The United States has a long history of environmental thought, science, and action. From the earliest decades of our new nation to the present day, individual citizens have written, researched, and legislated on environmental issues and shaped the environmental sciences greatly. It is easy to fall into the trap of believing that nothing good ever happens, but our history shows us that we have done a great deal in a very short time. Imagine what we can do in the next 100 years.
Question Sequence
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What was the first national park in the world?
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Which scientist is best known for warning about the effects of DDT?
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Which is the correct order of the phases of the environmental movement?
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Which of these environmental bills and treaties has the United States not signed?
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Short-Answer Questions
"Cancer Alley" describes an 85-mile stretch along the Mississippi River in Louisiana. These riverbanks are home to a huge number of petrochemical refineries. These factories employ a huge number of people and process these chemicals for other industries. These factories also release an enormous amount of toxic chemicals, ranking Louisiana among the top 5 emitters nationwide. This region is called “Cancer Alley” because of the higher than average number of cancer cases (especially rare cancers like rhabdomyosarcoma) that appear among the poor, rural, non-white communities.
In 2010, residents of Mossvile, Louisiana, went to Washington, D.C., and filed a human rights petition against the U.S. government for failing to support their human rights, especially for freedom from racial discrimination (the residents are primarily African American) and for freedom from abusive attacks against their community (which they linked to the environmental impact of the toxic chemicals).
1) In what ways is “Cancer Alley” a wicked environmental problem?
2) Cancer Alley obviously links economic issues like employment and freedom from regulation with the "tragedy of the commons." What makes social traps so common in environmental issues?
3) If you were the Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency and decided to make Cancer Alley a safe place to live again, what would be three changes you would make?
4) Looking at those three changes, what do you think would be the response from the industries in Cancer Alley? Can you find solutions that would satisfy both residents and industry?
1) Wicked environmental problems have inter-relationships and require complex solutions. In Cancer Alley, there is toxic pollutant production that is harming a poor, local population. Stopping toxic production here will impact other industries that depend on those chemicals, so the ban would have wide economic impacts until new sources or new, cleaner technologies become available.
2) Social traps are more common because money and political power are often on the side of environmental degradation. Stopping the degradation means a disruption of the local economy and local or regional political structures. Changing who is in charge and who is making money always slows environmental protection.
3) -Toxic pollution must remain within limits and any above-average releases must be punished directly. -Siting of the factories should separate the people from any new factories as much as possible. -Industries that impact people’s homes or towns directly should be responsible for all cleanup costs or create a fund to allow people to leave the town.
4) Industry’s role here is more active than before, and any releases have larger economic penalties. Most likely, affected corporations would seek to use lawsuits to stop these changes to protect their profits. Any balance between the industry and the residents would involve the residents benefitting from the corporations remaining in the area and continuing to make money.
