Pulling The Plug On Mother Earth Essay

, Research Paper

Whether it be through intensified media attention, or due to the efforts of

prominent scientists and other members of society, we have become increasingly

aware of the detrimental effects that technological advances in industry and

agriculture have on the global environment. However, as Carl Sagan points out in

.Pulling the Plug on Mother Earth. awareness is not enough, nor is

society.s response to the catastrophic implications of environmental pollution

rapid enough. Slowness to implement sound strategies are in part due to the fact

that the threats we face are nebulous, since they come in the form of particles

of invisible gases and radioactivity, and in part because response to pollution

appears to be so costly at individual, governmental and corporate levels. It

appears that great material loss, as well as visual manifestation, have been the

only ways to galvanize action towards altering and limiting technologies so that

adverse chemicals and substances are no longer belched into the environment. For

example, Sagan is right on the mark when he indicates that it took the reality

that CFCs were destroying the sensitive but protective ozone layer to encourage

large chemical companies to begin a gradual phase-out of these substances, even

when scientists had already discovered the terrible effects of the chemical

combination. Sagan says that to slowly stop usage of such obviously dangerous

substances is not enough, for even with current conditions, it is estimated that

the damaged ozone layer will require at least 100 years to repair itself. In the

interim, we are risking danger to the food chain, global warming, and increased

cases of skin cancer. Rather than risk these catastrophes, Sagan calls for the

immediate phase-out of CFCs, as well as to improve energy usage, plant trees,

and curb the population explosion as supplemental methods to improve the

environment. While the cause and effect relationship between technological

advances and pollution have certainly influenced public outcry towards change,

and influenced corporations to alter their poisoning mechanisms, the immediate

change that Sagan calls for will necessarily meet with resistance. Sagan.s own

.revelation. about mankind.s reticence to act unless literally .under

the gun. remains a valid point. Destruction of the ozone layer and incidents

such as the Exxon oil spill in Alaska are indeed enormous calamities, and we

have been cautioned by at least one reputable scientist as to the risks we take

by delaying reform, but these events are still not great enough to spawn greater

action than handling the immediate situation. It is one thing to agree that car

travel pollutes the environment, and to see dense smog in the Los Angeles Basin,

but millions will still get in their vehicles tomorrow to drive their jobs.

Current technologies available have been incorporated into lifestyle at a very

practical level. The large cogs of public and private interests also turn slowly

due to this infrastructure of product usage which has become so firmly

entrenched. Decisions that were made decades ago, such as automobile transit

phasing out train transit, and the manufacture of energy through the building of

nuclear plants, effect and influence us right now at very fundamental levels.

Just as the ozone layer will take decades to repair itself, society and public

acceptance requires time to shift and modify as well, as Sagan does well to

point out. The challenge to orchestrate the changes necessary for environmental

improvement are further complicated in at least two ways. First, there are

conflicting viewpoints as to the role government plays to influence private

industry to replace technologically damaging processes with more ecologically

sound technologies. Second, to phase out current technologies is a burden many

corporations are unwilling to take on; implementation of new technologies

adversely affects profit margins. Third, governmental failures in policy,

according to Morgensen and Eisenstodt in .Profits are for Rape and Pillage,.

create a situation where corporations have no incentive to move towards

pollution control. Implementation of governmental governmental policies and

programs designed to improve the environment fail because there is no incentive

for legislators to determine the costs and benefits of their legislation, as

there is a lack of appropriate experience in the matter. Legislators focus only

on the appearance of implementing solutions for the popular vote, then allow

their decisions to be clouded by lobbyists and political maneuverings. The

resulting regulatory standards and technological mandates inappropriately

micromanage the private sector, limiting their creativity to allocate resources

to improve and change. Improving the environment is seen as conflicting with

growth in business, and it b

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