Document V3Z8NKGN12xY639Nep5ZB2ZDN

2 SEVENTH EDITION Wadsworth Publishing Company Belmont, California A D ivision of Wadsworth, Inc. 000051 CE EDITOR: Jack Carey EDITORIAL ASSISTANT: Kathy Shea PRODUCTION.EDITOR: Vicki Friedberg MANAGING DESIGNER: Cynthia Schultz TEXT DESIGNERS: James Chadwick/Cynthia Schultz PRINT BUYER: Barbara Britton ART EDITOR: Donna Kalal PERMISSIONS EDITOR: Peggy Meehan COPY EDITOR: Carole Crouse PAGE MAKE-UP: Wendy Calmenson PHOTO RESEARCHER: Stephen Fowling TECHNICAL ILLUSTRATORS: Darwin and Vally Hennings, Tasa Graphic Arts, Inc., John and Judith Waller, Marjorie Leggitt, Guy Magellenes, Susan Breitbard, Joan Carol, Raychel Ciemma, Florence Fujimoto, Linda Harris, Victor Royer, Jeanne M. Schreiber, and Kathryn W. Werhane. COMPOSITOR: Thompson Type/San Diego, CA COLOR SEPARATOR: Accu-coIor/St. Louis, MO PRINTER: Areata Graphics/Kingsport, TN COVER DESIGN: Cynthia Schultz PART OPENING PHOTOGRAPHS: Part 1: Brian Parker/Tom Stack & Associates Part 2: Los Angeles Convention & Visitors Bureau Part 3: United Nations Part 4: Errol Andrew/FPG International Part 5: California Energy Commission Part 6: Thomas Kitchin/Tom Stack ScAssociates Part 7: Sam Kittner/SIPA Press COVER PHOTOGRAPH: Short-tailed weasel (ermine) in winter. Grand Teton National Park, Wyoming, 1985 Tom Mangelsen. The ermine, which helps control rodent population, was selected as the cover image for this book not only because of its striking beauty but also because it is a part of Earth's vital biodiversity, which we are severely reducing. The ermine symbolizes the ecological and ethical issues we face every day. As you look into the eyes of this animal, ask yourself: Would you kill this animal or have it killed to make a fur coat? 1992 by Wadsworth, Inc. All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transcribed, in any form or by any means, without the prior written permission of the publisher, Wadsworth Publishing Company, Belmont, California $"41302. 12 3 4 5 6 7 8 910 -9 6 9 5 949392 Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Miller, G. Tyler (George Tyler), 1931- Living in the environment: an introduction to environmental science / G. Tyler Miller, Jr. -- 7th ed. - p. cm. Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 0-534-16560-5 1. Human ecology. 2. Environmental policy. I. Title. GF41.M54 1992 363.7-d c2 0 91-35584 BOOKS IN THE WADSWORTH BIOLOGY SERIES Environmental Science, 3rd, Miller Resource Conservation and Management, Miller Biology: Concepts and Applications, Starr Biology: The Unity and Diversity ofLife, 6th, Starr and Taggart Biology ofthe Cell, 2nd, Wolfe Cell Ultrastructure, Wolfe Dimensions of Cancer, Kupchella Evolution: Process and Product, 3rd, Dodson and Dodson Introduction to Cell Biology, Wolfe Oceanography: An Introduction, 4th, Ingmanson and Wallace Plant Physiology, 4th, Devlin and Witham Exercises in Plant Physiology, Witham et al. Plant Physiology, 4th, Salisbury and Ross Plant Physiology Laboratory Manual, Ross Plants: An Evolutionary Survey, 2nd, Scagel et al. Psychobiology: The Neuron and Behavior, Hoyenga and Hoyenga' Sex, Evolution, and Behavior, 2nd, Daly and Wilson 000052 World Report asked leaders of 10 conservation groups and 10 business and trade groups to grade the Bush adm inistration's environm ental efforts. The conserva tion leaders gave him a grade of D; the business leaders gave him a C + . Environm entalists have been especially disap pointed by h is failure to provide leadership in reducing energy w aste and to phase in solar and other perpetual and renewable form s of energy as a way to w ithdraw from our w asteful addiction to oil and other fossil fuels and to reduce our em issions of greenhouse gases. Instead o f leading the global effort to deal w ith projected global w arm ing, he has underm ined international efforts and w illin gn ess to begin dealing w ith this urgent problem by calling for m ore research instead o f action. He has also not taken the lead in halting tropical deforestation or the dear-cutting o f andent forests in the national forests o f the Padfic N orthw est, both of w hich are m ajor causes o f the rapid lo ss o f Earth's pred ou s biodiversity. O n April 22, 1990, the tw entieth Earth Day took place. A n estim ated 200 m illion p eop le in 141 nations on all 7 continents partidpated--th e largest global G u e s t E s s a y A N ew E n v iro n m en ta lism for th e 1990s and B eyon d 11i-WU&iO ii.'rv. PeterMontague is senior research analystfor Greenpeaceand director of the Environmental Research Foundation in Washing- ton, D.C. TheFoundation conducts studies ofenvironmental , pp. problems and provides thegeneral public with information about ' environmental problems and the technologiesand policies that- 4 4 might contribute to theirsolution. Montague has served as manager ofa technology computer information centerand ect administrator ofa hazardous toaste research program yPrinceton University. Prior to that he taught undergraduate 4 [ and graduate coursesin environmental impact analysis at School ofArchitecture and Planning afifee University ofN ew . : Mexico. He has coauthored two books on taxic heavy metals f the natural environment apd is editor ofRachel, a highly i formative and readablenewsletter on environmental problems, with an emphasis onhazardous waste.. -* V " -y'v-v - Environmentalism as w e have known it for the past 20 'V;.-' ' years is dead. The environmentalism of the 1970s ad v o -... cated strict numerical controls on releases o f dangerous wastes (any unwanted or uncontrolled materials that can ' harm living things or disrupt ecosystem s) into the envi- . ronment. Industry's ability to create new hazards, how ever, quickly outstripped government's ability to establish adequate controls and enforcement programs. After 20 years of effort by government and by con cerned citizens (the environmental movement), the over ergy [Chapter 3]. .Theold environmentalism failed to .recognize this important truth, and thus squandered... ^7. . enormous resources trying to achieve the im possible, ."4 We in the United States presently spend about $90 bil- ^ V 4 . lion.peryear on pollution control Yet, the global envi- Cit";,. : ;ronment is increasingly threatened by a buildup of. 4 heat because ofheai-txapping gases w e em it into the atmosphere..A t least half the surface of the planet is, -yp;'; subjected to ah influx of damaging ultraviolet^ from the sun as a result of ozone depleting -> fly, and fish as a result of add rain (caused by releases V\X7`) - of sulfur and nitrogen compounds, chiefly by pow er "' >;' plants and automobiles) and other air pollutants. SoU ";_ - and water are dangerously polluted at thousands o flo - ?