11 drafting • Take adl'Ontage of improved the 1970 amendments therefore can tnke knowledge. Striking developments since satisfaction because tha t legislation has the 1970 amendments have been the and has continued to plague had a positi\'e impact on our nation's explosion of knowledge about the implementati on of the Clean 1\ ir Act environmental protecti on efforts. It is nature of air pollution, and the ever since (a lthough enforcement now u p to our successors to build on advanced new technologies available to activity has increased somewhat in that foundatio11 and make fu rt her control that pollution. The stu dy of recent yenrs). progress in improving air qualit)' in the pollution and the design of Congress. of course, cnn only pass United Stntes. o pollution-control techniques were in laws; it is up to the Executive Brunch to their infancies in 1970. Congress did not enforce them. lt is imperative that have the benefit of the wealth of Congress follow through on the additional knowledge at society's upcoming amendments to the Clean 1\ir disposal today. This expanded Act with a stringent oversight role. It knowledge base should permit Congress wil l be criticnl to keep the prnssure 0 11 to adopt complia11 ce deadlines that are in order to see to it that those who are better pegged to technical feasibility covered by the statute obey it- or pay than in 1970. the requisi te penalt ies for violations. Overall, the co ncepts set forth in the • Follow th rough 11' ith oversight and 1970 Clean Air Act amendments and enforcement. One of the reasons the revised and strengthened in the 1977 1967 Air Qualitv Act fa il ed and thus amendments nre still valid. A nationnl spurred Congress to enact a tough approach to air-pollution control national air qunlity program in 1970 remains the only practical way to was the al most complete lnck of respond to this problem. Indeed , as I enforcement of the earlier statute. J\ mentioned earlier, the real question similar fate befell the 1970 nmend mcnts today is not so much whether mo re efforts should be ceded to more

JA UARY •F EBRUARY 1990 23 Looking Back; Looki11g Ahead Earth Day: One View by Denis Hayes

ittle more than a year ago. in an Sure, there are lots of villains to point The Issues Larticle for EPA Journal, l proposed fingers at: uncaring corporate monoliths; that someone seize the initiative and sleazy businessmen out to make a quick Unfortunately, it took the discovery of organize a global Earth Day to coincide buck regardless of the damage left in holes in the ozone layer, wi despread with the 20th anniversary of the first their wake; and politicians too fires in the Amazon, and convincing Earth Day. As "luck" would have it. a dependent upon polluters' contributions proof of the threats posed by global year later that sonieone turns out lo be and more than willing to turn a blind climate change to make the environment me. Two months after the article eye. an issue worthy of international press appeared, a dozen national However, no one is holding a gun to interest and pride of place at the most environmental leaders asked me to take our heads as we merrilv drive ourselves recent summit of the leaders of the a leave of absence from my legal into the greenhouse age. Nothing short major industrial powers. Now that practice to coordinate the Earth Day of a society-wide commitment is needed environmental issues have captured the 1990 campaign . if we are to turn our backs on the attention of our politicians and the At this time last year. Earth Da y 1990 "disposable society" and move tovvard press, we have an unprecedented was nothing more than a co ncept. Now realizing the vis ion of a societv that opportunity to translate publi c concern it is a staff of 30 in Palo Alto, California; lives in harmonv with the env-ironment about the environment into concerted a National 13oard of Directors wel l over The 20th anni\'ersarv of Earth Dav is a1; action. 100 in number, with representatives auspicious time to remind corpor~ lions. Earth Day 1990's campaign will send fr om every sector of American society; politicians, and ourselves that such a a clear signal to the world's leaders that an International 13oard of Sponsors - profound shift is needed. The the time is nigh to set aside narrow spanning every continent; and a field alternative is ca tastrophe. self-interest and fo cus on the global organization with 18 regional offi ces. In environmental issues that threaten the little more than a year, Earth Day HJ90 The Concept continued existence of the human race. has go ne from the drawing board lo The time has come to ga lvanize our The concept of Earth Day was American collective energies on making being a huge, global coalition in its origin. However. the problems that determined to turn the tide in the battle "sustainable development" more than a Earth Day addresses are global in pleasing rhetorical phrase. to pull the planet back from the brink of nature. Whereas Earth Day 1970 was the ecologicnl destruction. catalyst for the creation of the modern The Constituency In 1970, the goal of Earth Day, as American environmental movement, articulated eloquently by then-Senator Earth Day 1990 is designed to catalvze a To meet the formidable challenge of Gaylord Nelson, the true "father" of truly global environmental - building a constituency for sustainable Earth Du y, was to demonstrate to movement-and to make the 1990s a development, Earth Day 1990 is seeking corporations. politicians, and our decade of striking environmental the assistance, participatio n, and somnambu Ian t neighbors that no bod v is achievements. commitment of leaders from all sectors immune to the threats posed by - [n 1970. the focus was on air. water: of society. Earth Day 1990's National environmental pollution and no one ca n and noise pollution. Thousands of Board of Dirertors is drawn from avoid culpability. Twenty yea rs later, schools, universiti es, and communities government. education, labor unions, some of the symptoms have changed, staged Earth Day events. [11 the past two civil rights groups, corporations. but the problem remai ns the same. Us. decades, endangered species have been academia, and the arts, and in cl udes the protected, once-dead waterways have · chief executi ve offi cer of every major bee n cleaned up. cmcl air quality in national environmental organizat ion in some areas has improved. Hov,'ever. the Un ited States. despite notable local improvements, the At the grassroots level. Ea rth Day health of the plai 1et has declined 1990's field staff have held org

24 EPA JOURNAL largest metropolitan areas. lndividuals people shop and affect how they vote a survey which they can use to measure involved in local Earth Dav 1990 and raise their children. Some are the environmental soundness of their coalitions are a study in diversity. aimed at primarily a U.S. audience homes. The campus audit will help Participants range from members of while others have been adapted for use students, faculty. and administrators to neighborhood improvement associations in other countries. gauge accurately the impact their to city council representatives. from college has on the community's environmentalists to c ivil rights environment through the generation of Education activists. from students to senior solid, medical. radioactive. and citizens. Many have never been To reach the next generation of leaders hazardous waste as well as air and involved with an environmental wi th lessons that we ha\'e vet to learn. water pollution. procurement policies. campaign before. Earth Day 1990 has developed formal and dangers in the workplace. Supplementing our field-organizing educational materials including a activities. Earth Day 1990 has developed Lesson Plan and Survev for student· in Investment public-education programs to reach grades K-12 and a Cam-pus Orawi11g on the examples of people in their homes, their workpla es. Environmental Audit for colleges and anti-apartheid activists and other social and their recreation centers. These universities. At the K-12 level, students justice movements. the erl\'ironmental programs are designed to change how will work with their parents to complete movement has launched an ambitious campaign to apply em·ironmcntal NYT Pictures concerns to decisions in the corporate boardroom. I co-chair the Coalition for Environmentally Responsible Economics (CERES) . which includes e11\'ironmcntal organizations and financial institutions. In the fa ll. CERES uiweil cd a new 10-point corporate code of cthics. the Valdez Principles. which addrnss the damaging impncts of products and production processes on consumers. employees. communities. and the global environ men l. Already. the Valdez Principles lim·n been onclorsed by state. c itv. and religious pensim~ funds totaling m ·er $150 billion in assets. ln conjunction with other cmilition members. Earth Dav 1990 is working with corporalio11s. st;1tt~ treasures. portfolio managl!rs, universiti es. and cities to urge t}w wide adoption of the Va lduz Principles as u11 effective gauge for corporat1)

Concern about pollution and other forms of environmental degradation spread across the United States in 1970. A goal of Ei.irth Day this year is planet-wide environmental commitment.

JANUARY FEBRUARY 1990 25 organizations, including two United Nations ngencies. Over 120 countries have Earth Day coalitions representing more than 1,000 non-governmental organizations, universities. and government agencies. Planned activities range from an "Indigenous Peoples Consultation on Bi o-Diversity" in the Phillipines to a "Green Train" bearing Earth Day 1990's logo on its side as it travels through 21 major Italian cities testing pollution levels with its on-board laboratory.

The Global Challenge International Ea rth Day is a concept that has come due. Global environmental issues exemplify the interdependence of communities around the world. If vve truly wa nt to develop solutions to global warming, ozone depletion, ocean pollution, and the rest of the global ecological horrors that we've created, world leaders need to take the pragmatic steps of setting as ide parochial priorities and focu ·ing on threats to the global commons. Earth Day 1990's global campaign will provide the politicians of the world with compelling evidence that there indeed exists an info rmed and angry constituency that considers the health of the planet an issue second to none.

If You Want To Get Involved If you want to be a part of the Earth Dav 1990 process, contact our main office ii~ Palo Alto. Wherever vou live. our fi eld staff can put you in t~ u ch with a local grassroots coordinator. For further informatio n, contact: Making a point on Earth Day 1970 Earth Day 1990 P.O. Box AA performance and a guideline for socially conservation, hazardous \\'aste Stanford University responsible in vesting. reduction, and tree planting. Cities Palo Alto, Ca li fornia 94309 participating in th e project also will (41 5) 321-1990. 0 Global Cities receive an "Earth Day Pro;ect Planning Guide" and will be el igible to attend Respond ing to an upsurge of municipal project-planning seminars held environmental activism. Earth Dav I ~HHJ throughout the cou ntry. The response has developed the Global Cities P.roject. has been enthusi astic, with pnrticipa nts which offers practical assistance to city ranging from Newnrk. New Je rsey. to and county authorities in expanding or West Holl\'wood. Cal ifornia. lo At lanta, creating programs that fulfill the maxim. Georgia. · "Think globally. /\ct loca lly." Under the Global C: i ti~!S Project. L::arth International Earth Day Day 1990 will help ci ties an d counties to develop or augment existing Cn the international level. Earth Dav programs in

26 EPA JOURNAL Looking Back; Looki11g Ahead Earth Day: Another Vie\N

by Edwa rd W. Fu ria

ecently I experienced a sense of deja The recent Chapel Hi ll SEAC meeting Rvu when I gave an address about was not just another conference. It was Earth Day at the Threshold National a historic event that marked the rebirth Student Environmental Action Coalition of environmentalism on college (SEAC) Conference. I spoke to 1.600 campuses. It may also have been the student leaders of campus first real evidence since the 1960s of a environmental organizati ons from 43 rebirth of student political activism. states who had converged at the Unlike the budding "yuppie" University of North Carolina at Chapel stereotypes I expected to Hill for this conference. encounter-with ambitions con isling of A little more than 20 years before. I an MBA. a job on Wa ll Street. And 8 So the summer of '88 was a was among a group of graduate students BMW-these young people wanted to kind of last straw for a lot of at the Universitv of Pennsvlvania Ci ty change the world. They seemed e\·ery people, including me. Planning Schooi who met -to discu s ·the bit as idealistic as their predecessors on famous 1969 Seattl e speech of Senator 2,000 college campuses and in 10.000 Gaylord Nelson call ing for the first high schools who. in 1970. took up the national Ea rth Day. We responded by challenge of Earth Day and helped drive orga nizing the first Earth Week. a environmentalism into the mainstream convocation on environmental issues of Ameri can consciousness. that cut across racial. economic. and What were the goals of the first E8rlh political boundaries and, for the fi rst Week, and hOv\' do thev compare to the time, got ordinary people involved in goals of Ea rth Week 1990'1 environmental issues. The most widely recognized goal in Copyright 1989 Chns Bennion photo 1970 was to "raise consciousness" on college campuses about e11\'ironmentnl problems. but the group of students in Philadelphia who developed the original Ea rth Week also wanted to involve the general public. l wns hired as Earth Week 1970's project director. partly because of my cit)' p lanning master's thesis, in which l had argued that no meaningful natio1rnl po l ic~ · shift could be achieved without motin1ting ordinarv people through messages embedded in riveting events that the mass medi8 could amplifv. ln oth er words, if vou want to cliange the world. it's not enough to be emrwsl. you ha\'t' to be interesting. The literatu re on co111munic<1t ions and behavior provirled a11 add itio nal insight: Even if yo u succeed in getting 1wople to listen to your message and h!)g in changing altitudes, actLwl changes i11 behavior usucillv don't occur unless the message is m:co-rnpani!)d b\· rni nforcing action. In oth er words. if your goal is to change the vvorld. after you reach ordinary people with your message. give them a way to participate. Staunch efforts re mcJcr wc1v to rnai

