editorial - American Chemical Society

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EDITORIAL

The environmentalist Editor: Russell F. Christman Associate Editor: Charles R. O'Melia WASHINGTON EDITORIAL STAFF Managing Editor: Stanton S. Miller Associate Editor: Julian Josephson Assistant Editor: Lois R. Ember MANUSCRIPT REVIEWING Manager: Katherine I. Biggs Editorial Assistant: Karen A. McGrane MANUSCRIPT EDITING Assistant Editor: Nancy J . Oddenino Assistant Editor: Gloria L. Dinote GRAPHICS AND PRODUCTION Production Manager: Leroy L. Corcoran Art Director: Norman Favin Designer: Alan Kahan Artist: Linda M. Mattingly Advisory Board: Robert J. Charlson, Arthur A. Levin, Roger A. Minear, James J. Morgan, Sidney R. Orem, Frank P. Sebastian, C. Joseph Touhill, Charles S. Tuesday, William E. Wilson, Jr. Published by the AMERICAN CHEMICAL SOCIETY 1155 16th Street N.W. Washington, D.C. 20036 (202) 872-4600 Executive Director: Robert W. Cairns BOOKS AND JOURNALS DIVISION D. H. Michael Bowen, Director

Charles R. Bertsch, Head Editorial Department Bacil Guiley, Head, Magazine and Production Department Seldon W. Terrant, Head, Research and Development Department Marion Gurtein, Circulation Development ADVERTISING MANAGEMENT Centcom, Ltd. For offices and advertisers, see page 634

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On more than one occasion I have been asked to say what an environmentalist is, and I have found the request difficult to oblige. Just who are the "true environmentalists"? The term "environmentalist" is often loosely applied to a wide range of persons with quite different goals, interests, and motivations. Some are ordinary citizens wanting improvement in the visible aspects of planetary nest fouling: dirty water and air, noise, litter, and crowding. Others, more recently anointed with the environmentalist label, are professionals in pursuit of basic scientific understanding of planetary processes. Still others are measuring or establishing social trends and mechanisms or are providing sustenance and satisfaction of perceived social needs. Collectively, these activities have become a major political force for social reform. Approximately 3000 organizations, devoted to pollution abatement, scenic and wildlife conservation, and the preservation of the human race, have been identified. The dozen largest have a membership exceeding four million individuals and a combined budget in excess of $48 million. Who among these four million people are the "true environmentalists"? Most of the people in this melange share a belief that things are going awry with modern society and are vaguely anxious for some kind of reform. Many feel that the problems can be solved with greater clean-up efforts, and they seek a more substantial social commitment to this end. They believe that man has faced problems before, that he is . resourceful by nature, and that he can, through the application of technology, make adjustments to remedy environmental problems. I submit, however, that the true environmentalist differs from the others in one major respect; he believes that mankind is at a unique point in human experience. "Unique" is one of those adjectives that has no comparative forms. It is properly used to describe an event that has never happened before, and it is the recognition of that fact which distinguishes the true environmentalist from the hangers-on. The numbers of people, their collective life styles, and the potential of modern technology for irreversible effects persuades them that no major or minor application of clean­ up, fix-up technology will solve the problems they perceive. Rather, what is needed is not only the adherence to altruism shared by all conservationists but, along with it, a willingness to undertake a basic revision of human values.

For author's guide and editorial policy, see this issue, page 575, or write Katherine I. Biggs, Manuscript Reviewing Office ESS Τ

Volume 11, Number 6, June 1977

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