Total Approach for Environmental Protection Abel Wolman

Somewhat less than ten years ago, the Environmental Protection Act was signed into law. Following upon that national acceptence of an abiding interest in the environment, a deluge ensued of regulations, standards, law suits, journals, impact statements, and scientific and pseudo-scientific papers. The scramble to climb on the ecological band-wagon, even in this land of crisis behavior, was an extraordinary phenomenon. The faith in instant correction of past ecological ills by legislative and administrative fiats was strong. No politician dared to risk his career by suggesting that a somewhat slower motion toward the millennium might be the part of wisdom.