JANUARY FEBRUARY 1990 27 institution in the region. At scientific the United States was well on its way program, I agreed. Something had gone symposia, experts from universities, toward reversing the most troubling terribly vvrong since the first Earth Day, corporations, and state and local environmental trends. A newly created and it had happened in spite of all the governments met to discuss the most EPA had shown it intended to enforce new legislation, and the creation of the pressing air and water pollution and . the new environmental laws, billions of federal, state, and local regulatory waste disposal issues of the day. The dollars were being spent to reduce agencies and international bodies. It had events attracted Clean Air Act author municipal and industrial water occurred in spite of the proliferation of and then-likely Presidential candidate pollution, and the catalytic converter environmental organizations in the Senator Edmund Muskie, Senate and unleaded gasoline seemed to be United States and the Green parties in Minority Leader Hugh Scott, biologists Europe. Rene Dubas, Luna Leopold, and Paul To develop a meaningful program for Ehrlich, Nobel laureate George Wald, We need to move the 20th Earth Day, we felt we needed consumer advocate Ralph Nader, environmentalism an order of to look both at the way governments sociologist John McHale, poet Allen magnitude beyond where it were dealing with environmental Ginsburg, Dune author Frank Herbert, has ever been. problems and at how the environmental nuclear physicist and former Atomic movement itself was addressing the Energy Commission Chairman and issues. critic, Ralph Lapp, urban planners As Barry Commoner pointed out in Lewis Mumford and Ian McHarg, and making a dent in urban air pollution. So his recent article in EPA Journal, the ecologist Kenneth Watt. Also in in 1979, when the prospect of pollution-control approach that attendance were several rock bands and organizing a national 10th-anniversary governments have been using hasn't other performers, including the entire Earth Day was suggested to me, I said I worked. We have failed to improve the Broadway cast of Hair. didn't think the need existed the way it environment in a really significant way The strategy worked. The did in 1970. Laws had been passed, with the black boxes we have attached Philadelphia Earth Week program state, local, and federal environmental to wastestreams that still end up became a major subject in the national agencies were hard at work on the depositing pollutants from our oceans, media. It was featured twice on the problems, and hundreds of new rivers, air, and land. Only pollution Today Show, for a full hour live on environmental organizations had been prevention seems to have worked. Only PBS, and in the CBS Special Report that formed. Finally, I said I just wasn't when we have removed pollutants in aired at 7 p.m. on April 22. The CBS interested in putting together what the production process have we crew arrived two weeks early, and when would amount to a birthday party for succeeded in dramatically improving host Walter Cronkite opened the Earth Day. the environment: The cessation of program, he was sitting in front of a By the summer of 1988, things had atmospheric testing of nuclear warheads blow-up of our logo. One-quarter of that changed. Every day, headlines seemed reduced traces of strontium 90 in one-hour news special was devoted to to bring news of a new environmental human tissue by over 90 percent; taking the Philadelphia program. catastrophe: Holes in the earth's the lead out of gasoline has had similar The new environmentalism also protective ozone layer were confirmed dramatic success. Dr. Commoner put it worked for other organizers in Berkeley, by scientists; experts spoke of global humorously-but perfectly-during the New York, Washington, Boston, warming from the Greenhouse Effect; address he gave at the recent Chapel Madison, Wisconsin, and thousands of and there was the news of medical Hill SEAC conference: "The first rule other American cities and towns. On waste washing up on east-coast beaches. about pollution is this: if you don't let hearing of the Earth Day idea, civic Other evidence of ocean pollution the pollutant into tlie environment. it groups, college and high school damage continued to mount, including isn't there." students, garden clubs, and others began the widely reported incident of dead Getting governments to acknowledge organizing their own spontaneous seals washing up on North Sea beaches. the importance of pollution prevention events, each marked by a local vision Each day brought fresh news of species is a major goal of Earth Day 20 and about the environment. Earth Day was extinction, defores ta ti on, toxic-waste Earth Week 1990. On April 18, 1989, spontaneously organized and pluralistic, contamination of food and water just before last year's Earth Day. the and it was apparently the largest public supplies, and other insults to the Earth Day 20 Foundation delivered demonstration in U.S. history, involving environment. It was becoming clear that letters to President Bush, USSR Premier an estimated 20 million people. despite a 20-year effort to improve it, Gorbachev, China Premier Li Peng, and Earth Week und Earth Day's the global environment was UN Secretary General De Cuellar. The implications were not missed by deteriorating at an accelerating pace. letter, signed by Gaylord Nelson, Barry national policy-makers. And for a while So the summer of '88 was a kind of Commoner, Elliot Richardson, John during the 1970s, it appeared as though last straw for a lot of people, including O'Connor (National Toxics Campaign), me. As a result. when I was asked to Gene Karpinski (U.S. Public Interest organize an international 20th Earth Day Research Group), Peter Bahouth (Greenpeace). Cordelia Biddle, and me,

28 EPA JOURNAL called on the leaders of the superpowers become the issue of the hamburger and events in combination with the to convene an environmental summit Budweiser crowd, not just the issue of thousands of local Earth Day under the auspices of the UN and the Brie and Chablis crowd." We need observations will attract millions of immediately begin the process of to move environmentalism an order of viewers and participants. implementing a five-point magnitude beyond where it has ever • Grassroots community organizations, pollution-prevention program: been. led by National Toxics Campaign chapters in 1,000 communities will join • A total ban on the production and use with college, high school, and of chlorofluorocarbons and other chemicals that destroy the ozone layer In some ways, we are already elementary school students and their and the establishment of a program to as advanced in our planning faculties and get involved in use safe alternatives. community-focused programs and as we were a few weeks events that will reinforce the messages • Introduction of energy-conserving before the first Earth Day, and broadcast on the national media. The power systems, such as cogenerators, there are still a couple of centerpiece of the local programs will fuel-efficient vehicles, and others as months to go. be the "Good Neighbor" agreement well as the use of solar-energy sources program, in which private and public in order to reduce carbon dioxide entities will be encouraged to sign emissions-the chief cause of global agreements to reduce toxic-waste warming. As we began planning our 1990 production. In addition, local program, the basic strategy we used • Progressive reduction in the excessive newspaper-sponsored high-school essay during the first Earth Week seemed to contests as well as elementary school use of pesticides, which are responsible make sense as much as ever. In other for serious health hazards, by poster and letter-writing contests will be words, first create Earth \i\leek 1990 held; Girl Scout, and Boy and Cub introducing integrated, biology-based events so riveting that the newsstands pest management systems and other Scout Earth Day merit badges will be and airwaves become saturated with the awarded. non-chemical techniques. message of pollution prevention and • Steps to eliminate toxic chlorinated multilateral cooperation to reverse the In some ways, we are already as chemicals-which are responsible for environmental deterioration of the advanced in our planning as vve were a serious environmental hazards (for planet. Second, provide opportunities few weeks before the first Earth Day. example, a phaseout of the use of for ordinary people not merely to hear and there are still a couple of months to chlorine in. paper production). the messages and witness the events go. The national media-the major electronically, but also to participate magazines as well as the TV and radio • A global ban on production processes directly in their communities. networks-have already devoted an that threaten the extinction of species. This mass media/grassroots dual unprecedented amount of coverage to environmental issues; political leaders To address these environmental issues approach is the essence of the Earth Day here and abroad are vying with each effectively, national and bilateral 20/Earth Week 1990 program: other for the "Who's the greenest public strategies will not be enough. Nothing figure?" award; our mailbox bulges and will work short of unprecedented • An Earth Week Expo at the Columbia the phones ring off the hook every time multilateral treaties and accords in River Gorge will provide a full week of there is a new article about Earth Week which the rich nations of the Northern visually exciting exhibits, addresses by or Earth Day. Hemisphere and the poor nations of the major political and environmental It would be nice to think that this Southern Hemisphere agree to prevent leaders, and appearances by scores of attention is somehow the result of the environmental degradation and reverse international celebrities, musicians, and work of the various national Earth Day the deterioration that has already performers. Many communities will organizations, including ours. but I occurred. hold their own local expos and use think it is not. Instead, it is obvious that Something else has gone wrong over satellite dishes at local shopping centers this is finally an idea-this idea of the last 20 years. In spite of the or theaters to receive daily broadcasts of survival-whose time has come. o achievements and numbers of the the addresses and performances from environmental movement (some the Columbia Gorge site. Editor's note: Readers who wish to estimates are that 10 million Americans obtain more information on Earth Day belong to some kind of environmental The national media are also expected to broadcast news of the Mount Everest 20/Earth Week 1990 activities should group). environmental contact: organizations-without meaning to do Earth Day 20 International Peace Climb, so-have become primarily a group of in which American, Soviet, and Chinese Earth Day 20 elites; ordinary people tend to remain climbers will rope together and attempt 10020 Main Street on the sidelines. "Environmentalism," to reach the summit of Everest on Earth Suite A-1990 as John O'Connor of the National Toxics Day as a metaphor of international Bellevue, Washington 98004 Campaign likes to put it, "needs to cooperation to ensure survival. These (206) 462-1990.

JANUARY/FEBRUARY 1990 29 messages. There will be environmental The Stars Take on the themes on "ALF," "Baywatch," ''LA Law," "My Two Dads," and other shows. Environmental Crisis Turner Broadcasting System, long heavily into environmental by Roy Popkin programming-owner Ted Turner in 1985 co-founded the Better World Society to produce documentaries and air a \'\'eekly documentary, "Earthbeat"-is working on an animated cartoon series named "Captain Planet." performers may be expected to appear at purred by growing concerns about Puppeteer Jim Henson is working on a global environmental problems, the various Earth Day functions around the S children's series about nature entitled entertainment industry is in the midst country. "W.l.L.D.," and the Children's Two Hollywood groups, the of a massive consciousness-raising effort Television Workshop, already doing on a variety of environmental issues.. Environmental Media Association and special educational material on natural The environment is not the first social the Earth Communications Office, are disasters, is also working on spearheading the entertainment issue to be adopted by show business, environmental programming. Olivia industry's approach to creating national but it may well be the catalyst for the Newton-John is doing a special called most far-reaching public interest and international environmental "A Very Green Environment." Musical awareness. campaign yet launched by the industry. stars like Streisand, Quincy Jones, In general, their goal is to create a Show business has had a long history Belinda Carlisle, and Newton-John are steady stream of environmental of involvement in public affairs, dating having environmental messages printed messages written into plot lines of back to World Wars I and II, when on their records, tapes. and compact regular programs and motion pictures, Hollywood actively promoted discs. home-front activities. More recently, entertainment specials, and other outlets The Environmental Media especially since the advent of television. Association-described by the New the industry has fought illiteracy and York Times as the brainchild of Norman drunk driving and taken on other social The communications industry Lear and his wife, Lyn-vvas formed in causes. TV images have aroused is in a unique position in its June 1989 by a group of industry leaders widespread concern for the starving in ability to reach millions of to complement the \·vork of Africa, called attention to the homeless people around the world .... environmental groups by encouraging and hungry here at home, and helped the creative community to incorporate the Red Cross raise $100 million for aid environmental themes into its projects. to the victims of Hurricane Hugo and Its Board of Directors includes top the California earthquake. The such as special events and new music and songs. These messages are intended executives of major studios and other entertainment business has a proud parts of the industry. According to its record of supporting civil liberties. to complement ongoing public service announcements, occasional news President. Andy Spahn. the organization Until recently. entertainment industry "hopes to generate a climate of concern environmentalism was associated specials, and science programs on cable or public television. Stars and other about our environment and give creative largely with a small group of stars such expression to the vision of a healthy as Robert Redford, Paul Newman, industry leaders are also being asked to take the kinds of environmental future for the planet." Joanne Woodward, Meryl Streep, and The aim of the Environmental Media Judy Coll ins, the Ted Turner leadership roles that Redford and Streep have assumed in recent years. Association, says Spahn. "is to do for broadcasting interests, and occasional the environment what the Entertainment news or educational TV specials. But The EPA Office of Communications Industries Council did for seatbelts and now Hollywood has gone green in a big and Public Affairs has staff assigned to what the Harvard Alcohol Project is way. Says Andy Spahn, president of one act as liaison to producers and writers doing for designated drivers. Roseanne of the two major Hollywood working on scripts or treatments who arguing with her family about the organizations focusing on environmental need quick information about importance of recycling or the issues: "We're in it for as Jong as it 1:mvironmental problems related to the characters on 'thirtysomething' takes. They tell us we may have as little plot lines they are developing. discussing cloth versus disposable as 1 O to 12 years to correct or reverse The burgeoning interest in diapers can have a tremendous impact. some of the most serious threats. You environmental concerns is already Hearing their favorite characters discuss might say that length of time is our reflected on the air and in current environmental issues and watching their minimum commitment." production plans. For example, a recent favorite shows grapple v\•ith One indication of this commitment is episode of "Murphy Brov•m" was environmental themes can encourage a two-hour ABC-TV Earth Day special to devoted to recycling. From September to individuals to think about changing be aired on the evening of April 22. December of last year, CBS ran their lifestyles and becoming actively starring Barbra Streisand, Kevin Costner, one-minute "Earthquest" reports during involved in environmental issues." Bette Midler. Robin V\lilliams, Michael prime time. "Thirtysomething" is The association plays a coordination Keaton. and others. Still other planning to deal with environmental role-networking and outreach-by problems on several programs. Several contacting hundreds of writers, (Popkin is a writer/editor in EPA's episodes of the ABC series "Head of the producers, and others who may be Office of Communications and Public Class" will have environmental interested in anything from endangered Affairs.)

