The environmental movement has made substantial gains since the first Earth Day on April 22, 1970, broadening its focus to include such issues as labor, birth control and immigration.
The enmity between labor and environmental interests is breaking down, illustrated by the AFL-CIO’s new federal liaison on environmental issues and the coalitions of environmental and labor groups.
The Sierra Club has taken a controversial stance on limiting immigration as a means to slow U.S. population growth and curtail use of natural resources. And the Wilderness Society has lobbied for funds to promote birth control to curb overall population increases.
Positive Impact
Environmental activists are having a positive impact. According to the National Center for Public Policy Research, air quality, automobile emissions, water quality and technology have all improved thanks to the work of environmentalists. The Air Quality Index – which measures smog, soot, acid rain and other pollutants in the atmosphere – has improved 42% since 1980. Between 1975 and 1991, sulfur dioxide levels declined more than 50%. Carbon dioxide levels decreased more than 60%, and the amount of lead in the air dropped more than 97%.
During the past 30 years, automobile emissions have plummeted, despite a doubling of vehicular miles traveled. For instance, between 1968 and 1993, total vehicular emissions of carbon dioxide fell 96%, as did emissions of hydrocarbon; nitrogen oxide levels declined 76%.
Water quality experienced similar improvements. The amount of organic waste dumped into water was cut by 46% between 1975 and 1993, and the release of toxic organic materials into water decreased 99%. Discharges of toxic metals into water fell 98%.
Technological enhancements driven by market demand have resulted in less waste and inefficiency in manufacturing. For example, steel cans are now 60% lighter than those produced in 1955, and aluminum cans weigh about 66% less than those manufactured in the 1980s. Glass and plastic bottles are lighter as well, and disposal diapers comprise 50% less paper pulp than they did 10 years ago.
– Four out of five Americans consider themselves environmentalists or sympathetic to the cause. Three-quarters consider the environment a high priority for public policy.
– More than 17,000 people – 60% of whom are women or minorities – work for the Environmental Protection Agency; 41% of employees work for the EPA for an average of 16 years.
– Get a job, save the planet: Major professions for those interested in the environment include science, engineering, law and environmental protection specialists. – More than half of all U.S. prosecutor’s offices operate environmental crime divisions. Illegal waste disposal – such as toxic waste – is the most common offense.
– Big bucks: Two of the nation’s wealthiest political action committees, Sierra Club PAC and the League of Conservation Voters Fund, spent more than $3 million during the 1998 elections cycle.
– Members and donors to environmental organizations are generally middle class and overwhelmingly white.
– Few credit Richard M. Nixon as one of America’s most pro-environmental presidents. But “Tricky Dick” worked with Congress to pass laws such as the National Environmental Policy Act, the Clean Air Act and the Clean Water Act, and he helped establish the Environmental Protection Agency.
Sources: Environmental Protection Agency, National Center for Public Policy Research, Thoreau Institute
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