What Needs To Be Done To assure that adverse effects due to radiation are kept to an absolute minimum, the following are necessary: 1. Continued research to determine the effects of low-level doses of radiation and their cumulative effects. 2. Intensified research on problems of radiation arising from medical uses and from consumer products. 3. Careful regulation and control of the release of radiation to the environment from nuclear reactors, underground nuclear testing, and the transportation, storage, and disposal of radio-active wastes. Population, Growth, and Resources S POPULATION grows, it creates more environmental problems As and intensifies those that are already there just by dint of its growth. For all the decades of the country's national existence, population growth has been in a steady spiral. As it grew, there were more people to want more services, which can only come from natural resources. In those nearly two centuries of growth, Americans took what they wanted with little counting of the cost in natural resources and the toll this took on the environment. We have wanted automobiles, TV sets, and household appliances and a variety of clothing, food, and housing. We have wanted to flip on a switch and immediately have electricity or to turn on a faucet and have an unlimited flow of water at low cost. And we have wanted to dispose easily and rapidly of personal, household, and industrial wastes produced by our style of living. POPULATION AND GROWTH Between 1830 and 1930 the world's population doubled from 1 to 2 billion. By 1970, it had almost doubled again, reaching 3.6 billion. Between now and the end of the century, a mere 30 years, it probably will more than double again-barring catastrophe or a marked change in values-to an estimated 7.5 billion. The U.S. population is growing less rapidly than that of most of the rest of the world, but the increase is still significant. One hundred million people lived in the United States in 1915. The population has passed 205 million today and may reach between 265 and 322 million by the end of the century. Population growth was of little relevance and of no concern to man during the first several hundred thousand years of his existence. Less than 200 years ago, some of the negative implications of population increase first began to be realized. Although the rate of population growth in the United States and other industrial nations has declined, its absolute growth hasn't. And that contributes to environmental decay. More people mean more congestion, more urban sprawl, and vast networks of highways to transport them. They require more goods and services-more steel, more paper, more cars, and more beer cans. And they put more severe demands on urban land. Moreover, people themselves produce waste that must be handled by treatment plants. Mushrooming population growth doesn't necessarily mean more polluted air and water. But it is more difficult to have environmental quality with the pressure of population. It is more difficult to avoid congestion, preserve green space and keep a pleasant environment. Whatever the environmental problem, rising population requires effort just to stand still and great effort to make progress-requiring institutions not now available and management tools not yet perfected. Population Control-A Matter of Values The increased attention focused on the environment has already changed values in American society. Increasingly, concern has shifted from quantity to quality and from the desirability of growth to the desirability of stability. These are not absolute alternatives, but rather broad differences in emphasis. The quantitative increase in GNP has generated significant qualitative improvements in the way people live, and certain kinds of growth are necessary for the stability of society. However, the significance of values in determining population policy should not be underestimated. Quantitatively Americans have achieved heights which could not be imagined only a few decades ago-metropolitan areas of unparalleled size, a GNP approaching a trillion dollars a year, and consumption of goods and resources on a scale far exceeding that of any other society, past or present. Although growth has been accompanied by a better life in some ways, growth has not led to a high quality environment. It has become clear that a finite planet cannot withstand infinite population growth. An optimum population range is a matter of considerable dispute. Many feel that the country has already reached the desirable limits of growth, and their view may come to be generally accepted. It is not generally accepted now, however, and evidence to indicate what the optimum population should be is scanty or nonexistent. The work of |