What Now??What Now??Week 8 Lecture

Breath of Fresh AirBreath of Fresh Air

I'd like to focus this final lecture on some of the ideas presented in the  article, "It's a Breath of Fresh Air".  The premise of this article is that, in the 30 years or so since the US really began to focus on the environment, we've made a lot of advancements. Rivers are no longer catching on fire and we take it for granted that smog will not obscure our view of Mt. Rainier.

Reviewing the PerspectivesReviewing the Perspectives

The article looked at advancement from the perspective of the different media - air, water, waste, etc. I'd like to explore it using our unique course perspectives. This will also give you one more chance to clarify the concepts as you work on your final.

Social PerspectiveSocial Perspective

Let's start with the social perspective. You'll recall that the social perspective reflects the widespread norms we have as a result of written or unwritten laws. 

Prior to the 1960's, people had very little consideration for waste and pollution. When you threw something away it was gone. Nothing that we did industrially would come back to haunt us.

Social Perspective, cont.Social Perspective, cont.

We had been living in an industrial age, where people worked in factories, factories which created mountains of every kind of waste. Few thought to question this and those that did were considered crazies, trouble makers and even communists.

But, during the mid to late 1960's, all that began to change as the abuse to the environment began to show. The text outlines some of the horrors - rivers catching on fire, healthy people unable to go outside due to poor air quality.

Social Perspectives, con’t.Social Perspectives, con’t.

Attitudes about waste began to change as people realized that something would have to be done.

People stopped accepting the old line that pollution wouldn't hurt them, that it was necessary for progress, that it was inevitable. Ordinary people, not just the "crazies" demanded and got change.  

Social Perspective, contSocial Perspective, cont

Fast forward to today. People know how to recognize pollution and they have little tolerance for pollution they can see. This has a huge deterrent effect on businesses. In the 1980's ( I think), a timber company clear-cut several hundred acres along the I-90 corridor. People traveling over the pass were horrified, outraged. The company's stock plunged. It replanted, but it obviously took several years for the trees to grow back. 

Social Perspective, contSocial Perspective, cont

Now, there is generally a huge buffer between public roads and clear-cuts. The law does not require this, but the social expectations do. The clear-cuts still happen, but the average person never sees it. Replanting happens rapidly.  Wherever timber harvests happen, signs are put up so the public can know what is going on, when the land was harvested, when it was replanted, the next anticipated harvest date. 

Social Perspective, cont.Social Perspective, cont.

Our new social norm is visible environmental responsibility. However, today's battle continues to be waged in less visible ways. For example, when a timber company clear-cuts an area, they may cut down 8-10 different kinds of trees. They replant one kind of tree, thus eliminating forest diversity. What happens if there is tree disease, as we read about striking the Northeast? What if it impacts that one kind of tree? The result would be devastation for our entire state. 

Social Perspective, cont.Social Perspective, cont.

This is something that everyone in Washington should be concerned about. We should have forest legislation requiring not only that replanting happen (as current law reads) but that the original forest diversity be reflected in the replanting, or at least some ideal mixture of trees. This could happen without a change in the law if society demanded it. 

We have made progress in terms of what society expects and how individuals and companies respond to meet those expectations. But, not surprisingly, we still have a long way to go.

Economic PerspectiveEconomic Perspective

Let's talk now about the economic perspective. The economic view looks at the monetary implications of an issue. I think we've made quite a bit of progress here as well. The progress chart in the article notes a doubling in the amount of money spent on managing pollution. This reflects two important considerations.

When the first environmental laws were passed in the early 1970's, requiring that polluting industries curb their waste, there were few companies equipped to meet the new demand for pollution control devices. Indeed, the early laws relied on solutions that had not yet been invented.

Economic PerspectiveEconomic Perspective

To accommodate potential change in the availability of pollution control devices, the Clean Air Act requires companies meet a standard known as BACT - best available control technology. What is the best available is determined by reviewing the industry standard and what is on the market. Cost is also factored in, so that terribly expensive technologies are not required even if they are the best technologies.

