EBr GUEST EDITORIAL
Conservation and industry: A more common agenda At the conclusion of an address to a meeting of industry, government, and academic resource professionals in California last January, a reporter from a Monterey newspaper asked me if, as an environmental engineer and as leader of the four-million-plus-member National Wildlife Federation (NWF), I could be optimistic about the environment now and for the next few years. I responded that I had to answer in the affirmative, because both I and NWF tend to be positive. He nodded, smiled, and asked me to give him three good reasons why I was so optimistic. Here’s what I told him. First, as a result of what’s gone on in the past few years, more Americans than ever before understand the magnitude of their stake as citizens in the management-or mismanagement-of public lands, hazardous wastes, wetlands, and groundwater supplies. Second, if the president and the Congress are really serious about cutting fat out of budgets to reduce. deficits, they’ll be slashing some federal projects and programs that are both financially wasteful and damaging to the environment. Finally, the responsible players in the conservation community are working much more closely with equally responsible players in industry to cope more effectively with the most pressing environmental protection and resource management problems facing the nation. I’d like to share some of my thoughts on this last item. In our determination to stake out the high ground some years ago in the debate over environmental values, both the corporate and the environmental communities too often let the argument be framed as an either-or issue: either economic development, jobs, and solid real growth in the GNP or purity, beauty, and high quality in the environment. If we are to enjoy a clean, healthy America today and leave it for those who follow, then pollution abatement and resource conservation must become a more pressing concern not only of groups such as NWF and all levels of government, but also of corporate America. The quality of life, now and in the future, is a fundamental issue for conservation organizations and h e business community alike. Certainly, most of the private-sector executives I’ve worked with during the past 25 years would agree with this. 380 Environ. Sci. Technol..Vol. 19, No. 5. 1985
Good conservationists-NWF’s members and leadership, for example-are deeply concerned about the economic health of the U.S. The condition of our economy will significantly influence not only the character of American society and the quality of American life, but the economic well-being of America’s private sector, including NWF. Three years ago, we formed the Corporate Conservation Council to explore ways we and some of those in corporate America could work together in balancing the need for economic growth and wise use of resources with the need for protecting the environment. We were also looking for ways to work together to produce better-though frequently very difficulttrade-offs. The past two years have produced some remarkable results from our council, not just the usual dialogue, but action and leadership that recently produced commendation from the president. There’s another example that I consider especially noteworthy. NWF and the Conservation Foundation, both of which are well-respected and relatively conservative conservation organizations, were intimately involved in helping to form Clean Sites, a major private-sector business that will assist in cleaning up abandoned hazardous waste dumps around the country. This is an idea that must work, either in its present form or as something else, and I’m glad we got behind it. In the future as in the past, you can rest assured that we at NWF stand side by side with the good, solid, environmentally responsible elements of corporate America.
-Benjamin C. Dysarl III is president and chairman of the b w r d of directors of the National Wildlife Federation. a past president of the Association of Environmental Engineering Professors, and a member of EPAs Science Advisory Board. Dysart is o professor of environmental and water resources engineering at Clemson University in South Carolina.
0013936)(/85/0919-0380$01.50/0
Q 1985 American Chemical Sociely
