R x : For a Quality Environment: Ingenuity and Imagination

Abstract

Participation in this distinguished panel of the Kansas Academy of Science offers me the exhilarating opportunity to explore with you the provocations and puzzlements of man's environment . . . and the sobering opportunity to return to my own native environment to do so. Here, in the less hurried and harried geographical center of a nation that is suffering the frustrations of flux and change, perhaps we can find the common denominators of a balanced ecosystem where man helps nature help man create and sustain a quality environment. It is my rare opportunity to be involved in the efforts of a great state and its people, production and productivity to stave off the despoliating environmental conditions that threaten the quality of the land, water and air. In a sense, New York, with high densities of people and industries, is the bellwether of what may also occur to the ecology of man's environment in areas of this nation where time has not yet run out in man's fight against blight. Time is a priceless ingredient in stepped-up efforts to correct the effects of what we call civilization on our habitat-the polluting of water resources--the besmirching of the land-the befoulment of the air-the intrusion of our quiet peace. If, a few decades ago, we had used the imagination and perspective we now seem to be applying to the creation of a livable environment, we might have found that an ounce of prevention is worth far more than a pound of cure. Late as it is in the scientific revolution which creates things and produces threats to the people whom the things are intended, there is yet time to modify our methods so we may have progress without pollution. The prophets of doom see man's environment so seriously threatened that science must move with breakneck speed to protect our precious ecological balance. It is reassuring to return to Kansas to find that man's ability to have an ample supply of high quality water has been demonstrated by dynamic attacks on water pollution and an enlightened program of water planning and development. The lesson is clear: Haste to correct the effects of environmental waste can be wasteful. As Senator Henry Jackson of Washington has said, for too long government has reacted