You've all heard of the law of supply and demand. Where there is little supply and great demand, prices go up. In the early 1970's, there was suddenly a huge demand and no one there to meet it. Prices were very high for what little technology was available.

Economic Perspective, cont.Economic Perspective, cont.

The article reflects two spending points - 1972 and 1994.  What happened in the middle is interesting. Supply increased as more and more companies came on line to meet the demand for pollution control devices. Prices dropped. Efficiency increased. So now, it is common for every organization of almost any kind to spend some money on pollution control. For example, Highline has methods in place to deal with the hazardous materials created in the science labs. 

Economic Perspective, cont.Economic Perspective, cont.

So, you can see that just looking at the amount of money spent on pollution reduction does not tell the whole story.

Awareness and spending is way up, but costs are way down. As that trend continues, several of the things we've talked about in previous weeks will also begin to change. Hopefully, that will lead to even greater progress on environmental matters.

Political PerspectivePolitical Perspective

We've mentioned on several occasions that progress in the environmental arena requires political leadership.  Many of us have also come to the conclusion that such political leadership is lacking in the current administration. Despite that, I still think there is progress being made.

Political PerspectivePolitical Perspective

You'll recall that the political or policy perspective is the view that involves the government and law. Our decision-making government officials are, in large part, elected. I have seen several examples of where the most avid anti-environmentalists have made environmentally sound choices because that is what the people in their district wanted. 

Political Perspective, cont.Political Perspective, cont.

With the Bush administration’s War against Terrorism, environmental issues were pushed into the background for a little while. That had its good points I think. In its first 6 months in office, the Bush administration seemed obsessed with undoing every possible environmental advancement that it could without turning to congress.

Poll after poll indicates that the average American values their environment and even non-environmentalists are a little horrified by the Bush administration’s environmental retreat. 

Political Perspective, cont.Political Perspective, cont.

  Fortunately, some of what was undone by the Bush administration is being repaired by the Obama administration. Unfortunately, we lost 8 important years in attacking serious environmental problems.

Most of you experienced in your service learning projects how difficult it is to get people to actually take action on the environment. You saw in the week 7 readings on the “denial machine” how easy it is to encourage people to do nothing. Even the current administration has a lot to deal with – the economy, health care, 2 wars. As serious as our environmental issues are, they have to battle for the attention of policy makers and the public.

Geographic PerspectiveGeographic Perspective

Now, let’s turn to the geographic perspective. The geographic perspective encompasses the physical attributes of the land. This includes rivers, forests, farmland, and more. In each area, progress has occurred in the last 30 years and in each area, we still have a long way to go.

One may wonder how we can make progress in geography. After all, much of geography is unchanging. Where there are mountains, there are mountains. Where there are rivers, there are rivers. The key issue here is the condition of the mountains and the rivers. That condition can change and has. 

Geographic Perspective, cont.Geographic Perspective, cont.

Since we are online, I don't know how old most of you are. Perhaps you are old enough to remember the burning rivers of the 1960's. If so, you can truly appreciate the progress made on that front.

Concluding ThoughtsConcluding Thoughts

Well, that's it. We've reviewed our unique class perspectives and finished up the quarter on what I hope is a positive note. We've got a long way to go, but many of you have already committed to making some small change to move along that path.

If everyone makes small changes, big changes will follow. Like the author of our last article, I am hopeful.  Though we have a long way to go, we have come a long way from where we started. 

Concluding Thoughts, cont.Concluding Thoughts, cont.

We now need to take the progress to the world. Through your country studies, you've been able to compare the US using a bigger picture. Some countries are ahead of us on many issues, others are where we were in 1970. When we move to the global perspective, we can see even more need for change - especially in our own perspectives towards the world.

I hope you've enjoyed this Global Studies class and learned something you didn't know before. I also hoped that you learned, though the readings and your Service Learning Projects, that you can make a difference and that you are inspired to do so.