In 1970, few people realized the complexity of environmental issues.
In 1990, few people are naive enough to think there are any simple solutions.Twenty years after the first Earth Day, environmental concern has become mainstream. There's widespread agreement that the environment will be the issue of the '90s.
But when you try to define the environment, the mainstream parts.
Here's a sampling of how leading Utahns define the most important environmental issues of the 1990s:
-Frank Fisher, director of external affairs for Kennecott: The three main issues for this decade are clean air, solid-waste disposal and protection of groundwater. "Much has already been accomplished in these areas, but rules will undoubtedly become more stringent in the future.
"I think that's the obvious trend. Another key feature is the general public will be required to be more active participants improving the environment.
"In the past, industry has been required to bear almost the total burden. But I think a broader responsibility will have to be shared among all citizens."
-Lawson LeGate, Salt Lake City, the Sierra Club's associate southwest regional representative: "We will see, I predict, in the 1990s, enactment of a BLM (Bureau of Land Management) wilderness legislation for Utah. It is going to be an opportunity for us to decide if indeed we are serious about protecting Utah's unique and world-famous desert and canyon landscape."
Another important issue is clean air, he said. "It remains to be seen if members of Congress will be able to match the will of the American people, which is expressed in favor of solving our air-quality problem."
-Glen Larsen, Spanish Fork, president of the Utah Cattlemen's Association: "I think we're all interested in breathing clean air. I think, speaking as a cattleman, we're certainly in favor of taking care of the environment and keeping the earth a good place to live."
Also, clean water is vitally important, he said. "We said before that we're the original environmentalists, because if we don't take care of those lands, those grazing areas, we won't be in business."
-Ken Sleight, Moab, evironmentalist candidate for Utah Senate: Two of the main issues are "physically maintaining, preserving the outback, our canyon country . . . and, especially in southern Utah, to solve our economic problems down here.
"This is our biggest problem. The poorer we are, the more susceptible to outrageous types of development." Among these are nuclear waste dumps, incinerators and oil wells that cause pollution, he said.
-Mark Walsh, Utah Association of Counties: "I think wilderness and clean air" will be important issues in the '90s.
"Because we're a public land state, I think not just the wilderness issue but continued access and utilization of the public lands, in traditional and in the historical fashion, are important to the people of Utah."
-Chandler St. John, retired supervisor of Wasatch-Cache National Forest and former member of the State Land Board: "One of the significant things this year is the active participation of younger people in conservation activities, like the Jackson Elementary students and their tree-planting program, and their challenge to other schools in the state."
Another is "the need for Utah to look at the management of their state lands, in the best long-term use of those lands."
"Obviously we'll have the concerns of the wilderness issue on BLM lands in particular in the next year or two."
-Booth Wallentine, executive vice president of the Utah Farm Bureau Federation: "Water quality . . . is really a major issue for us in the West." Although relatively few pesticides are used, other pollution sources can contaminate water supplies, like municipal runoff and soil erosion, he said.
"Another issue will be the ongoing public lands issue, whether we would continue to harvest forage for public lands for the livestock industry." Wilderness is a part of this debate, he said.
"Then, too, I would identify air quality as a significant issue. Farmers are not usually thought of as being in the camp of the air-quality preservation movement. But unless we have good quality air and water, we cannot produce crops."
Dangerous emissions from industrial plants are known to cause crop and livestock damage in some areas, Wallentine said.
-Noel DeNevers, chemistry professor at the University of Utah: "The truth is, the most important issue is population. All other issues are subsidiary to that.
"That's the cause of the problems in our schools and every aspect of our government life, that as long as we try to increase our population with finite resources and finite environment, it gets harder and harder. That is the ultimate issue."
-Bud Scruggs, chief of staff for Gov. Norm Bangerter: "A big reason that companies are willing to relocate or expand in Utah is because of the proximity of clean air, clean mountains, unspoiled areas, as well as good recreational facilities. I think it finally is starting to set in on people that not only is environmentalism not at odds with economic development, it's a key component of it."
(Additional information)
Deseret News Graphic
Did you know . . .?
Polystyrene foam - used to make the container for your fastfood hamburger - is under attack as non-biodegradable. Yet it can be safely burned in incinerators or recycled.
Americans dispose of 160 million to 180 million tons of waste per year. Landfills are filling up.
Only 25 percent of organic waste in landfills degrades in the first 15 years. After that, only about another 0.5 percent, or less, breaks down.
In 1989, scrap recyclers processed 9 million automobiles in America, more than the country's automakers produced.
In 1989, 26 million tons of used paper was recycled into new paper. That's enough to print the mammoth Sunday edition of the New York Times for 58 years.
In 1989, Americans recycled 49.4 billion aluminum cans, 61 percent of the cans produced. They were paid $900 million in recycling bonuses.
Protecting the environment is crucial regardless of the cost, 80 percent of Americans say.
The world is losing biological diversity at the rate of about one species per day. In the past 200 years, 85 percent of the forest birds of Hawaii became extinct or nearly extinct. In Brazil, enough of the rain forest to cover Austria is cut or burned every year.
Only 28 percent of Americans think the quality of the country's environment has improved in the past five years, while 49 percent say it has deteriorated.
"Wilderness and wildlife" is the country's top environmental concern, 81 percent of Americans say.
America is failing . . . to keep the air clean, 72 percent say; to keep waterways clean, 76 percent say; to properly dispose of chemicla waste, 85 percent say.
*Information for this chart was gleaned from a number of polls and scientific research conducted nationwide.