30 EPA JOURNAL of people around the world with environmental messages conveyed through TV . film, and radio. they point out. The Earth Communications Office is an industry-wide grassroots. non-partisan organization. Its core is a Board of Directors made up of about 100 creative and concerned leaders from film , music, radio. art, literature. T\. and advertising. Says Reiss. " Th e ~ · are people of conviction who understand that our planet is critically threatened and that our industr\' can effecti,·eh· educate people and get them to - reexamine their values." The organization's advisory board represents a broad spectrum of Hollywood and the rest of the entertainment world are taking a stance on environmental leadership from the behalf of the env ironment. United ations, major em·ironmental organizations. and national. state. and local governments: the board is chaired species to air. water. and land pollution. of the National Academv of Television by Dr. Thomas Lo\ ejoy, Assistant For instance, environmental experts Arts and Sciences has formed a nevv Secretarv for External Affairs at the have been brought to meet creative committee to serve as liaison with the Smithso;1ia n Institution. The Earth staffs at major motion picture and TV Environmental Media Association. The Communications Offi ce's hundreds of studios to give writers a sense of the Earth Communica tions Office is starting members channel their efforts through environmental crisis and to help offices in Australia, West Germany. committees dealing with research and generate ideas for environmenta ll y Brazil. and the USSR. hoping to education. c hildren's outreach, music organize media people in industrial conscious characters or dialogu that and radio. literarv and fine arts. ernnts could be written into plot lines. cou ntries around the world. and fund raising. -fi lm and tele\'ision. a The Earth Communications Office was The Environmental Media Association newsletter. and industrv action. The fo unded by Bonnie Reiss. who gave up has also sponsored a variety of forums group has offices not o11lv in Holly\\'ood her entertainment la\.v practi ce to fo rm and other events where participants but in cw York and Nashville. have included EP!\ 1\ciministrntor the organization after attending a "At the core of our philosophy." says three-day global warming conference. Wi lliam K. Reillv. U.S. Senators Al Bonnie Re iss. "is the understnnding that Gore, Tim v\lirth-. and Alan Cranston. The conference. she says. "transfor med we in the communications indust ry Dr. Mi cha el Oppenheimer. expert on my perception of the world in \\'h ich we must examine and cha nge our O\\'ll live. I learned that we have an estimated global warming and senior scientist lifestvles before we have um· real 10 years to change our present course with the Environmental Defense Fund. credibility in asking others to do the Dr. J\mory Lovins, co-founder of the toward the irre\'ersible destruction of same. Th ~ Earth Communic:ntions Offi ce our environment and its abil ity to Rocky Mountain Insti tute. Or. Noel is fo cusing initially on rec\'C: ling and Brown of the l nited Nations support life. Th is shocking information energy conservation . in which led me to gi\·e up my entertainment law Environme11t Programme. leaders of the quantifiable progress can be nwasurncl. 10 leading natio11al environmental practice to form the Earth We are proud that in just I 0 month s all organizations, and the international Communicati ons Office. u non-profit those involved in the Ec1rth representutivcs of the World orga nizati on ded icated to getting out Communications Office an! rnc\'l:l ing. environmental messages through the Commission on Environment und reducing energy cons um pt io n. ;rnd mass media. Development. buying en\'ironml!ntall» sound products. "It is evident that the crisis at h;rnd This coming spring. the ussociation We hope the industry c:an get 111illions demands world attention. and action will co-sponsor a day-long symposium more Americans doing the sa llll!. th us [must bej be gnlvanized. Scir.ntific on the environment wi th the Academy benefitt ing the en\'iro11m e11 t and of Telev ision Arts and Scie11ces. The studies and politica l action are creating a nationwide atmosplwrn of group is also creat ing an en\'iro11mental obviously necessary to the environmentnl concern and il\\'ilrmrnss." resource librarv for the creative environ~ental movement. but cducntion Bot h organiznt ions report ;1 community and w ill give annual on a grand scule is just as crucial . tremendous industry responso . .Spahn Environmental Medii.l t\\\'i.l rds honoring Whatever the issue- globul \\'arming. notes that when environmentalists sec exemplan· television and film deforestation around the world. their fa\'orite fi lm and television productions that deal res ponsibly und poisoning of our water. a id rain. waste chnracters involved in carpooling, effectivcl v with environmental themes. disposal, off- shore drilling. recycling. re ducing their use of Recogn.izing that preser\'ation of the overpopulation- people must learn that chlorofluorocarbons a nd reliance on environment is a global problem. both they can make a significant difference as fossil fuels. and. in some instances. the Environmental Med ia r\ssociation individuals," savs Reiss. warring against pol luters. thev will and the Earth Communicatio ns Offi ce This is where. Holl\'wood comes in. know that the entertainment industry is Re iss and Spahn beli.e \'e. The are encouraging the film and televis ion righ t there with them. o industries in other countries to emulCJte communica tions inclustn· is in u unique their efforts. The [11ternational Council position in its alii litv to reach mi llions

JANUARY FEBR UARY 1990 31 The Changi11g Agenda: Re-Inventing the Refrigerator by John S. Hoffman and Robert Kwartin

home in Anytown, USA. The To meet these challenges, EPA has The first jolt came in the 1970s, when A refrigerator is an unremarkable formed a partnership with the U.S. energy prices soared in response to the appliance in an American household: refrigerator industry and other fe deral Arab oil embargo. To help the nation quiet, reliable, camouflaged in its agencies to massively increase use energy wisely. the federal exterior of white or burnt-almond. investment in refrigerator research and government mandated that refrigerators Virtually every household in the United development. In an offshoot of this (which u se 19 percent of the electricity States has one. Once it's plugged in, its program, EPA is working ·wi th the consumed in the average household) owner barely spares the machine a Chinese refrigerator industry to involve carry labels to inform potential buyers thought. Who thinks about the careful the Chinese in the research program so about energy consumption a nd engineering that makes the modern that they will be able to successfully operating costs. Con sumers were eager refrigerator so easy to take for granted? adopt the progressive technology of the to avoid high electricity bills, and Now change the scene to a small town 1990s. m anufacturers responded by improving in Guangdong Province in s1Jutheastern energy efficiency by 44 percent between Ch ina. H re the arrival of a refrigerator CFCs and the Refrigerator Industry 1972 and 1987. is an event worthy of celebration. It Before the 1930s, household Energy prices declined in the early means fewer trips to the market and less refrigeration was either cumbersome 1980s. but new concerns kept public spa ilage of the leftovers from a major (during ice deliveries). somewhat attention focused on the refrigerator. Jn holiday feast. /\nd it symbolizes the 1974, two scientists-F. Sherwood dangerous (where potenti all y hazardous wealth and status of a fami ly that has Rowland and Mario Molina- proposed refrigerants such as s ulfur dioxide (S0 ) made its way in the new economy of 2 that CFCs were destroying a n important or methyl chloride were used), or China. hina produced 32.000 constituent of the Earth's atmosphere, non-existent. The invention of refrigerators in 1979; in 198 7 it stratospheric ozone, which screens out chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs) was the produced over 4 million , and technical breakthrough that helped certain kinds of harmful ultraviolet (UV) production continues to grow. There are radiation from the sun. Enough UV make household refrigeration possible still several hundred million households radiation passes through even a normal on a wide scale. in China that don't have a refrigerator. CFCs are a group of non-toxic and ozone layer to induce millions of cases Yet. of skin cancers and cataracts. If the non-flammable chemicals. one of which , But neither complacency nor CFC-12, has thermodynamic properti es amount of ozone in the stratosphere celebration will greet the arri val of a were appreciably reduced, they that closely match the requirements of refrigerator in the 1990s, in China or the household refrigerators. Another CFC, proposed, dire consequences might United States. In the past few years the CFC-11 , is an excellent agent for fo llow: m illions of additional skin box in th kitchen corner has been producing insulating foam for the cancers and cataracts. damage to crops implicated in two potential refrigerator's shell; CFC-11 foam is a and ecosystems, and possibly environmental catastrophes: suppression of the huma n immune much better insulator than the fiberglass stratospheric ozone depletion and global system. and mineral wool insulation previously climate change. Rowland and Molina's predictions used . With better insulation, less heat The refrigerator will have to be invades the refrigerator, yielding better eventually proved accurate. By 1987, re-invented within five years. The new e nergy efficiency. CFCs had reduced the ozone over the refrigerat r will have to maintnin the Northern Hemisphere by 2 to 4 percent quality that American consumers have The Refrigerator Takes Two Turns for and torn a gaping hole in the zone come to expect, at the low price that the Worse layer over Antarctica. Chinese consumers can afford. However, before this depletion was As refrigerators changed from a revealed through monitoring data. the household luxury to an everyday United States. under the leadership of appliance. their use boomed. And as the fo rmer EPA Administrator Lee Thomas, technology matured, reliability and had proposed a phaseout of Cl-Cs. Thus, convenience increased w ith no as evid ence of ozone depletion and its appreciable increase in price. But new concerns forced refrigerator manufacturers, governments, and (Hoffman is th e Director of EPA 's consumers to take a new look at the Global Change Division. and Kwartin is refrigerator. on Environmental Protection Specialist in the division.)

32 EPA JOURNAL Chinese villagers. like the rest of us. want modern refrigerators. The crallenge s to develop a product that will sat sfy de'l ands without damaging the cnv ronrnent.

expected consequences accumulated, it was possible to replace \vords with strong acti on. In September 1987. a landmark treaty was signed in Montreal (the Montreal Protocol) that bou nd it s members to reduce their prod ucti on and consumption of CFCs by 50 percent by 1998. The United States and everv other industrial coun try joined the Protocol, w hich is being renegotiated to man date a complete phaseout of CFCs by 2000. A second global environ mental threat- climate change-poses an even greater chall enge fo r household refrigeration. A variety of gases in the atmosphere- such as carbon dioxide (C02 ) and water vapor-are tra nsparent to the visible ligh t energy that reaches the atmosphere from the Sun but are partly opaque to the infra red energy reradiated by the Earth. Th is phenomenon traps heat in the Copynght Audrey Topp ing Photo Researchers photo atmosphere (l ike the glass in a greenhouse), causing the Earth's surfa ce By 1988, several states and the fe deral are so 'Nell-established, basic refri gerator to warm. government had set minim um research and development have been Greenhouse gas emissions have been energy-effi ciency standards for thin in the United States over the past increasing since the Industria l refrigerators (and for several other decade. Marketing has been dorni nat ncl Revolution and threa ten to substantially categories of household appliances). either by the sales-floor price or by warm the planet to poten tially These standards w ill be revised before attractive new fea tures, not by energy dangerous levels. Tvvo greenhouse gases 1998. With increasing concerns about effi ciency or new refrigerator cycles. are closely connected to refrigerator use: the greenhouse effect, energy-effi ci ency Consumers have come to expect an C0 2 (which pO\.\'erplants rel ease w hen goals w ill inevitabl y become more and appliance that they could ignore for its foss il fu e ls are burned to generate more stringent. Now is the ti me to start 15-year lifetime. electricity), and, yet again, CFCs. Pound research and development of EPA recogni zed tho industry's llel ! d for pound, CFCs are thousands of times super-efficient refrigerators. and also saw an op portunity to prevent as potent as C02 in ca using greenhouse Furthermore, given the enormous vast quantities of pollution: This warming. gro wth expected in the refrigerator once-in-a-genera l ion re-i 11 \'t!Jlt io n of a Although energy prices are low at the markets of developing countries such as ubiquitous technolog • could reduce the moment. we must focus public attenti on China, it is criti cal that new Greenhouse Effect expected over tlw now on the energy efficiellcy of technologies be transferred to them as next 100 years by almost 2 porce 11 t. (13y refrigerators. lf future refrigerators use expeditiously as possibl e. comparison, increasing the fue l electricity more effi ciently, the n fu ture efficiency of new cars in the United powerplants will have to bu rn less fuel The Research Challenge States fr om 27 lo 40 mi les per gallon by and will release small er volumes of Refri ge rator manufa cturers now face two the year 2000 and increasing tlw flll) I greenhouse gases. But it wi ll take fiv e to formidable challenges: They w ill have efficiency of cars worl dwiue to 50 mil es eight years to reinvent a refr igerator that to com pletely eliminate the use of CFCs per gallon by 2050 would red uce uses much less energy than existi ng by the year 2000, and they must Greenhouse warming by about 7 perce11t mode ls. Fortu natel y, the process has upgrade the energy effi ciency of their over the next century.) begu n. products. Research and retooling ti me is Some manufa cturers wanted to use an short. Because CFC-based technologies

JANUARY 1FEBRUARY 1990 33 alternative to CFC-12 known as would improve refrigerator energy new ideas given a chance in the HFC-134a, which would have led to a efficiency by up to 10 percent, which laboratory. Among the ideas being Joss in energy efficiency. EPA and other would make it an attractive near-term tested: manufacturers saw things differently; option in the transition away from • "Non-azeotropic" refrigerant together we recognized that a more CFC-12. Since the amount of refrigerant mixtures: Today's refrigerators all use a deliberate investigation of many used in refrigerators is very small (only single refrigerant, CFC-12, which boils 4 to 8 ounces), it is possible that the alternative chemicals and system at exactly -30 degrees Celsius. (The flammability of HFC-152a can be safely designs could produce a refrigerator boiling point of water, by comparison, is with far superior energy efficiency. managed. 100 °C.) Consensus on the best replacement The consortium has organized Most early discussions of replacing chemicals has not yet been forged, but a manufacturers, Underwriters Laboratory, CFC-12 focused on finding a single framework for research and cooperation EPA, U.S. government safety agencies, "drop-in" replacement. However, certain is in place. Recently, the Association of and consumer groups to investigate the mixtures (termed non-azeotropic Home Appliance Manufacturers, EPA, feasibility of using HFC-152a in mixtures) of non-CFC refrigerants boil and the Department of Energy organized household refrigerators. If HFC-152a over a range of temperatures. This an industry-wide research consortium to turns out to be a viable refrigerant, the property provides a number of undertake joint research on alternative investment of consortium resources thermodynamic advantages in designing refrigerants and foaming agents. By could have outstanding rewards. If 100 a refrigeration system. coordinating research among refrigerator million U.S .. refrigerators cut their companies and government agencies, electricity use by 10 percent, 10 billion • The Lorenz cycle: The modern the consortium eliminates wasteful kilowatt-hours would be saved every refrigerator/freezer has its evaporator in duplication of effort and ensures that year. This would put $700 million back the freezer where a fan blows air over it. research results are disseminated into consumers' pocketbooks and (See illustration.) This cools the air rapidly. prevent the emission of 8 million tons below the freezing point of water, which The combined resources of the of C02 and 60,000 tons of S02 • removes moisture from the airstream. consortium allow exploration of ideas EPA and the Department of Energy The cold, dry air circulates through the which no single manufacturer would have also invested millions of dollars in freezer and then into the refrigerator, have considered pursuing alone. For longer-term fundamental research on where it is likely to desiccate the example, the use of HFC-152a, a refrigerants and refrigerating systems. vegetables. refrigerant, has been limited due to These investments are pushing the A better system would use a concerns about its slight flammability. limits of refrigeration science: Old ideas non-azeotropic refrigerant mixture and Recent tests demonstrate that HFC-152a long-buried have been dusted off and have two evaporators (one in the

