ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCE Earth As a Living Planet

• Main Author: Botkin, Daniel B
• Other Authors: Keller, Edward A. 1942-
• Format: Book
• Language: English
• Published: New York Wiley 1995
• Subjects: Environmental sciences > Case studies; Environmental sciences; Human ecology
• Online Access: Click Here to View Status and Holdings.

 Study of our environment has undergone tremendous change during the past three decades. In the 1960s and 1970s a grass roots movement to protect the en vironment began with the recognition of potential and real adverse effects of modern civilization on our environment. Views then were even more polarized than they are today. Some environmentalists argued that everything about the environment was good and should be protected without change-that is, all de velopment of natural resources was bad. Some envi ronmentalists believed that the world would be de stroyed if we did not change our approach to the environment. To these people, economic and social development meant destruction of the environment and ultimately, perhaps, the end of civilization as well as the extinction of many species, perhaps even lead ing to the extinction of human beings. Some of these environmentalists saw science as part of the problem. Opponents argued that these extreme "environ mentalists" were opposed to progress and possibly to everything they thought good stemming from civi lization and technology. Some of these people even believed that concern for the environment was bad. Nevertheless, during this period progress was made in dealing with environmental issues. Enthusiasm for the environment remained high. A number of na tions, including the United States, enacted their first environmental laws. Agencies were established to deal with important environmental problems such as pollution abatement and conservation of endangered species.