EDITORIAL
Earth’s environment is a closed, integrated system ES&T’s continuing goal is to present an integrated view of the complex system N
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tock taking at this time of year is hardly a novel event. And usually no one is very surprised at what is said. Nonetheless, a brief look at ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY’S brief history may serve to show where we have been, where we are, and where we might be going. In ES&T’s first issue (January, page 101) and again in this one (page lO15), we note that the new publication places special emphasis on reporting original chemical research, engineering developments, and technico-economic studies in fields of science directly related to man’s environment. With the encouragement of the ACS Board of Directors and our rapidly increasing body of contributors and readers, we have striven to push the perimeter of ES&T’s coverage as far and in as many directions as practicable. To this end we have carried articles, staff written and by outside contributors on a variety of subjects, stressing the interrelationship and inter-
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dependence of scientific understanding, technological skills and application, economic restraints and pressures, and legal and legislative influences and controls. The Earth’s environment is a closed, albeit huge, integrated system. What happens in one sector of the world one day is related-whether or not the relationship is apparent-to a further happening in another part of the world on another day. As an author once noted, a Chinese sneezes in Manchuria and a month later a major storm hits California. In the field of environmental studies, ecology per se and human ecology, in particular, play special roles. Environmental sciences and technologies are mere exercises unless at some point they are joined with social, political, and humanistic philosophies and considerations in an effort to promote the welfare of man. Our continuing goal is to give our readers an integrated view of the complex system known as the environment.
Volume 1, Number 12, December 1967 967