How Refrigerators Work Simply put, refrigerators soak up refrigerant then passes through the chemicals absorb large amounts of heat from the inside of the box and compressor, \•vhere the cycle heat per unit volume as they pass squeeze it out into the kitchen. begins anew. through an evaporator, while (See illustration.) Starting at the A refrigerator doesn't run others absorb only a little (this is compressor, gaseous refrigerant at continuously, only long enough to the measure of a refrigerant's low pressure is compressed to a remove the heat that entered the capacity). A compressor has to high pressure and passed into a box through the walls and during pump a large volume of heat exchanger outside the door openings. The refrigerator's low-capacity refrigerant through an refrigerator (the condenser). The walls are insulated to slow the evaporator to achieve the same condenser transfers heat from the passage of heat; better insulation cooling effect as pumping a refrigerant to the kitchen, and the means that the compressor runs smaller volume of high-capacity refrigerant changes from a hot less frequently and for shorter refrigerant. Balancing efficiency high-pressure gas to a cooler periods of time, reducing and capacity makes (he job of high-pressure liquid. electricity consumption. selecting refrigerants more The high-pressure liquid Different refrigerants have very difficult. There are also a number refrigerant then passes through a different thermodynamic of safety considerations: even tube into the refrigerator and into properties. The freezer should be though the refrigerant is confined another heat exchanger (the kept around 50 Fahrenheit, so to a sealed system, in ideal evaporator). The refrigerant is ideally, the refrigerant in the circumstances it would be allowed to expand during this leg evaporator should boil at a non-toxic, non-flammable, and of the cycle, so that it absorbs heat temperature somewhat lower than non-corrosive. In reality, from the interior of the box and that to ensure that heat will flo\v non-flammability may not be a boils into a low-pressure gas. (It from the (relatively) \•varm interior crucial attribute; many of us use may seem odd that a boiling fluid of the freezer to the cold gas stoves and aerosol cans that would be cold, but think of how refrigerant. contain much larger volumes of rubbing alcohol feels as it However, only a few chemicals flammable materials that are not evaporates from your skin, and boil within the proper temperature confined. you get the idea.) The gaseous range. Additionally, some

34 EPA JOURNAL refrigerator, one in the freezer). Each under investigation at EPA-supported coal-generated electricity than it needs compartment would be designed to chill facilities: machines with totallv to? Fortunately, the Chinese recognize to the correct temperature. This design, independent refrigerator and f;eezer the consequences and want to explore named after the German scientist who loops; two-loop refrigerators with two alternatives. proposed it in 1975, could reduce compressors and one compressor motor; EPA has opened negotiations with electricity consumption by 20 to 23 and others. several Chinese institutions to explore percent and provide a "vegetab!e­ Theoretical predictions and computer the possibility of integrating the Chinese friendly" refri gerator section. simulations indicate that the next refrigerator indu try into the U.S. • Superinsulation: The foaming agents generation of refrigerators could use less research effort. In 1988. contacts were established with the Beijing Household that have been proposed as than half the energ) that the most energy-efficie nt model sold today uses. Appliance Institute (a quasi­ replacements for CFC-11 are likely to produce a foam with slightly poorer EPA's and industry's research programs governmental body that conducts have identified a number of tantalizing appliance research and sets appliance insulation properties, which will either degrade energy efficiency or require possibilities, but years of research. standards), refrigerator factories, and the thicker refrigerator walls as product testing, and product government ministries responsible for compe nsation. A totally different development are still required to refrigerators and CFC production. And approach, however, may work better: determine which ideas are practical, in October 1989, a U.S. mission to vacuum insulation. and to retool production lines for the China began hammering out the terms new products. of cooperative projects, training Vacuum insulation has insulating missions, and sharing of research properties far superior to foam (even What Will China Do? CFC-11 foam) , but manufacturers have results. It not yet perfected a technique for making And what about the Chinese'? The appears likely that the Chinese will vacuum panels that will last for 30 Chinese have not yet signed the contribute greatly to the process of inventing a better refrigerator: already, years. One European manufacturer has Montreal Protocol, believing themselves been producing a commercially too poor to afford major investments in Wanbao Company is testing refrigerators with HFC-152a. And the Beijing available vacuum insulation that, if research or alternative technologies. Household Appliance lnstitute has adapted to refrigerators, could reduce Many Chinese refrigerators are buil t electricity consumption by as much as with older technology. As a result, these indicated a desire to take the lead in investigating options like the Lorenz 30 to 40 percent. refrigerators ha\'e low energy efficiency. What will happen if every household in cycle. Since Chinese refrigerators • Advanced design concepts: There are usually have the l\>vo evaporators China buys a CFC-filled refrigerator that many other possible design technologies uses two or three times more characteristic of the Lorenz cycle (but not some other design requirements), they may be eas:-· to adapt. Refrigerator Design Options Conclusion Current Design Dual-Loop Two Compressor Design Stratospheri c ozone depletion and the greenhouse effect are dangerous environmental problems, but solving Evaporator them does not have to bleed U. S. industry and consumers of billions of Freezer dollars. Jn fact. through judicious use of government and private research funds, it is likely that the consumer \Nill be Air Slot able to buy a refrigerator (perhaps as early as 1995) that is ozone-safe. extraordinarilv effi cient, a nd does not dry out vege t ~b l es. The nation will benefit from lower electricity bills, and Refrigerator Refrigerator the refrigerator industry w ill improve .its competitive position in the world economy. And by pur uing a cooperative spirit Q) (i; U) Cf) with China during this difficult c c Q) Q) transition, the groundwork has been laid "D - "D c c for hundreds of millions of Chinese 0 0 u u families to participate in a better way of life at a lower cost to themselves and with a much smaller impact on the environment. In Chinese, the character Compressor Compressors for "crisis" also implies ''opportunity." So it does in English too. o Motor Motor

JANUARY/FEBRUARY 1990 35 .J a11g111g Age11da:

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Preventing Industry Waste

by Joel S. Hirschhorn

ollution prevent ion offers indu.s try Pollution preventi on can help meet Stage One: Using Attention and Pan enormous opportu111ty, but its public demand for sol utions to urgent Common Sense to Get Fast Results exact costs, benefits, and risks cannot be and terribly complex problems, such as Common-sense waste reduction means full y identifi ed or quantified. The dealing with global warming and safely that people exploit readily visibl e, general propositi on is this: By practi cing managing toxic and solid waste. This is easily implemented, low-cost, and pollution prevention, industry can why so many environmental activists low-risk opportunities. Neither obtnin improved environmentnl advocate pollution prevention as a technology nor capital stands in the protection and increased industrinl solution in cont rast to so much they way. Studies, engineering analyses, and criticize. effi ciency, profitability, and testing are unnecessary. It is possible, competitiveness. But praising something Pollution prevention also makes sense with pollution prevention in mind, lo is not the same as doing il. in economic terms. The costs to walk through industrial operations and Preventing pollution al its source, government and industry of devising, spot opportunities for waste reduction through changes in munufoctming enforcing, and complying with that can be implemented in days or processes or product design , is an ideal. pollution-control regu lations have weeks. Actions generally involve Al issue is not the ideal, but its become onerous, both nationally and on changi ng procedures-not core practical it y, the scope of its appli cati on, a company- by-company basis. Pol lution production technology, major and the pace of its implementation. prevention offers more environmental equipment, or products. There ure numerous examples of protection per dollar spent instead of For example, industry people have successful waste-reduction in itiatives less and less- as seems to be the trend described many such cases of waste and a smnttering of impressive data, now. To paraphrase Ben Franklin, a minimization: reducing wastewater fr om usuallv on n wastestream or plnnt bas is. pound of cure costs a lot more than an cleaning operations invol vi ng toxic 13ut no comprehensive company, ounce of prevention. chemicals, covering vessels containing industrv, or national data demonstrate But the vision of universally used volatile chemicals, improving inventory broad :-i~1 ccess at cutting ind ustrial- wasle clean technology and commonplace, controls to eliminate outdated chem ica ls generution. In deed, enormous amounts environmental ly benign. low-waste that become hazardous waste, reusing of v1•astes, pollutants, and discharges products is not easily realized. Everyone off-specificati on products, and replacing continue to be generated. needs a deeper understanding of the water or solvent cleaning of equipment It is not a matt er of choosing between technical mea ns of pollution prevention with other methods. Dow Chemical and the human, orga nizational. and the tradi tional end-of-pipe or saves $20.000 a vear because the pollution-c:o nt ro l approach and social obstacles to it. A national company rep l ac~d a clumsy bucket wit h pollution preventi on. Preventing commitment lo pollution prevention a precisely measured bottle to sample pollution is like preventing disease by will restyle our industrial economy. the chemical stream of an herbicide changing eating habits and lifestyle; Practicing pollution prevention w ill plant; this simple change cut way down pollution cont ro l is li ke using medicin e mean more than changing the on waste generated fr om the sampling and surgmy to minimize ill effects. 1echriological personality of the United process. Moreover, pollution control has often States. Just as mu ch as engineering The key to common-sense waste simply shifted pol lu tion around. t\ir im provement. it will also mean cultu ra l reduction is getting people to pay and water pollutio n-con trol equipment 1md social changes affecting everyo ne's attention to reducing waste where ii is extracts harmf u I substances and daily living. first generated. Therefore, the chal lenge . ge1wrotcs enormous amounts of solid, Let me define four technical stages of to managers is to bring waste reducti on hazardous waste for landfills, oft en waste reduction: common-sense actions; to the attention of literally everyone, resulting in gro und-water information-dependent acti ons; educate people about the benefits contalllination. l{egu l<1 lory loopholes. analysis-driven decisions; and progress involved, provide rewards for successful rcgulato1·y 11011 compl iancc. the difficulty that requires research and development efforts, and provide simple informati on of responding lo n1:wly identified (R&D). Pollution prevention ge ts about the successes ach ieved elsewhere. environmental µrobl ems, threats fr om increasingly diffi cult, costly, and risky One problem is that many people in very small residual levels of µollution. as companies move from the simplest industry see no difference between an nnd conlinui11 g global popul ati on kinds of waste reduction to the most end-of-pipe, pollution-control approach grm·vlh and industrialization: t\ll these difficult. However, my reseurch tells me and a fro nt-end, pollution-prevention provide even more reason lo pursue that with successful R&D, about 75 solution. For instance, incinerating po!lution p1·evl:11\ io11. percent of all current wastes. discharges, hazardous waste and sending wastes and emissions can be eliminated within off-si le fo r recycling are often believed (1 lirsc:hhon1 is o Senior Associo! P. ot the 10 to 20 years, al though this \•vill vary to offer the same benefits as true C:on~n:ssiono / OJJice of Technology greatl y across industries, plants, and preventive acti ons. But they do not, J\ sscssnwrit. ll'here he hos exorninecl specifi c wastestreams. And stressing 11·os tc reduction fo r JO ycms: the vir.1vs pollu tion prevention can keep industrial expressed here ure his and not and population growth from crea ting 11 ccessc1rill' th ose of tlrn Office of large amounts of new poll ut ion. Tnc:/rno/ogy t\ssessme11t .) 3 EPA JOURNAL 0 0 .c: "­ ~ 0 a;~ -!<"' ~ A national commitment to pollution prevention will restyle our industrial economy.

because the re are always ri s ks whe n sophisticated . However, as w ith stage ty pically are better able to handle this waste is handled and processed. one, in stage tv.ro there are no major second stage than small- and Corporate and government policy technological obstacles or m ajor capital m edium-size firms, which m ay find it statements on the importa nce of waste investments, and quantum reductions in difficult to devote people and m oney to reduction can e ffecti vely focus people's waste gene ration are possible. The this kind of effort. Even in some large attention on waste reduction. S logans , problem lies in discovering exactly companies. ma intaining in tere t in cam paigns, speeches, buttons. and a ll where to use technology a nd deciding waste red uction m ay be h ampered the othe r paraphernalia of motivating what techno logy to use. becau se costs of w aste management and and selling ideas to people are critical. A full range of information is n eeded pollution control may eem relative ly People w ho have never considered on all wastes (e.g., on their quant ity , low. For example, automobile , waste generation their responsibiJ ity­ chemical composition , hazards and aerospace, a nd electronics compa 11 ies which is most people- need liabilities, regulatory status, and the have intrinsicall y low er e11v ironmental to understand that waste is relationship between generation and costs than chemical compan ies. not something that someone else, production levels] . Information on The role of govern ment becomes more such as env ironmenta l engi11 eers or w aste-reduction techniques from mnny eviden t at this po int. Govern ment waste ha ulers, w ill ta ke care of. Moving externa l sources is a lso need ed. such as agencies can distribute information from the e nd-of-the-pipe mentality to information about new ra w materials or abo ut successful wa ·t e-reduction po llution pre vention w ill mea n making manufacturing techniques CJvailable techniques in mnny differen t industries; waste reduction a n intrins ic pa rt of from vendors. Mo re and more people state agencies can provide on-site everyone's everyday thinking and nre discovering that they can re place technical ass istance, wh ic h has been responsibillty, much as p reventive traditiona l c hemical solvents w ith water shown to be very effecti ve and low-cost. health cn re is nn individual or biological solvents . Some go vernmen t requirements for responsibility. Although costs and benefits a re information on waste generation , as self-evident or easil y cal culated at this under the Resource Co nservation and Stage Two: Obtaining Information on second stage, companies must build a Recovery Act, he lp d ri ve companies to Wastes and Reduction Techniques framew ork for im ple me nting w aste obta in detailed inforrnntion on waste The da nger is that people and reduction, inc luding getting and generation. Information required of companies may no t m ove beyond the distributing info rmatio n a nd measuring companies fo r the Toxic Helease first stage of wnste reduction. To make progress. Ge tting deta il ed informati o n In ventory, under T itle Ill of the further progress, it is necessary to have on waste-generation and reduction Superfund 1\mendrnents and det::i ile d informa ti on to assess techniques can cost millions of dollars Renuthorization Act, provid es a strong opportunities that a re more subtle and for large fa c ilities. Large companies incentive to focus attention on ·waste