-14 - cales where m unidpal garbage and industrial w astes v.'-'44 , ' have been (and continue to be) dumped or incinerated; 4- thousands o f such sites remain to be discovered, ac cording to U.S. government estim ates. *. . ,, The inevitable result of our reliance on w aste treatment and disposal system s has been an unrelenting buildup o f exotic synthetic toxic materials in hum ans and in other forms o f life worldwide. For example, breast milk of women in industrialized countries like the United . 46 PART ONE Humans and Nature 000053 dem onstration in history. Its m ain goals w ere to reach out to m inorities and the poor struggling daily for sur vival throughout the world; m ake people everyw here aware of the difference their actions could m ake in su s taining the earth by acting locally and thinking globally (sum m arized in its slogan: W ho Says You Can't C hange the World?); and get people involved in m aking every dav Earth Day. If only 5% o f the people w ho took part in Earth Day 1990 stay actively involved in the race to sustain the earth, that w ould be 10 m illion p eo p le--an enorm ous force for change. D ealing w ith the environm ental and resource problem s w e face w ill not be easy or cheap. It w ill involve m uch controversy and require u s to make som e trade-offs and significant changes in our worldview, econom ic and political system s, and lifestyles. Specific actions environm entalists believe are needed to help sustain the earth are presented through out this book. Emphasis w ill have to shift from pollution cleanup to pollution prevention (see Guest Essay on p. 46), from States is so contaminated w ith pesticides and indus trial hydrocarbons that if human m ilk were bottled and sold commercially, it would be subject to ban by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) as unsafe for human consum ption. Another illustrative example: If a whale today beaches itself on the shores of the United States and dies, legally, its body m ust be treated as a "hazardous waste" because whales contain PCBs (polychlorinated biphenyls--a class of industrial tox ins) at levels that exceed threshold concentrations for classifying a waste as legally "hazardous." Soon polar bears in their natural habitat are likely to join whales in the "hazardous waste" category because their PCB levels are steadily rising. 3. The ability of hum ans and other forms of life to adapt to changes in their chemical environment is strictly limited by the genetic code each form of life inherits. Continued contamination occurring hundreds of times faster than we can adapt w ill drive humans to increasingly widespread sickness, to degradation of the species, and ultimately to extinction. ' 4. Damage to hum ans (and to other forms of life) is abundantly docum ented. Birds, fish, and humans in industrialized countries like the United States are en during steadily rising levels o f cancer and other serious disorders attributable to pollution. An astonishing 38% of children under six years old in the United States have sufficient toxic lead in their blood to cause them to perform below par on standardized tests of physical, mental, and emotional development. If w e w ill but look, the handwriting is on the wall everywhere. To deal with these problems, industrial societies must abandon their reliance on waste treatment and disposal and on the regulatory system of numerical standards *riated by government to manage the damage that re'iilt.s trom reiving on waste disposal instead of waste pre vention. We must quickly move the industrialized and industrializing countries to new technical approaches accompanied by new industrial goals--namely dean pro duction or zero discharge system s. "Clean production' involves industrial system s that avoid or eliminate dangerous wastes and dangerous prod ucts and m inim ize the use of raw materials, water, and energy. Goods manufactured in a dean production pro cess must not damage natural ecosystem s throughout their entire life cyde, induding (a) raw materials selection, extraction, and processing; (b) product conceptualization, design, manufacture, and assemblage; (c) materials trans port during all phases; (d) industrial and household usage; and (e) rintroduction o f the product into indus trial system s or into the environment when it no longer serves a useful function. Clean production does not indude "end-of-pipe" pollu tion controls such as filters or scrubbers or chemical, physical, or biological treatment. Measures that pretend to reduce the volume of waste by incineration or concen tration, mask the hazard by dilution, or transfer pollu tants from one environmental medium to another are also exduded from the concept of "dean production.' A new industrial pattern, and a new environmental ism , is thus emerging. It insists that the long-term well being of humans and other spedes must be factored into our production and consum ption plans. These new requirements are not optional; human survival depends on our w illingness to make, and pay for, the necessary changes. G uest Essay D iscussion 1. Do you agree w ith the author that the pollution manage ment approach to environmental protection practiced during the past 20 years has failed and must be re placed w ith a pollution prevention approach? Explain. 2. List key economic, health, consumption, and lifestyle changes you m ight experience as a consequence of sw itching from pollution management to pollution prevention. What changes might the next generation experience? CHAPTER 2 irief History of Resource Use. Resource Conservation, and Environmental