| EPA at 40: Bringing Environmental Protection into the 21st Century |
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bridges vol. 24, December 2009 / Feature Articles By Joseph Fiksel , Alan Hecht , et al. mp3 download The following article was posted with permission from Environmental Science & Technology, 2009, 43 (23), pp 8716-8720. Copyright © 2009 American Chemical Society. Sustainability science suggests that effective environmental protection requires an integrated systems approach. It has been 40 years since the passage of the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA; signed into law January 1, 1970), which established a broad environmental policy for the United States, and the formation of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). The agency's 40th birthday on December 2, 2010 provides an opportunity to take stock of its past successes and future challenges. Since 1970, important advances in environmental protection, product design, and occupational safety have been prompted by problem-, media-, and chemical-specific legislation. Our air and water are now cleaner, less pollution is being produced, and many waste sites are being restored. Yet despite such significant progress, it has become clear that the new century's problems are more complex and involve multiple environmental media and stressors: they therefore require new kinds of interdisciplinary thinking and systems solutions. Today, the resilience of both human society and the natural environment are being tested on a global level by pressures of population and economic growth, which have in turn led to increasing greenhouse gas emissions, declining biodiversity, and other threats to such vital natural resources as fresh water, soil, forests, and wetlands. The threats were clearly delineated in the 2005 Millennium Ecosystem Assessment, which determined that 15 of 24 global ecosystem services are being degraded or used unsustainably (1). It is also becoming clear that the forces influencing human and ecological health are systemic and interdependent. The scientific and regulatory communities are struggling to deal with impacts of changes in climate, land use, and ecosystems; faster technological change and emergence of biotechnology and nanotechnology; cumulative and possibly synergistic effects from exposure to multiple compounds; and concerns about bioaccumulative toxicants and nonpoint pollution sources. All of these stressors suggest that it is time to launch a new dialogue on science and the environment. How can science best address these problems, and what critical next steps are needed to move environmental science into the 21st century? History shows an early recognition of multiple stressors acting on the environment and the need to address them in an integrated manner. It is urgent today to investigate and determine how best to address this need. Evolution of Environmental Science and Policy At the beginning of the 20th century, the first environmental movement in the U.S. was led by a diverse coalition of conservationists and business leaders seeking to preserve and manage land resources for their most valuable uses. Both groups saw the need for the government to intervene in the market with new laws and regulations, especially on government-owned lands. The legislation that set aside land for the first national park at Yellowstone called for the Department of Interior to preserve in their natural conditions the park's timber, mineral deposits, and natural wonders (2). The early environmental movement was also advanced by scientific research on health, occupational hazards, and air pollution. The research in turn generated attention and political debate on the respective roles of government and the private sector. Subsequent events highlighted the linkage of economic activities to health and safety. For example, in 1948, a temperature inversion trapped toxic gases from zinc and steel plants in Donora, Pennsylvania; 20 people died and approximately half of the town's 14,000 residents became ill (3). In 1969 the Cuyahoga River oil-slick fire drew national attention to environmental problems in the Great Lakes region and elsewhere in the U.S. Events like these prompted the launch of a second environmental movement that focused less on conservation and more on short-term risks faced by humans in their everyday lives. U.S. environmental policy advanced the concept of risk management as a basis for policy actions. Social and urban justice movements concerned with public health played a critical role in shaping the 20th century environmental movement and subsequent passage of federal and state environmental laws (4). At the same time, environmental stressors such as population growth, urban development, and industrial pollution motivated the enactment of NEPA, the creation of EPA, and the first international environmental conference in Stockholm in 1972. Access to the full article is free, but requires you to register. Registration is simple and quick – all we need is your name and a valid e-mail address. We appreciate your interest in bridges. |