JAN UARY FE BRUAR Y 1990 37 reduction. Many such requirements do Without formal analyses, people may pressure on companies to maintain their not apply to small businesses. incorrectly conclude that they have commitment to waste reduction. Special Stage Three: Overcoming Concerns exhausted their waste-reduction economic incentives such as tax breaks, About Investment and Risks Through opportunities or that the costs of for example, may be useful to spur Analyses implementing waste reduction are too capital investment which may seem less high. On the other hand, they may attractive than other uses of capital Passing through the first two stages may pursue projects which are technically, (such as expansion and diversification). take from one to five years for economically, or environmentally Government small business loans for individual plants or companies. The ill-advised. Or they may miss waste reduction could be given special next major obstacle to waste reduction opportunities to reduce non-regulated preference. And much more attention is economic uncertainty associated with wastes or relatively small wastestreams needs to be given to offering flexibility substantial changes in technology and which nevertheless pose substantial in compliance with current regulations, equipment. For such changes may costs and liabilities. so that companies can channel their involve core process technologies and Experience has shown that an capital investment into pollution require an interruption in production. important obstacle to success is the prevention instead of more At this stage, greater involvement of "feeling" of many engineers that they pollution-control facilities. senior production people probably is have already optimized their processes necessary. The environmental impacts and products. Formal analyses can Stage Four: R&D Creates New of changes made for waste-reduction overcome such unintended prejudices Technology and Products purposes have to be analyzed. Major against change. Eventually. for both process and capital investment becomes necessary, Finally, a continuing problem, even product changes, new technical and risk increases. lnvestment payback when formal analyses are done, is that solutions must be sought through R&D. periods become longer, and capital many economic benefits of Indeed, from the previous stages, many needs compete with more traditional waste-reduction options are not needs will have been identified. uses for capital. Testing and captured because they are difficult to Completely new manufacturing development needs increase. The quantify. Examples include reductions processes and products can be imperative to consider changes in in future liabilities associated with any considered, with waste reduction a products-either to minimize form of hazardous-waste management, primary goal. Designing, making, and manufacturing waste or to reduce spin-off technological innovations and marketing new consumer products pose post-consumer waste generation or businesses, and improvements in the the greatest challenge. toxicity-also increases. In other words, public image of a company which could The idea of gaining competitive waste reduction is no longer simple and reduce public opposition to new advantage through selling products self-evidently feasible or profitable. company activities. which appeal because they offer All of this leads to the need for the Small businesses may find this stage environmental benefits is only now kind of formal analyses which are being particularly difficult because it requires emerging, but it could be the major called waste-reduction audits or much more time and money than the marketing breakthrough of the 1990s. assessments. These analyses must previous two stages and because it is a Products free of toxic chemicals and capture and identify costs, benefits, continuing activity, at least for the next products that generate little household uncertainties, risks, schedules, and decade or two. The use of outside waste could have the same kind of relationships to other company plans consultants becomes increasingly appeal to consumers as foods that help and programs, such as R&D, expansion, necessary. But even large companies prevent disease and products which diversification, and marketing of new may find this stage so burdensome that have higher quality. Conversely, more products. interest in waste reduction may wane. conventional products which contain For example, General Electric Medical At the highest levels of corporate hazardous substances and generate lots Systems replaced a paint-stripping management, there may be less interest of garbage could be increasingly seen as operation using methylene chloride in pursuing uncertain, high-cost being as dangerous as cigarettes and as with sand-blasting and mechanical activities even if they are labeled waste unattractive as defective and short-lived sanding. The company had found that reduction. Seasoned technical products. U.S. manufacturers need to methylene chloride material and professionals and managers may feel see international market opportunities waste-management costs were $2,525 that they have reached the limits of for what are being called safe annually, whereas the sand-blasting improving or fine-tuning processes. substitutes, toxic-free products, and replacement would cost only $2,000, The potential for this stage to become "green" products. offer a 0.8-year payback, and lower the the "wall" that brings an end to a But large-scale product change will company's liability. There are hundreds company's or plant's waste-reduction require major R&D programs by of such examples in the literature on effort means that the role of government manufacturers of consumer products, waste reduction in virtually every becomes more critical here. Government and eventually these efforts will affect industry. policies, national goals, jawboning, and performance requirements can maintain

38 EPA JOURNAL o a '1CW electnca c rcL:1t board p at g syst m t"at recovers v rt al y a I copp f·o'T' nnse watef and process solutions, General Oynarnics' Pomona :J'v sion '10 longer se· ds sludge to landf !Is. nstead, t c byp•oduct, s 1own here, 1s a 30-pound slab of copper to be old as scrap

changes in the style of American industry and consumerism. Nations such as Japan and Switzerland. which generate much less waste than the United States, demonstrate that a high standard of Ii ing is possible without producing so much waste. For years. the American public has expressed idealistic positions in polls, such as a willingness to pay more for more effective environmental protection. Clean and low-waste manufacturing technologies and products require consumer actions in the marketplace. Similarly, American corporate leaders have said that they have a commitment to environmental quality. The degree to which they embrace and implement pollution prevention and gi\-e consumers real a lternatives will test that commitment. producers of primary chemicals and And of course government has This is just the beginning of a social materials which are used bv those sometimes applied the greatest pressure experiment in pollution prevention. manufacturers. For example. Polaroid of all by banning chemicals or products. Public policy and government programs Corporation spent years developing a This is a potent tool to spur research on pollution prevention have barely battery for its film packs which does not and one which may be u ed with more begun. If the technological personality contain toxic metals. In addition to frequency. The rapid apparent success of American industry changes for the helping reduce Polaroid 's own in finding substitutes for CFCs is better and American consumers hazardous waste. this is a real impressive. To spur development of translate their beliefs into actions. then environme ntal benefit for municipal new consumer products, the the per-capita gen eration of hazardous wastestreams. government could help develop special and municipal waste in the United Other industries have also developed labeling to ide ntify environmentally States will decrease demonstrablv, and new industrial processes. Union Carbide ben eficia l products for consumers. This the waste that is generated will be easier found a way to use carbon dioxide to is happening a lready in Canada nnd to manage. replace between 30 and 70 percent of Europe. This is definitely a case '"'here the current orga nic solvents for spraying United States should give up its paints, partic ularly in large industrial Charting the Future number-one position- as the planet 's leading generator of waste. We will have operatio ns; it took four years of research Maximizing polluti on prevention is and millions of dollars for Union collected more than enough data to comparable lo a national commitment to know in five years whether we are Carbide to develop the innovative landing on the moon or limit ing the process. making progress and certainly to know spread of i\JOS and finding a cure fo r it. in 20 years whether we-industry, Clearly, many small. medium, and Serious commit ments of human and large companies w il l face problems in government, and consumers- have fina ncial resources over the long term . m ade a serious commitment to pollution committing resources lo R&D . Some accurate measurement of progress. and industries already have problems with p revention. Success will depend more deve lopment of government policies .on genuine leadership than on low levels of R&D. and others a im R&D and programs to assist nml guide at other objectives that have little to do technology. Leadership is needed now, private-sector acti vities are necessarv. especially to overcome inevitable with concerns about waste or pollution An d as v.'ith other major nntionnl - anxiety and resistance to change as generation. Government could plav a efforts, pollution prevention requires major role a t this stage by funding-R&D p eople correctly sense that there will be understanding and willingness to winners and losers as industrial programs that could benefit large change on the part of rnnnv indiv iduals. segments of industry, by providing processes and products change to For example. engineering education prevent pollution. assistance through lax breaks for could change so thut every engineering Finally, if U.S. industry does not company R&D. and by working with effort automaticall y includes pollution industries to establish R&D priorities to respond qu ickly , then foreign industries prevention as Cl criterion for success. may begin selling clean technologies. benefit all companies within them. Pollution prevention does not and products here, adding another threaten our quality of life or standard dimension lo the competitive threat. o of living, but it docs ul timately require JANUARY FEBR UARY 1990 39 Thinking About Our Environmental Future by Anne and Paul Ehrlich

he 20th anniversary of Earth Day environmental impacts, but these Tfinds us facing a daunting array of impacts differ widely in kind and environmental problems of global degree. Just consider, for instance, the dimensions-problems linked more differing environmental risks of mining. clearly than ever to unchecked human transporting, and using coal. oil and growth. The problems of 1990 are not natural gas, as compared with those only larger in scope and scale than associated with hydroelectric facilities, those we confronted in 1970, but much passive or active solar technologies, or more complex and entangled with our nuclear power. way of life. Moreover, the time and People in industrial nations comprise resources available to deal with them about 20 percent of the global are much scarcer. population but account for about 80 The responsibility of people in rich percent of the world's commercial nations to help developing nations energy use today. By this measure. the grapple with these problems is average American has some 33 times the inescapable. Why? The answer is partly impact on the environment as the because we have the lion's share of average Indian and more than 200 times It seems fortuitous that the resources and partly because much of that of a Tanzanian. the trouble can be laid at our doorstep. Moreover, the environmental far-reaching changes taking This is not to say that people in rich consequences of rich nations' activities place now in the international countries have purposely brought on are global in scope. We obtain resources arena coincide with the 20th planetary degradation. Rather, we have from around the world and emit huge anniversary of Earth Day .... failed to perceive the consequences of amounts of industrial pollutants to the our actions and ignored warnings by atmosphere and oceans. Human those who did. But our purpose here is activities in poor countries usually not to assign blam€, but rather to shed cause only local environmental light on causes and reveal '"'ays to degradation-horrendous though that reduce or prevent impacts. may be for the people affected. Jn short, The environmental damage a society developed nations tend to create global causes can be summed up in a simple environmental problems, whereas the equation: Impact (I) equals the number burgeoning populations in poor of people (P) times per-capita countries mostly impoverish their own affluence, or consumption of resource bases and themselves. resources (A). times the technology (T) Sometimes a technical (T) factor is the used to create each unit of affluence. In principal source of a problem, as in the short, I = PAT. This is an depletion of the stratospheric ozone oversimplification, of course. layer and significant contributions to Nevertheless. it is a useful global warming caused by the approximation. production and release of A rough measure of the chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs). In such environmental impact of each cases, focusing on that technological individual (Ax T) in a society is factor may be the most effective average per-capita commercial energy ·strategy. Indeed, the decision made by use. Energy is closely connected to the United States to stop using CFCs in numerous environmental problems, aerosol cans in 1977 may have delayed from air and water pollution to acid global warming effects by as much as 20 precipitation and global warming. years, according to atmospheric (Anne H. Ehrlich is a senior research While the affluence or consumption scientists. assistant, and Paul R. Ehrlich is Bing (A) factor is a major component of Opportunities to solve environmental Professor of Population Biology in the environmental impacts associated with problems through straightforward Deportment of Biological Sciences at energy, the technology (T) factor is also technological changes are rare, however. Stanford University. Their latest book is important. All energy technologies have Much more common and difficult to The Population Explosion (Simon & resolve are dilemmas arising from all Schuster, New York. 1990).)

40 EPA JOURNAL Can ttie planet e'ldurc the rmpnct of the humaq race7 Pct ired is the peak known as Anndpurna Sout~' rn ttie H malay<1s, orie of the few rclat1vrly u11toL•Ched are.is of the Eartt .

