Science, technology, and the environment - Debate over the environment - Environmental awareness

8 important questions on Science, technology, and the environment - Debate over the environment - Environmental awareness

Where and when did the modern environmental movement emerge?

Only in the 1960s, and only in those affluent democratic countries where challenges to orthodoxy and conventional authority were permitted, did the modern environmental movement emerge.

What does the "tragedy of the commons" mean?

In a pivotal 1968 article published in the journal Science, Garrett Hardin described a growing "tragedy of the commons" where decisions made by free individuals to improve their personal quality of life inevitably degraded the quality of life for the community at large.

What opened up the possibility that market-driven economic development and ecological balance were at odds?

Natural resource depletion, waste disposal, the replacement of products of nature with synthetics such as chemical fertilizers for enhanced food production, pesticides for insect control, and nonbiodegradable plastics for natural materials in construction, clothing, and fast food packaging, all opened up the possibility that market-driven economic development and ecological balance were hopelessly at odds.
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What is the Air Quality Act about?

  • The first sign of reform occurred in the cities, where smog caused by auto and power-plant emissions led to calls for government regulation. Congress finally took action in 1967, passing the first Air Quality Act.
  • The legislation set minimum standards for emissions and took special aim at coal-fired power plants. 

What is the Clean Air Act about?

  • By 1970, Congress had passed a second, tougher Clean Air Act, setting strict deadlines for industry compliance and unwittingly intensifying America's reliance on foreign oil to 30 percent of total consumption.
  • Congress also passed the National Environmental Policy Act, one feature of which required that an environmental impact statement be drawn up whenever federal agencies proposed new resource-related projects.

What did growing concerns of environmental costs lead to?

  • Growing concerns over the environmental costs associated with the burning of fossil fuels also led to the emergence of a number of international environmental organizations.
  • The first "Earth Day" was celebrated in the developed countries in 1970, drawing 20 million people to events in the US alone, and two years later the UN hosted an international energy conference to promote interest in cleaner sources of power.

What became a growing theme in global culture?

  • By 2020, environmental sustainability had become a growing theme in global culture, with major corporations marketing so-called "green revolution" to the challenge.
  • Electric vehicles, energy-efficient appliances and buildings, organic and locally sourced foods - all entered the mainstream vocabulary of consumer culture.

What different opinions were there about climate change in relation to human activity?

  • Some leaders claimed that privatization and deregulation would foster new economic partnerships that would lead to global prosperity, economic justice, and technological solutions to virtually all environmental challenges.
  • Others obstinately denied any connection between human activity and rising global temperatures.

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