The Good Earth (page 4 of 6)

How Did We Get Here?

A combination of technological inventions, government regulation, citizen activism and business innovations have, well, worked!

Innovation Goes Green
Invention has always been an important force in American history. When major reductions in automobile pollu-tion were first mandated by the Clean Air Act of 1970, automakers either called the goals impossible or claimed that cars would become ruinously expensive. Then the catalytic converter was invented. This device reduces the level of many pollutants from automobile exhaust both cheaply and reliably.

Today, it is estimated that new cars and light trucks emit just 3 to 4 percent of the amount of pollution that a new car would have emitted in 1968, before regulation; soon cars emitting less than 1 percent could be seen driving around your neighborhood.

Other inventions, such as an enormous device known as the electrostatic precipitator, have reduced severe emissions from power-plant smokestacks, eliminated toxic substances from manufacturing processes, and replaced CFCs, the chemicals that cause ozone-layer depletion, with other more benign compounds. And by the way, the ozone layer appears to be restoring itself.

Legislation in Action
Government regulation has also been an important force in the drive to protect the environment. The reason the catalytic converter and other antipollution devices were invented in the first place is because the government required big reductions in pollution, via the Clean Air Act, Clean Water Act and other legislation. Some environmental regulation may be too cumbersome and needs to be streamlined -- standards can vary wildly between regions -- but there isn't any doubt that environmental regulation actually works.

Citizens for Change
Individual activism has been another important factor in the amazing progress we have seen in our natural world. Without the continued pressure from environmentalists, antipollution legislation would not have been enacted, and many pollution-reducing devices would not have been invented. Grass-roots organizations have been particularly essential to the ongoing creation and maintenance of new parks, wildlife refuges and protected forests.

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• Talkin' Trash
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• Energy Savings Strategy
• 8 Steps to lower your gas and electric bills.
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• Are You an Eco Hero?
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