WHAT WITH SUMMERS OF WITHERING HEAT across the country, indeed worldwide (45º Celsius = 113 Fahrenheit), only the dimmest of bulbs these days deny climate change. (You may remember, it even used to be called global warming, back when we were all analyzing hypotheses.)
Environmental Success Stories: Solving Major Ecological Problems and Confronting Climate Change, by Frank M. Dunnivant, Afterward by Kari Norgaard, Columbia University Press, 2017.
Frank M. Dunnivant is Professor of Chemistry at Whitman College. IndieBound notes, “He has worked at two U.S. Department of Energy laboratories. For the past twenty years he has taught an environment science course to nonscience majors that seeks to inform and inspire action to save the environment.”
What impresses me about Professor Dunnivant’s approach is its upbeat perspective, both in past actions as well as potential future ones. Here are tidbits gleaned from the IndieBound review and from my usual Internet sleuthing.
Professer Dunnivant’s Perspective. IndieBound recounts, “Unlike many titles on environmental issues that portend a dark future, Environmental Success Stories delves into the most daunting ecological and environmental challenges humankind has faced and shows how scientists, citizens, and a responsive public sector have dealt with them successfully.”
The website continues, “In addition to presenting the basic chemical and environmental science underlying problems like providing clean drinking water, removing DDT and lead from agriculture and our homes, and curtailing industrial pollution, this book also discusses the political actors, agency regulators, and community leaders who have collaborated to enact effective legislation…. Now is the time for rededicated scientific exploration and enlightened citizen action to save our environment, and Dunnivant’s book offers a stirring call to action.”
Image from aqualisco.com.
Cleaning Up the Water. As noted by Wikipedia, “The Clean Water Act [1972] was one of the United States’ first and most influential modern environmental laws.” Much to conflicted feelings of MAGA types, this law and its regulations are administered through the Environmental Protection Agency—an agency established by none other than President Richard Nixon in 1970.
Squirm much? Indeed, “On Politicians and Hypocrisy” was a topic here at SimanaitisSays accompanied by the likes of Mitch McConnell, Donald Trump, and the rest back in 2017.
Getting the Lead Out. Another environmental success story dating from the 1970s was removing TEL, tetraethyl lead, from gasoline. Effective anti-knock agent though it was, lead was/is poisonous to automotive catalytic converters (not to say having long-known deadly effects on humans).
Removing DDT. The National Library of Medicine writes, “Dichlorodiphenyltrichloroethane [whew!] is a potent insecticide and was used worldwide for agricultural and public health purposes from the 1940s until the 1970s, when concern about its toxic effects on wildlife and humans, its environmental persistence, and its concentration in the food supply led to restrictions and prohibitions on its use.”
Protecting the Ozone Layer. Wikipedia notes, “The ozone layer absorbs 97 to 99 percent of the Sun’s medium-frequency ultraviolet light (from about 200 to 315 nm wavelength) which otherwise would potentially damage exposed life forms near the surface.”
Wikipedia continues, “In 1985, atmospheric research revealed that the ozone layer was being depleted by chemicals released by industry, mainly chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs). Concerns that increased UV radiation due to ozone depletion threatened life on Earth, including increased skin cancer in humans and other ecological problems, led to bans on the chemicals, and the latest evidence is that ozone depletion has slowed or stopped.”
The Montreal Protocol. Confronted with this threat, humankind reacted with relative alacrity: Wikipedia notes, “These concerns led to the adoption of the Montreal Protocol in 1987, which bans the production of CFCs, halons, and other ozone-depleting chemicals.” Alternative refrigerants have been developed, for example, in air-conditioning.
Wikipedia recounts, “The Montreal Protocol is considered the most successful international environmental agreement to date. Following the bans on ozone-depleting chemicals, the UN projects that under the current regulations the ozone layer will completely regenerate by 2045, thirty years earlier than previously predicted.”
The Paris Accords—MAGA versus Earth’s Climate. “The treaty,” Wikipedia writes, “covers climate change mitigation, adaptation, and finance. The Paris Agreement was negotiated by 196 parties at the 2015 United Nations Climate Change Conference near Paris, France.”
Blue: State parties. Yellow: Signatories. Dark blue: Parties also included by EU ratification. White: Agreement does not apply. Image from Wikipedia.
“As of February 2023,” Wikipedia continues, “195 members of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) are parties to the agreement. Of the three UNFCCC member states which have not ratified the agreement, the only major emitter is Iran. The United States withdrew from the agreement in 2020, but rejoined in 2021.”
And what sort of jackass would have withdrawn from such an agreement benefiting humankind? Click on the “United States withdrew” link directly above—and remember it on November 5. ds
© Dennis Simanaitis, SimanaitisSays.com 2024