rban planners and citizens unite their efforts to construct a philosophy of the earth which seeks to preserve and conserve its beauty and immense resources rather than to destroy and exploit its wonder.
In contrast to the apocalyptical tone adopted by Tobias in World War III, Dixie Lee Ray and Lou Guzzo contend that the correct implementation of scientific knowledge can help heal the environment rather than necessarily contributing to its immediate demise. In Trashing the Planet Ray and Guzzo outline how scientific intervention can help counteract acid rain, the depletion of the ozone level and give directions as how to best dispose of nuclear waste. Although the greenhouse effect cannot be totally eradicated, it can be significantly diminished by the year 2025. In Trashing the Planet Ray and Guzzo warn against adopting a fatalistic attitude which will block strategic action and appropriate policy formulation.
Environmental issues are by necessity multi-faceted. To deal with how land should be utilized encourages an interdiscip-linary approach, an asking of economists, farmers, and government regulators what is the best action to take. Scientific inquiry strives to be objective. Dealing with environmental issues requires making value-based judgements. To ask lumber companies to stop deforesting means to cut back on their profit. To ask fisheries to limit their in-take of specific endangered species also limits their freedom to make the fullest profit available. In order to create a viable environmental science there must be a consensus based on shared community values. Modern specializ-ation has contributed to the misuse of natural resources. In Extinction Paul and Anne Ehrlich argue that preservation of all the species should not be a goal to which only naturalists are committed. If global environmental policy is modified to help threatened areas such as the Rain Forest, the consequences will not be merely aestheti...