India also would produce as much additional C02 as the United States could save by giving up coal. These examples suggest the power of very large and fast-gro..,ving populations to amplify the effects of quite moderate increases in development. Even if rich countries do not reduce their fossil -fuel use, the expansion of both population and energy consumption in de\'eloping nations guarantees that their proportional share of atmo pheric co ~ emissions '"'ill rise substantially in the next fe'v\' decades. (This does not include the 25 to 35 percent of global

C02 releases estimated to result from tropical deforestation.) Doze ns of other greenhouse gases are being released to the atmosphere

besides C02 and CFCs. Within a few decades. methane mav overtake C02 as the leading component of global warming. Jt is 20 to 30 ti mes as effective in heat absorption as C02 , and its atmospheri c concentration is ri ing much faster. Methane comes from diverse sources. but several are closelv tied to population siz notably · emissions from rice paddies. fl atulence of catt le. defo rested soils, and garba •e Ken Andrasko phoro dumps. Again, technological adjustments may ameliorate some three factors acting in rough! equal no further growth of th e Chinese aspects of the methane problem. but measure. such as the contribution of populati on (now approCJ ching 1.2 affluence and popul ation must also be carbon dioxide (C02 ) emissions to billion)- an unrealistic assumption. The fa ctored into any long-term solution. greenhouse warming. Because resultant increase in C02 emissions It is now widely recognized th

(P) on tal i.ii C02 emissions. consider the could reach two billion before gro\\·th 1Nilh business as usual means pursuing resu lts if China were to use its abundant can be stopped- even if India's an increasingly unsustainable course. coal reserves to double energy use per now-la ngu ishing famih· planning Humanity in the last centurv or so has person. Their per-capita ene r g~' use program is revitalized. India also moved fro~ depending predominantly would thus increase fr om the eq uivCJl ent possesses rich coal deposits. India's on "income" (energy from the sun. of 7 percent of U.S. energy use to 14 per-capita commercial energy use tocfa~1 percent of th e U.S. level. For the is less than hal f of China's. 13ut if it purpose of this illuslration. let's assume were doubled per person, using coal. as the population increases to two billion,

JANUA RY FEBRUA RY 1990 41 When the time is ripe, social changes can occur with breathtaking speed. which warms the planet, drives climate of population in the current human now looming over us. And because the and weather, and is the source of all dilemma, they also glaringly display the dilemma is global, solutions must be food energy) to increasing dependence disproportionate consumption and globally agreed upon and implemented. on "capital." The capital we are waste of resources in rich nations. Also Until very recently, such a course consuming today includes our Earthly revealed is the scale of change that will appeared politically impossible. But inheritance of minerals (metals and be required to avoid the worst when the time is ripe, social changes fossil fuels). More critically, it also consequences of global warming and can occur \•vith breathtaking speed. The includes our ground-water supplies, still permit modest economic latest demonstration of this potential is agricultural soils, and the vastly diverse development for the poor majority of the dramatic lowering of political lifeforms that share this planet with us humanity. tensions between East and West in the and are part of Earth's life-support Compared to what will be needed in past year. system. the decades ahead, past efforts to reduce For two generations, the East-West Human beings now occupy or use environmental impacts in developed confrontation has overshadowed and over two-thirds of Earth's land surface. nations, including the United States, soured virtually all other international As recent analysis has shown, human have amounted to tinkering around the relations, including those between the beings consume or somehow divert edges. This holds true despite seemingly rich nations of the Northern Hemisphere about 40 percent of net biotic endless arguments over economic and the poor ones of the Southern productivity on land (the solar energy disruptions and costs of pollution Hemisphere. The recent transformation captured by green plants through control. should bring profound changes in the photosynthesis and not used for their In the 1970s, the environmental economies of the two superpowers and own life processes). This huge fraction movement and the "energy crisis" Jed their allies. If nothing else, it is likely to includes a sizable and growing portion many Americans to re-examine our render their huge military of potential production that is being lost wasteful, resource-intensive way of life. establishments largely unnecessary and as more productive systems (such as In particular, alternatives to the obsolete and free resources to address forests) are converted to less productive prevailing urban/suburban lifestyle more compelling aspects of global systems (such as farms and pastures), based on automobile commuting were security. degraded through overcultivation or seriously considered. But the "crisis" The political transformation of the desertification, or simply destroyed by faded-partly because successful energy Eastern Bloc nonetheless may hold rich being paved over. conservation programs reduced global irony, as 400 million Soviets and East If capital accumulated over hundreds demand, creating a temporary oil Europeans rush to adopt the West's of millions of years must be depleted to "glut"-and Americans resumed their profligate consumerist lifestyle. While sustain 5.3 billion people today, what old, bad habits. Between 1975 and 1985, we wish them success in seeking are the prospects for supporting the 10 the U.S. population increased about 9 political and economic freedom, as billion or more projected by percent, while the number of cars and environmentalists we view with some demographers for the next century? trucks increased by 30 percent. concern the possibility that their How much more of Earth's biotic If anything, automobile commuting is economies will come to mirror ours. We productivity can humanity co-opt more entrenched than ever today, hope they will embrace, along with free without severely damaging the capacity despite some attempts to improve enterprise, a conservation ethic. of natural ecosystems to support us'? public transportation. Indeed, the It seems fortuitous that the The trends just mentioned are grave vulnerability and inefficiency of auto far-reaching changes taking place now enough, but the consequences of commuting were spotlighted by the in the international arena coincide \Nith greenhouse warming will surely earthquake in California last October, the 20th anniversary of Earth Day and a intensify them. If global warming causes but few noticed. While modestly renewed commitment in the West to flooding of coastal areas, disruption of increasing automobile fuel efficiency environmental goals. The economic and once-dependable agricultural weather, and curbing some emissions after 1974, political shifts that will be demanded by and accelerated degradation of natural Americans acquired tens of millions the new relationships offer an ecosystems, to what extent will Earth's more cars and are driving billions more unprecedented opportunity to make the carrying capacity for human life be still miles a year. sorts of changes in economic structure further diminished? What, if anything, Small wonder air pollution is worse that are needed if civilization is to can we do about all this? than ever. The population factor was survive the challenges ahead. The way The short answer is, human beings ignored; consumption was addressed is open. Every day. the world is caused the problems, and human beings briefly, then forgotten: and most effort becoming more closely knit can solve them if they apply their went into regulation through economically. We need only recognize collective wisdom to doing so. But it is technology, sometimes making that we are united in our problems as essential to understand all interacting consumption worse by reducing energy well. If 5 billion people tackle them, factors and to deal honestly with them. efficiency. Until we tackle the difficult how can we fail'? o While the global warming calculations population and consumption questions cited above throw a spotlight on the role in a serious way, \'l'e will make no real headway in solving the global problems

42 EPA JOURNAL Cleaning Up the Auto: A Rough Ride by Jerald F. terHorst

hen President Bush sent his Clean something e\·eryone needs to care about; It 's a fact that motor \'ehicles W Air bill to Congress early last year. not just parents concerned about the contribute to smog. \Vith 150 million one of the surprises came from the H'orld th eir children will inherit. or cars and trucks on American roads. oft-maligned automobile industry. biologists working to save forests in being driven almost 2 trillion miles "The automobile industry will do its Brazil or 'ew England. but also annually. it's no wonder motor vehicles share to help clean up the nation's ai r." engineers designing motor vehicles. Isn't account fo r about 44 percent of the said a joint statement by Detroit's Big this what Earth Day 1990 is all about? primary ingredient in smog­ Three. The skeptics and the cynic were hydrocarbons. That ·s the bad news. "Chrysler. Ford. and General :Vlotors caught off guard: You mean the Big The good ne\\·s is that clean-air support. and are willing to meet. the Three auto companies and the hundreds equipment is standard on all cars sold objectives of President Bush's clean ai r of thousands of their .S. employees are today in the Un ited States. Indeed. the program. VVe support ti ghter tailpipe allies in the battle to clean up the standards for cars and trucks. tighter environment? Naw. vo u can't be serious. controls on the evaporatio n of fuel (Hey. if they're not the enemy. who is?) That's been the history of the when cars are parked or running. and a That's been the histor\' of the clean clean fuels program." air battle involving autos: lots of clean air battle involving The in dustrv's critics first were rhetoric but precious little reasoning. autos: Jots of rhetoric but surprised by the statement , th en turned Or, as has been said, improving air precious little reasoning. susp.icious and skepti cal. What was quality has been mol'e a political Detroit up to? No less than this: struggle for supremacy than a calm America's automakers were openly judgment based on scientific or auto industrv has done more thon am· ackn0\·1·ledging that clean air is technological evidence. other to clea;1 up America's air. - Statistics from EPA pro\·e it: Compared with cars built in the earl~· 1970s or before. toda\"s ne\\' cars eliminate ~!6 percent of tfi e hydrocarbons. 9G percent of the carbon monoxide. and 76 percent of the nitroge n oxides thdt come out of the tailpipe. Can any other segment of the industry- or any go\'ernment agency-claim a better record·~ Because emissions control S\'S le m s on vehicles al ready are so effecth:e. not much more ca n be accomplished by further tightening tailpipe controls. although e\·e n here the 1\ merican automakers are willillg to try. ll won't be easy, technologically. to wring out the last few percentage points. t\nd it won't be inexpensive for 1\ rne ri ca11 car buyers either. Senator David Ourenbergm. a memb 'r of the Senate Environmcntill Protection subcommittee. put it this way during a November 1989 session on even-I ighter tailpipe standards proposed for the turn of th e centurv: "There is 110 one: who testified befo.re the Committee who can This Ford Taurus has been modified to run on methanol, ethanol, gasoline, or any tell us hovv the e standards will be combination of these fuels. Flexible-fuel achieved. The Office of Technology cars may be a near-term means of Assessment savs thev are not alleviating the nation's air-quality problems. technicallv fea.sibl e. ·The California t\ir Shown is Roberta J. Nichols, who heads Resources. Board an·t tell us how ii will the company's Flexible Fuel Vehicle team. be done. The EPr\ can't iclentifv anv technology that reaches these levels ... (terHorst is th e Director of National Even if such superstringent ve hicle Public Affairs for th e ForcJ Motor controls were achievable. Ourenbcrger Company.) went on to say, " It is doubtful that th ey JANUARYFEBRUARY1990 43 would be the most cost-effective way to represents a heavy contribution to urban about 38 percent, even assuming a clean up air.'' Also, he said, it was smog in Los Angeles and other normal 2-percent annual growth in total obvious that state and local metropolitan areas. vehicle miles tra\'eled. governments are not doing enough How to curb evaporative pollutants to There would be e\·en greater under existing enforcement provisions achieve this potentially huge gain in air improvement in air quality if older cnrs of the federal Clean Air 1\ cl to ensure quality? Several methods are available. were replaced more quickly. The reason: that stationary sources of air pollution One obvious way is to improve Older cars, buil t to less stringent are doing what's required to clean uµ America's road network so thnt cars and standards, account for 5-J. percent of all their operations. trucks don't have to sit in clailv the cars on the road-but emit more "The auto industrv bas achieved more gridlock. En\'ironmentalists should rally than 80 percent of America·s to realize the goals ~f the Clean Air 1\ ct behind public and nu to industry efforts smog-producing exhaust! Clearly. than almost any other sector of the to el iminate clogged roads. because the upgrading America's vehicle fleet by American economy. I think the auto payoff not only would help expedite eli minating older cars and trucks \\'Ou ld industry can do more. t\nd J think they tra ffi c but would also improve air result in tremendous improvement in can do more than they think the:v can." quality by a quantum leap. tfi e air we breathe. Yet the rate of Ourenberger declared. Another avenue fo r reducing harmfu l vehicle turno\'er mav in fact be slO\\·ed "But I '"-'On't vote for those standards evaporati ve emissions is to reduce the if a punitive mandate by Congress forces to make life easier for state and local volatility of fuels that exude from tomorrow's car prices e\'en higher than governments. for the Congress to now parked and gridlocked vehicles. The the price tags of today·s alrendy insist that the auto industry mnke up for petroleum in dustry could help air-friendly vehicles. the fai lures of governments of all kinds significantly by fi nding ways to lessen Despite the gains made in reducing at all levels over the past 20 years just fu el volatility. American and fore ign automotive pollution in recent years. doesn't seem right to me." auto manufacturers are working on ways there still are some large urban areas of What more can be done? We at ford to reduce evaporati ve emissions. and the countrv that can't meet national air have identified some useful ta rgets. the research is promising. quality sta;1dards every day of the year. For example. air quc I ity could be But let's face it. The greatest That's why the industry has supported improved by 25 percent by reducing the automoti ve progress in cleaning up the the objectives of President 13us h·s evaporative emissions from mi II ions of air will not come from exotic new clean-air plan. It not only calls for vehicles, new and old. Evaporat ion of technology or to ugher federal legislatio n tighter emissions standards for \'ehicles hydrocarbons is a primary cause of but from the marketplace. It wil l be but also fo r sales of vehicles that cun smog. achieved as new cars and trucks with operate on less-poll uting, alternati\'8 Only recenth· has anyone in today's sophisticated emissions-control fu els in spra wl ing metropolitan nreos government or in environmental circles systems replace older cars currently in w ith major smog problems such ns Los begu n to pay serious attention to the use. Angeles. Chicago. Bnltimore. l\'ew York fac t that fuel evaporatio n from vehicles Ju st from normal vehicle turnover in City, San Diego, and Philadelphia. stal led in heavy trnffic or parked on the the next 10 years. avernge vehicle Whv al tern ative fu els? Preciseh· streets and in shopping mn ll lots tailpipe emissions wi ll decrease by becaus-e the auto industrv has maZle so m uch progress on redmJng tnilpipe pollutants that ever-tighter standards w ill result in scant impro,·ement in air qual ity. Wha t comes out of the ta ilp ipe is directly re lnted to what goes in to th <) fu el tank. In other words. the tvpe of fu el can make a difference in reducing smog. "Ford engineers see this !Bush! plan as an innovative and challenging rn o\'e ... according to Helen 0. Petrauskas. !:ore! vice president for erl\'ironment

