Comment ▼ Top 10 environmental success stories ollowing my Comment on the “Top 10 stupid environmental policies” (Environ. Sci. Technol. 2004, 38, 239A), a fair and balanced look at the field requires a list of the Top 10 environmental success stories. Perhaps there are lessons to be learned from past successes. 10. Self-reporting and voluntary regulations. In 1986, U.S. Sen. Daniel Patrick Moynihan said that if we simply would require industry to report their Toxics Release Inventories (TRI), publication of the results (right-to-know) would take care of the rest. Lo and behold, to a large extent, it has. U.S. industries have reduced TRI emissions by 50–75% since 1988. When companies find themselves number one on a state or local TRI list, they quickly take action to improve their position. Shame is a tremendous motivator. Success due to self-regulation is less clear, but it could be powerful if companies would take seriously programs like ISO 14,000, Responsible Care, and the World Business Council for Sustainable Development. 9. Pollutant trading markets. These markets could revolutionize the way we protect the environment in the 21st century. Here, we recognize that abating, reducing, or avoiding a ton of pollution is a commodity, just like corn in Iowa. It is a means to “internalize the externalities” using a market approach. Sulfur dioxide is now trading for $360 per ton, nitrogen oxides for $1600 per ton, and carbon dioxide for $0.80 per metric ton in the United States. 8. Non-governmental organizations (NGOs). Representatives from more than 2000 NGOs attended the 2002 World Summit on Sustainable Development, and there are 24,000 NGOs worldwide. Many of them are “virtual organizations” with small budgets, composed of people of like mind and communicating through the Internet. NGOs raise funds, organize voters, lobby congresses, identify problems, and hold governments’ feet to the fire. A few, like the Nature Conservancy and the World Wildlife Fund, contribute directly to sustainability by purchasing unique habitats and protecting species. 7. International treaties. The Bush Administration may not always agree, but international treaties can be important legal instruments that protect the global environment. These agreements help to preserve the environment while trade and development increase. The single greatest environmental success story of the 20th century is quite possibly the 1988 Montreal Protocol to ban ozone-depleting chemicals. 6. Since Silent Spring. It is difficult to pinpoint one piece of legislation because there are many, but most regulations on persistent bioaccumulating toxic chemicals have their origins in the 1962 book by Rachel Carson. Where would eagles soar today without the ban on DDT? 5. Renewable energy resources. States seized the initiative through passage of renewable energy portfolios making wind
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and solar power viable parts of our energy mix, and these alternatives are now growing at 30% every year. Biomass and tidal power also show promise. Who owns energy from the wind and the sun? Farmers and ranchers and regular people in every country do. It is tremendously empowering. 4. Clean Water Act. This 1972 U.S. law exemplifies command-and-control legislation that worked. Although the United States spent more than $100 billion to decrease wastewater discharges, people now enjoy the benefits of purer water—more swimmable, fishable, and drinkable than before. Now we need iron resolve to control nonpoint-source pollution. 3. Clean Air Act. I remember riding through Gary, Ind., as a child, and you could not roll down the windows of your car without choking. The 1970 U.S. Clean Air Act changed all that by establishing National Ambient Air Quality Standards, New Source Standards, and National Emission Standards for Hazardous Air Pollutants. Amendments in 1977 and 1990 kept the progress rolling. Sometimes, one must make tough decisions in the face of great uncertainty. Taking lead out of gasoline in 1971 was a case in point. Administrator Carol Browner and the U.S. EPA took similar bold action on PM2.5 and ozone in 1997. 2. Pollution prevention. Although little celebrated, pollution prevention by industry and government gave rise to recycling; green chemistry and design; industrial ecology; and programs to reduce, reuse, and remanufacture for sustainability. Millions of tons of pollutants have been avoided, dollars saved, and the environment protected. 1. Water and sanitation. Disinfection of drinking water and collecting and treating of wastewater are perhaps the greatest environmental achievements of the 20th century. Longevity and quality of life have increased dramatically. Today, we face new challenges, including disinfection byproducts, integrity of distribution systems, water availability, watershed protection, aquifer storage and recovery, and emerging chemicals and pathogens in our water supply. Do we have the mettle to meet these challenges? The good news is that the environment continues to enjoy a high level of support among the public. Perhaps it is something in our basic nature, hard-wired from our biological past. We yearn for pristine forests, pure air, and clean water. But greater resolve and creativity will be needed if we are to build on these successes.
Jerald L. Schnoor Editor
[email protected] SEPTEMBER 1, 2004 / ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY ■ 319A
