Moving Upstream: NEPA and the Golden River

Abstract

NEPA practitioners are keenly aware of Title I, Section 102 of the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA), especially its references to using a systematic, interdisciplinary approach to environmental assessment. Most NEPA practitioners are also knowledgeable about Title I, Section 101, which stresses the importance of preserving historic, cultural, and natural resources, and of achieving a balance between population and economic growth and resource use. Few of us, however, are aware of the nobler aspects of Section 101 that emphasize our responsibility as trustees “to create and maintain conditions under which man and nature can exist in productive harmony,” not only for the present, but “for succeeding generations.” This article has three objectives. First, it traces the evolution of our environmental awareness by describing the social and cultural motivations that led this country to enact NEPA and other federal environmental laws. Second, the article assesses where our profession is today after 30-plus years of NEPA—for example, its effectiveness in protecting the environment and maintaining diversity of species. Third, the article looks ahead into the new century and speculates what will be required of us as environmental stewards, not only technically but also socially and emotionally, to meet environmental challenges—for example, the challenge of natural disaster impact assessment. The article suggests in part that there is a resonance in the natural world that can strike a chord within our beings that not only enlivens our spirits, but also stirs our imaginations and stimulates our highest creative efforts. To achieve the above objectives, the article journeys through 30 years of literary writings—from Roethke's The Far Field (1964) and Carson's Silent Spring (1962) and The Sense of Wonder (1965), to Oliver's American Primitive (1978), House of Light (1990), and West Wind (1997), and Steingraber's Living Downstream: An Ecologist Looks at Cancer and the Environment (1997).