EPA JOURNAL these ambitious environmental their batteries by plugging into electric mileage than the smallest cars 10 years goals through cooperative sockets. And smokestack emissions from ago. This is true across the auto industry/government research and electricity-generating plants fueled by industry. action. coal, oil, and gas already have been Additionally, millions of people targeted as major sources of air purchase large vehicles to accommodate Methanol, ethanol, natural gas, pollution, particularly acid rain. their families or to meet particu1ar electricity-possibly other alternative Electric vehicles, advocates agree, will business needs. An obvious question: fuels like reformulated gasoline-are have only a modest impact for the Which is better for air quality-one prospects because emissions from these foreseeable future (perhaps 100,000 large car capable of doing what a fuels are less likely to form smog. vehicles in a 15 million annual vehicle customer needs or two small cars? For Ford's research in this area has market] and would mainly be used as environmental and safety reasons, one accelerated in the last 10 years. We have delivery trucks and service vans large car is preferred. placed about 700 Ford demonstration required to travel only short distances Let's consider both national and vehicles in service since 1981, and they each day. The batteries require six to personal costs. Currently, clean-air, have provided valuable knowledge in eight hours recharging time during fuel-economy, and safety legislation resolving some of the technical and every 24-hour period, assuming 8 to 10 under consideration in Congress would functional problems with alcohol and hours of daily vehicle operation. At add as much as $1,200 to the price of a gaseous fuels as well as with electric present, the driving range of Ford's car or truck. And if some of the cars. Each has advantages and experimental electric Aerostar is 100 environmentally driven provisions disadvantages when compared with miles; the maximum speed is 65 miles affecting the auto industry become law, present-day gasoline. But achieving per hour. the result could signal the demise of widespread public acceptance remains a In all electric vehicle prototypes, family-size cars, farm-to-market trucks, conundrum until problems of limited major vehicle redesign is required to and commercial vehicles across driving range, fuel availability, and accommodate batteries and to power America. vehicle convenience can be solved. such things as power st~ering, brakes, Thousands of workers v.rould face Ford can commit to producing and air conditioning. And the price of unemployment, surely a matter of social vehicfes capable of operating on an electric vehicle, mainly due to concern for state and federal welfare alternative fuels. Ford engineers have battery cost, will be well above agencies, plus heavy tax losses for the developed a "flexible-fuel vehicle" that comparable vehicles using internal U.S. Treasury, states, and cities-not to is capable of using ethanol, methanol, combustion engines and conventional mention the degradation of America's gasoline, or any combination of these fuels. vital transportation system. fuels with one common fuel tank. The What the United States, indeed the Such prospects should be of driver isn't required to make any engine world, must face is that correcting any tremendous concern to policymakers, adjustments-the process is single environmental concern, such as lawmakers, and labor and business automatic-no matter which fuel or mix urban smog, hazardous waste disposal. leaders worried about the nation's of fuels is in the tank. These vehicles or global warming, often creates a economic future. For one thing, there is have demonstrated excellent road backlash that has a negative impact on no substitute national plan to offset this performance in the last three years. other environmental concerns. This is problem by providing adequate mass In those urban areas where clean fuels not theory, but a conclusion based on public transit systems or expanded would help reduce the smog problem, the auto industry's experience of some railroad service to keep America such as in Los Angeles, a driver could 20 years during which well-intentioned working, moving, and competing in a use one of these alternative fuels, but environmental goals sometimes turned very tough global market. use gasoline on a cross-country trip. into inflexible mandates that proved Many critical choices confront the Flexible-fuel vehicles are one possible costly and ineffective. U.S. government, industries. and solution to the problem of assuring an For example, the federal requirements workers in this laudable national orderly transition v•.rhile a new fuel to rush newly developed campaign to improve the quality of the delivery system is developing. It would emissions-control systems into air we breathe. Much can be done and be up to government, however, to create production in the late 70s resulted in should be done. Ford Motor Company an environment that encourages the serious degradation of vehicle concedes that autos are part of the public to purchase and use such performance and driveability. That, in problem and it wants to be part of the vehicles and fuels. turn, prompted customers either to . solution: "At Ford, Quality Air is also Electric vehicles are another prospect disconnect their catalytic converters or Job One." The rest of the auto industry for improving air quality. Ford has been to delay purchase of improved but more shares this objective. involved since 1982 in a $20-million expensive new vehicles. Either way, air The 20th anniversary of Earth Day, research program with General Electric, quality suffered. therefore, is a good time to note that several battery manufacturers, and the Improvements in fuel economy can tremendous air quality improvement U.S. Department of Energy. Similar also affect safety and consumer already has been achieved by the auto efforts have been launched by the preferences. Federal statistics show that industry, and the industry is willing to Electric Power Research Institute in large cars are safer than small ones in try to do more. But it is also time to conjunction with Chrysler and General accidents. This is a simple matter of note that there are complex, global Motors. kinetic physics: Large cars are heavier interrelationships among differing What makes electric vehicles and longer, so they offer more occupant environmental goals that require careful attractive, environmentally, is that there protection against fatal or serious injury. balancing and judicious tradeoffs by are no noxious motor emissions to foul Americans like safe cars, even if this lawmakers, federal regulators, the air. However, one has to take into means greater fuel consumption. Yet environmental crusaders, industry, and account that electric cars must recharge today's largest cars have better fuel the public. o

JANUARY/FEBRUARY 1990 45 The Greens of Europe: A Ne\N Environmentalism by Konrad von Moltke

n al l Western countries, th e growing parties have also been associated with West German parties considered the Ienvironmental movement has been an colors: Conservatives are block: environment no more than an irritant in important political development over socialists are red. But in the past few the quest for continued economic the past 20 years. umerous years, the West German political scene growth. The West German government. environmental organizations have been has been rocked by a political party for example. led the resistance against created. fnd eed, ncit just Western which turned tradition around: it called international measures to red uce acid nations but vi rtuall y al l countries now itself Green before it had any clearly rain in Europe. hove indigenous environmental defined political identity. The \r\ est German environmental organizations that are helping to shape Green has long been associated with movement was severely fragmented the perspective of governments on environmental, and the new party throughout the 70s; government policy environmental issues. sought identification with tended to fos ter that fragmentation in While environmental organizations environmentalism. By taking a color for the misguided belief that a divided have become nearly universal, it is its name rather than a more traditional movement would protect the authorities nevertheless important to recognize the programmatic label, such as from public pressure. The structure of differenc s among these organizations in "progressive ecologists.'' it acquired a the West German political system different co untries. Indeed, the structure of the environmental movement in the United States. Prance, or West Germany, for example, often more closely reflects the specific political system within which these organizations operate than the common agenda that unites them. As environmental orga ni zations have developed. they have faced the question whether to wo rk with existing political parties or to create their own. While American organizati ons generally work through existing structures. in West Germany a new politica l party, the Greens, has emerged which is closely id ntified wi th the environmental agenda. As distinguish d from environmental organi:t.ations. th e need APtWrde World phoro for a "Green" party is not evident in more traditional political advantage: reinforced this idea. \\'hile it is superb every country. Nevertheless, the West in representing major social and Germon Greens have been emulated in The founders could avoid difficult choices between an "ecological" wing economic interests. it is also rernarkablv many countries, so that it is possible to ineffective in articulating the views of - speak of a "Green phenomenon." which rejected traditional ideologie and a "sociali st" vving which came to small minorities. 1\ complex system of Yet the ri se of the Greens in West apporti onment of seats at all levels of ermany is first and foremost a environmentalism via traditional govern ment ensures that no party refl ecti on of the West German politica l left-win g politics. Avoiding that choice receiving less than 5 percent of th e vote system. In assessing the Green was important because the Greens bega n will be represented in any elected body. phenomenon , it is important to keep the life as a marri age of convenience between groups that had been neglected Votes cast for such a party are specifi c Wes t German components effectively "lost, .. creat ing an additional versus the more universal iss ues in by West German politics of th e 1960s di sincentive for voters to support perspective. In crmany, political and earl y 1970s. marginal grou ps. parties have programmatic identiti es: During the 70s, being an environmentalist in West Germany The most visibl e part of the The\' are "Chri sti an." "So ial en vironmental movement in the 70s was Democratic," or "Liberal." Traditionally. meant being on th e periphery of the politica l system. Offi cial policy reflecte I a loose coa lition of local acti\·ist a belief in technology and the initiatives, the Bu Jl(J 13u rgcrin iti otin~ n (Von Moltkf~ is o senior fel low at The assumption that th e environment could Umwe!tschutz (BB U). The fJBU Conservation Foundation and adjunct be adequately protected without organized some of th e most massive professor o( cnviron men toJ stu dies at fundamental changes in social or publi c demonstrations in \\lest German Dnrtmoutli CuJIPge.) economic practices. The traditional history. Many of th ese demonstrati ons

46 EPA JOURNAL m n Greens were el cted to the '1 ty Par iament in 1981 Their t s. 'Green prot ction ag in d nd outside P rliamcnt .. .. Won 'Katasfrapliehschufe­ Germany, this shift occurred in 1982 follo\\'ing recognition of serious forest P1rlarnenta risd, damage widely attributed to acid rain. Forest owners and forest managers, traditionally a very conservative part of the electorate, may ultimately have had ouferp rla ni:ari more to do with the change in government policy than the Greens. The Greens are an outgrowth of unique West German political conditions. They have, howe\'er. been emu lated in other countries. taking on new forms a ll across Europe as the adrnntage of the non-ideological color label- Green-continues to allow a wide range of interpretations, d epending on local conditions. Thus the Green opposed nuclear power. and some of settled in favor of participation. phenomenon in Europe is a them d egenerated into violent involving acceptance of the ine\'itable heterogeneous mi of fledgling political confrontations w ith the police. :Vlost compromises this will entail. Even parties who e future is tied closely to other en\ ironmenta1 organizations were participation in the W st G rman their abilitv to articu late is ues which almost invisible com pared to the national government is no longer BBll. go far beyond the enviroqmental and a ll of ti P. ni were poorly fu nded an d inconceivable. It appears possible that a agenda. severelv understaffed. But the was future West German government could BBU The small West European countries of the practical breeding ground of the be formed bv a coalition of Social Denmark. Sweden. and the Netherlands environmental faction of the Greens, Democrats a·n d Greens. are wide lv known for their strong even though it was a non-parti san Thus the Greens have made important commitment to environmental organization. contributio ns to \N est German politics protection. All three have Green parti s, In the West Germanv of the 1970s. the in prom oting broad opposition to but they have fa red d ifferently. Perhaps environmental movem.ent and political nuc lear ener v and in achie\·ing most striking is the weakness of the parties on the far left of the politi cal acceptan ce o( the peace movement or in Greens in the 1 etherlands. the country spectrum had something in common: identifying more sharpl:-' the dangers of w ith arguably the most environmenta ll y nationalism and racism in West German Both had little or no representation in aware electorate in Europe. E\'en in the society. They fo rced the traditional the West German po litical system. The most recent elections, which were parties to confront ramrant abuses in Greens began as an electoral a lliance of fought in la rge m easu r on thei r fund-raising. Paradoxically. the these groups to overcome the minimum environ mental issue , the Dutch Greens requirement of 5 percent. Their initial Greens have had less impact 011 West e merged with only 4.1 percent of the German environmental policy than most program \Nas consequently more than vote. ou tside observers might expect. just an ecological manifesto: it fo c used But this does not mean environmental And while public support for on the concerns of the pe

JANUARY FEBRUARY 1990 47 environmental organizations exceeds the party-line voting in Parliament is an total population (due to overlapping accepted fact of political life. memberships), the local incarnation of While Greens exist in both the United the Greens has not had a major impact Kingdom and the United States, there is because the political system is sensitive little sign that they will be able to elect to minority interests. representatives in significant numbers. In neighboring Sweden, however, the They are ultimately _victims of the Greens emerged from recent elections as political system within which they a major political force despite the work. In the recent European Parliament s there room for specifically Green government's vigorous and elections, the British Greens obtained 15 Ipolitics in the United States? Al first long-standing commitment to percent of the vote nationwide but sight the outlook is cloudy. Unlike those environmental protection. The reasons failed to elect a single member because European countries where Green parties presumably lie not in environmental they could not muster a majority in any flourish on small percentages of the policy but in voters' desire _to protest one electoral district. popular vote because of proportional against a consensus-oriented, Perhaps the most fascinating aspect of representation, the United States has a policy-making process in which the Green phenomenon is the role simple-majority, winner-take-all system traditional parties did not appear to environmental interests have played in of elections. This tends to freeze out offer realistic alternatives. Sweden the current transformation of Eastern third-party projects. illustrates the extent to which the Green Europe. For many years, environmental Also, the need for a specifically Green phenomenon may be divorced from concerns were under-represented in party is arguably less here than specific environmental issues. official government policy. elsewhere because of a strong American Three other major European Paradoxically, this created a vacuum in tradition of freedom of association and countries-Italy. France, and the United which informal environmental groups the correspondingly characteristic Kingdom-have tended to approach could form since they did not conflict American knack for forming pressure environmental issues with more reserve with official structures. In many groups. Thus, environmental issues are than the smaller countries. In these instances, both inside the Soviet Union pushed by a veritable throng of local three countries, Greens have been and its republics and in Eastern Europe, pressure groups and by strong having an impact on the political scene, these nascent environmental groups environmental lobbies centered in but in ways that differ widely from one have found themselves at the very Washington and state capitals. country to another. center of a transforming political Nevertheless, there are organized In Italy and France, the Greens have system. They are one of the few Green political formations all over the been remarkably successful in local and organized groups which are not country. Perhaps the best organized and regional elections but have not yet identified with the previous regime, not the most ambitious of these are the penetrated at the national level. In Italy, only because the environment is a Green Committees of Correspondence, this is presumably a matter of time, severely neglected policy area but also which operate in the tradition of the provided the relationship with the because they are politically neutral. committees of correspondence that Radical Party-a traditional forum for Environmentalists have been a helped build momentum for the protest voters and a long-standing moving force in the Baltic provinces, for American Revolution. Organized in 250 champion of Green issues such as example, and were organized in local communities, in 34 regions, with disarmament, women's rights, and Hungary at a time when citizen an Inter-regional Committee pro-choice positions on abortion-can participation was still officially frowned headquartered in Kansas City, the be worked out. In France, the electoral upon. In Poland, representatives of the Greens are serious about building-from system creates serious impediments to ecological movement sat at the the grassroots up-a strong, locally and small-party representation without prior roundtable negotiations which led to the regionally based national political electoral alliances with the large parties. transformation of that country's political movement. In addition to supporting Such alliances risk limiting the ability system. And in Bulgaria, small citizen actions on a range of issues, of the Greens to attract protest voters. environmental demonstrations triggered such as anti-incineration and Thus. the French Greens were more the process of change. pro-recycling campaigns, save-the-forest successful in the European Parliament Ultimately, the Greens are a visible campaigns. and various conservation elections, which use a different form of incarnation of a challenge to projects, Greens have run for political seat apportionment than the national governments around the world. Electors office in many localities and state elections. are seeking more energetic protection of legislative districts-getting as little as 1 No electoral system is harder on the environment. and traditional parties percent and as much as 44 percent of minorities than the one shared by the are struggling to accommodate this new the popular vote. United Kingdom and the United States, interest. in which elections are based on The message of the Greens in this electoral districts in each of which a situation is quite simple: If you do not plurality elects an individual succeed in adopting vigorous (Rensenbrink, a political scientist, representative. Yet the outcomes in the environmental policies, your voters will teaches courses in ecology and politics two countries are quite different. U.S. turn to new parties. In \i\lest Germany and in political theory at Bowdoin Congressional representatives find it the result may even be a change of College in Brunswick, Maine, and is necessary to cultivate their electoral government. o active with the Green Committees of districts and to respond to minority Correspondence. He is writing a book, interests at that level; such an due to be published this fall, on the imperative exists to a much lesser Greens and the transformation of extent in the United Kingdom, where American politics in the 90s.) Do the Greens Have a Future Here? by John Rensen brink - The present extra-governmental response mechanism- 'J, !BY-minded local groups, centralized lobbies, and political parties whose anxiety for money to pa for costly TV propaganda overwhelms even their strongest and best intentions-seems insufficient. What is needed is something they can't supply: the goad and vision to tir government. business. and citizens to more effective action. There mav well be, therefore. a niche for the kind. of movement and party the Greens are trying to develop. A Green movement would point public policy in a problem-solving direction. as distinct from problem-tinkering and crisis-management politics. It would be a catalyst for translating knowledge into actual policy. It is not as if Greens would have to displace the Republicans or Democrats, or the central lobbies. or Walt Bresette, above, is a fourider o• the Ldk') :'-> J'Jcrior r r' ri P.. r•y wt• successfully to elect an crw1rorime it-i ly SY"' p<1tlwt1 , Comm1s, r C' f B the NIMBY-minded local groups. But Wisconsin. Most US. Grecri qroups fot JS ti ' m r J p<· c r p IJ they are needed as a creati\'e. catalytic rather than e'ect ons force. The Greens l rub shoulders with are dedica ted. practica l ,·isionaries \\·ho politicking. und they are unable to fo us Yet the question remains: What is the have committed thems el\"t~S to being a rationale for these Green groups over effecti vely on the la rger. long-term steady force for the prevention of and above what they as individuals issues. Thev don't have the steady pollution and the development of might be doing as members of politica l clout for a comprehensi,:e sustainable communities. for a already-existing organizations and program of pollution prevention because sustainable country and world based on lobbies? their social and political base is weak or efficiency, justice. and freedom . An answer may be found along the non-existent. Bas ically. they arc as Thev arc a minorit\·, of course. But fo llm.ving lines. If. as argued elsewhere effective as the direct-mail money suppose their numbe.rs wure to increase in this issue of EPA /ourno/- by raisers and wealthy donors they depend by a factor of three or four (as I think Administrator Reilly, for example- a on enable them to be. they will). Suppose they were able to major aim of environmental action is As for the Republ ican and Democratic supply just that degree and kind of prevention of pollution. und not just its parties. their politics are very short-term vision. wisdom. and will without which oriented and have become exercises in cleanup or reduction, then there may be the government 'ndrome. - Swift, sure action ·will be necessary- a grassroots organizations, big NIMBY feelings are easil y stirred up. kind of action that does not come easily environmental lobbies. and vvorried but thev also dwindle fast. to large. ponderous institutions like the citizens-to contribute their help und The big lobbies often possess a federal government or large support to an indigenous Green forward-looking capacity and may be corporations. where relative inertia movement. o more comprehensive thnn local pressure often prevails over efforts to c..leal gr ups in their approach. bu t they are effectively with ecological problems. immersed in pnrticular legislat ive JANUARY/FEBRUARY 1990 49 A Perspective from Another Country: The Soviet Task by Alexei Yablokov

s the Soviet Union moves toward Athe year 2000, Soviet environmentalists and ordinary citi zens are becoming more and more acti ve. They have no choice. The natural resources in our rich country are being wasted and misused to an extent that the country now fa ces ecologica l crisis. Problems of toxic and radioacti ve wastes, polluted air and water, and agricultural pollution have reached extremely serious levels. The policy of glasnost is all owing us to learn more and more about environmental disasters in the USSR, but more must be done. As members of the Supreme Soviet, my coll eagues and I are committed to making perestroika permanent in the envi ronmental sphere. The problems cannot be underestimated. In nearl y every area of the environment, Soviet citizens are fa cing real threats to their health and due to water-logging and salinat ion. Thi s is quite a catalogue of proble ms. the health of th eir children: About 10 million hectares of the most The most diffi ult matt er to face is that, as \•ve begin our efforts to cl ea n up the • Last year the release of harmful valuable farm la nd have been fl ooded as environment. we cannot expect to see substances into th e atmosphere reached a result of newly built reservoirs and real improvement in th e situation in th e 100 million tons. In 103 citi es, with a hydroelectri c pro jects. next year. In the im mediate prospect, total population of about 50 million • For each un it of producti on, several we cannot ex pect to ac hieve noticeable people, at least 10 times the permissibl e times more raw materials, energy, and improvement in the quali ty of our water concentrations of harmful substances water are used in the Soviet Union than or air. were emitted. in Western natio ns. • Mu ch of our water is extremely • The pesticide problem is also acute. The Supreme Soviet-An Organ of polluted and violates sanitary and Dange rous levels of pes ti cides have Change ecological norms. In 600 citi es, normal been found in 42 percent of chi ldre n's Nonetheless. we will not lose hope. purification of water sources is not milk prod ucts. and residues can even be Both the new Supreme So\·iet and the provided. At instal lations of the present detected in mother's milk. public are devoting new energies and Ministry of Water Works, up to 21 • Declining environment al quality has resou rces to solving these pro bl ems. percent of th e water being gathered in fost ered a rise in illness. \l\le share the During the most recent Su preme Soviet reservoirs fo r consumer use is wasted. 47th or 48th pl ace in average life session, we worked from morning to • More than 5 million hectares of the expectancy and occupy 44th place in ni ght analyzing the draft Government most producti ve land have been infant mortalit y in the world. plan on conomi c and soci al removed from agri cultura l producti on development and the 1990 na ti onal • We now have "ecological refu gees.·· budge t. The Aral Bas in. the Cas pian Basin . the We held hearings with all nati onal southern Ukra ine, th e Kuzbass reg ion, agencies dealing vv ith enviro nmental many areas of great natu ral beauty. and (Yablokov is Vice-Chairman of th e protection- first of all Gosko mprirodo a series of other regions are a l th e edge (the State Committee for the Protection USSR Supreme Soviet Committee on of ecol ogical catastrophe. Environmental Protection and Rational of Na tu re) and Goskomhvdromet (the Use of Natural Resources. He is also a This c !arming ecological situation is State Committee on H yd~ o me t eo rolo gy ) . Corresponding Member of th e USSR one reason for the ri se in social tensions We heard testimonv fr om all national Academy of Sciences, Environmental in the country. We are also losi ng industries whi ch pose the greatest th rea t Advisor to the International Fo undation immense economi c potentia l. Ma nv of to the environment: metallurgical. for the Survival and Development of these envi ronmental problems are.-in lumber, and chemi cal and Humanity, and President of Greenpeace fa ct. the result of in competent economic gas-processing industries. \Ne even USSR.) management. brought in th e USSR Stale Planning Commission (C os plon). tho USSIZ - Translated by Edward B. Hodgman Ministry of Finances. and th e State 50 EPA JOURNAL Lake Baikal in Siberia is one of tliE' d ope t "1 +ho "''D••cl I S

Committee on Science and Technology In the first session, our committee and around the world. Here in the to get their views on what should be demanded (and our demand were USSR we ha e battled to stop a canal done to impro e the en ironmental satisfied) an accounting of the potential planned to connect the Volga and the si tuation. environmental danger of the techniques Chograi rivers. /\round the world we see Jn order to save th e health of the earth and technology purchased and used in the efforts to save tropical forests and we must change our legislation. An the Soviet Union. It is no secret that the Indian Tiger, the efforts to top the "ecologization" of thinking has already many foreign firms would like to use slaughter of whales, seals. and oth r taken place among the majority of our country as a testing ground for marine mammals. All group mu t join Soviet people. The laws must become ecologically harmful production. Many together to stop the threat to our "ecologized" just as quickly. After all , are succeeding at the present time. seas-the widespread use of plastic nets th e laws reflect the interrelationship and the release of plastic and toxic among people, and also between people Independent Environmental Groups wastes into world oceans. and property. All these The growth of independent Economics and the Environment interrelati onships must novv be environmental groups in th e USS R is examined through the ecological prism. inspiring. We are "turning green" Protecting the en\·ironment depends. in The environment has become a burning quickl y. In our co untry. the mass large pa rt. on economic policies and political issue, a problem of heo lth and ecological movement is very young. but incentives. Proper use of economic life itself. it is growing and maturing. incentives will allow us to implement Environmental activism is a hea lthv There are real "Greens" in Lithuania, new technologies. reaction to th e technocrati c - Latvia, Es tonio, the Ukraine. and a A well thought-out system of tuxation development of civilization. In essence. number of areas of Ru ssia, anti is crucial. Prohibitive taxes must be environmental action has sprung from numerous ecological clubs, groups, levied on any fi rms that nrc using the worldview of oil people who are organizations, and societies. ot long dangerous technology or releasing worried about the present ago, the Soviet division of the harmful wastes into the environment. environmental si tuation. world-renowned organization This "polluter pays" principle must be f\t the Congress of People's Deputies. "Greenpeace" was founcle I. It is best introduced into the Soviet system. This every second or third Deputy spoke that, for now, all these different means the polluter pays for the full about ecologica l disasters. Several environmental groups are working on extent of harm inflicted: not onlv a fine, candidates for ministerial posts were th eir own. The ecological movement but the total sum necessary for the rejectrd by the Supreme Soviet in part must have a whole range of colorations restoration of fu ll health to the because their past octil'itv hod been and directions. environment and the citizens affected. marked by. to put it mi ldly, But there must also be joint actions. This principle has not been applied in environ mental "shortsightedness." combining th e efforts of all these grou ps our co untry thus far. Conversely. firms The Supreme Soviet must be the for speci fie, concrete actions. Tb ere are using environmentall y sofe technologies legislative guardian of our environment. examples of such actions in our cou ntry should be given some relief from JANUARY FEBRUARY 1990 taxation. 51 e capital. the Moscow River carries discharges from many industrie

Goskompriroda-the Soviet EPA What Is to Be Done? environment and all forms of Last year, the government ru led that All citizens of the country must be pollution- including radiation-are very more than 500 million rubles should be involved in plans for protecting the important and will help us concentrate confiscated from industries that caused environment. New environmental laws on the most urgent problems in every environmental destruction. But this must be based on a nationwide region. In general, the plan of action is money did not go for the restoration of discussion. clear. We must bring it to life. the destroyed environment; it was The Supreme Soviet and Unfortunately, we still face the problem simply swallowed back into the budget. Goskompriroda can take concrete steps. of ignorance about severe problems on This situation must change, so that the For example, in the future, cars must the part of people who are making conservation of natura l resources use only two to three liters of gasoline decisions. At the first Congress of becomes advantageous for government per 100 kilometers instead of today's People's Deputies, a group of on the local level; these funds must be eight to nine. It is time not only to deputies-dozens of them- demanded used for s pecifi c environmental projects. reduce, but to stop completely the the passage of a special resolution about We will not be able to manage release of chlorofluorocarbons in order the environment. It did not work out. without economi c mechanisms for to stop depletion of the protecti ve ozone Finally, with enormous effort, it was improving the environment. These layer. And it is time to reassess the possible to include in the agenda of th e mechanisms must be part and parcel of necessity of the immense amount of present Supreme Soviet session a the laws on regional economic energy now being produced. discussion of the draft decree entitled management. on local self-government We must endorse extraordinarv "Urgent Measures for Improving the and self-financing, on properly. and on short-term programs for quick repair of Country 's Environment." Even if it was taxes. Goskompriroda must search out the environment in regions of ecological the 34th and last question on the and support types of producti on that are disaster. This is the first step. Following agenda, it was an enormous symbolic victory all the same. good for the environment. this, we must simply stop the It was a legislati ve victory as well. as ln developed countries, industry is construction of huge industrial and energy projects that are environmentall y the Supreme Soviet passed the decree actively moving toward waste-fr ee ·on the last day of its session in technology (in \•v hich the waste from irresponsible. Among other things, it will be December 1989. This decree is vitally one type of production becomes a raw important: It gives the government a material for another t pe of producti on). essential to develop a mobile ecological assessment capability; to register plan of action, supports the people who This means increased production and are desperately trying to save the economic benefit. For example. one ecological "passports" for existing industry in order to define the degree of environment, and shows the rest of the cubic meter of lumber in Canada or world that the Soviet Union is serious Sweden ends up producing five to six danger to the environment of various technologies in use; and to develop about improving its own ecological times more products than in our record and the health of nature around country. concrete measures for replacing dangerous technologies with new, less the world. o dangerous ones. Complete glasnost about and access to information about the condition of the

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. ring, a time of Back Cover. Bill Weems, hope. Photo ~pY Woodfin Camp. &EPA United States Environmental Protection Agency Washington D.C. 20460