Global Effects of Environmental Pollution: A Symposium Organized by the American Association for the Advancement of Science Held in Dallas, Texas, December 1968 PDF
Preview Global Effects of Environmental Pollution: A Symposium Organized by the American Association for the Advancement of Science Held in Dallas, Texas, December 1968
GLOBAL EFFECTS OF ENVIRONMENTAL POLLUTION South and Central America, the Atlantic Ocean, and portions of Africa and North America are seen on this photograph from NASA's Applications Technology Satellite III, taken on November 19, 1967. Satellites have the capability of monitoring many kinds of pollution on a world-wide basis. GLOBAL EFFECTS OF ENVIRONMENTAL POLLUTION A SYMPOSIUM ORGANIZED BY THE AMERICAN ASSOCIATION FOR THE ADVANCEMENT OF SCIENCE HELD IN DALLAS, TEXAS, DECEMBER 1968 Edited by S. FRED SINGER D. REIDEL PUBLISHING COMPANY DORDRECHT-HOLLAND Library of Congress Catalog Card Number 78-118129 SBN Number 90 277 / 01512 ISBN-13: 978-94-010-3292-6 e-ISBN-13: 978-94-010-3290-2 DOl: 10.1007/978-94-010-3290-2 All Rights Reserved Copyright © 1970 by D. Reidel Publishing Company, Dordrecht, Holland No part of this book may be reproduced in any form, by print, photoprint, microfilm, or any other means, without written permission from the publisher FOREWORD The Symposium on the Global Effects of Environmental Pollution has performed an important task; it has helped to determine the world-wide impact of certain types of local pollution and has uncovered certain unsuspected effects that might hold dan gerous implications for the future. This Symposium should help to make the world aware of a crisis that is becoming more ominous and that involves the developing as well as the developed countries - the crisis of the human environment. The causes of this crisis are not difficult to discern. There has been an unprecedented increase in the world's population, an ever-increasing rate of urbanization, and in many countries, a continuous process of industrialization. Essentially, advancing technology has made it possible for a minority of mankind to achieve affluence and holds out hope for improving the well-being of the great majority. But, because it has not been integrated into the natural environment, this very technology - in industry, in agriculture or in transport - is having many undesir able and potentially catastrophic consequences. Our air, our water and our soil are in grave danger. Many species of animal and plant life have become extinct or are facing extinction. The loss to mankind is grave and even the future oflife on earth may be in danger. The challenge is to find ways of repairing the harm already done and to prevent further harm. The conclusion of the Symposium showed that the problem is not insoluble, but that sustained effort, locally, nationally and at the international level can reverse, or at least stop the trend. The United Nations Conference on the Human Environment, to be held in Sweden in 1972, should help both developed and developing countries to protect and improve the human environment without relaxing their efforts to further their economic and social development. Man has the ingenuity and is acquiring the knowledge so save his environment. This conviction is strengthened by the conclusions of this Symposium. PHILIPPE DE SEYNES, Under-Secretary-General for Economic and Social Affairs of the United Nations EDITOR'S PROLOGUE An increased scale of human actIVIty has brought with it pollution, defined as "an undesirable change in the physical, chemical, or biological characteristics of our air, land, and water that mayor will harmfully affect human life or that of any other desirable species, or industrial processes, living conditions, or cultural assets; or that mayor will waste or deteriorate our raw material resources".* Under certain circum stances, the natural processes are unable to keep pace with the increase of pollutants, and then serious problems arise, which are usually on a local scale. On occasion, how ever, pollution effects may persist long enough so that the atmosphere or the ocean circulation may spread them over the whole earth. One classic example, well-documented, is the rise in the concentration of atmos pheric carbon dioxide produced by the intensive burning of fossil fuels during the past few decades. The buffering action of the ocean has not been able to keep pace with the increased rate of production. and we now find the CO content increased by about 2 10% and still rising. But while there is little argument concerning the existence of such an increase, there is no agreement as to the consequences of an increase on the radiation balance of the earth and, therefore, on world climate. There are now many other examples of worldwide effects: pesticides in the world's oceans, for example. And there may be pollution effects extant which we have not yet recognized or whose consequences we cannot yet ascertain. It is important therefore to examine the situation at frequent intervals, to de termine whether a pollutant released in our environment could have far-ranging effects in the biosphere. and to probe particularly all interconnections in order to expose any weak link in the ecological chain. We know that global oxygen production depends greatly on photosynthesis of oceanic phytoplankton. As Lloyd Berkner and Lauristan Marshall have pointed out a couple of years ago, if the minute but in creasing amounts of pesticides in the ocean could affect the phytoplankton, then the worldwide oxygen production might be decreased. Most worrisome are situations in which a triggering action sets off a feedback mechanism that preexists in nature. Such feedback mechanisms are believed to be responsible for major changes in the climate and for the production of the Ice Ages. It behooves us therefore to examine very carefully, and even conservatively, all pollution effects arising from human activities. It is important also that this examination involve scientists from different specialties but with broad interests. Many disciplines must be represented, including geophysics, * 'Waste Management and Control', Committee on Pollution, National Academy of Sciences/ National Research Council, Washington, D.C• . 1966. VIII EDITOR'S PROLOGUE geology, biochemistry, biology, medicine, and ecology. The subject matter has obvious interest to the general public, to policymakers in the government, and to all who are concerned about the effects of man's activities on the environment. Problems of environmental pollution are causing increasing concern to many groups, both within and outside of the United States government. In the Federal Government, the Federal Council of Science and Technology has set up a Committee on Environ mental Quality which includes representatives of United States government agencies having programs in environmental quality and pollution control. The President's Scientific Advisory Committee has set up a Panel on the Environment. At the highest level of government, President Nixon has established an Environmental Quality Council, and legislation has been introduced for an Office of Environmental Quality, directly responsible to the President. The National Academy of Sciences has been operating an Environmental Studies Board, under which there are organized a number of panels. Recently, the Congress organized a Colloquium to discuss a National Policy for the Environment. The American Association for the Advancement of Science now has a Committee on Environmental Alteration concerned with environmental quality problems, and there are many private organizations for whom pollution effects are be coming of increasing concern. An outstanding example is the Conservation Foun dation. On an international basis, also, the need has become apparent for being alert to worldwide effects. In September 1968, the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization organized a Conference on Man and the Biosphere which led to important recommendations. The Government of Sweden has called on the U.N. General Assembly to conduct a Conference in 1972 on Problems of the Human Environment, and the need for a global network for monitoring environmental quality parameters has been stressed by the International Council of Scientific Unions. It is in this context that the AAAS asked me to organize a Symposium on Global Effects of Environmental Pollution for their Annual Meeting in Dallas, in December 1968. Its purposes were to discuss, in three sessions, the worldwide effects which may arise from local pollution and try to uncover, if possible, hitherto unsuspected effects which might have serious consequences. The afternoon session of December 26,1968, dealt with the balance of oxygen and of carbon dioxide in the earth's atmosphere, and with the problems arising from nitrogen compounds in the soil and water on the earth. The second session, in the morning of December 27, was devoted to possible effects on global climate produced by air pollution, and to the problem of toxic wastes discharged into the oceans. The third session, in the afternoon of December 27, was devoted to a panel discussion at which an assessment was made of the urgency of various pollution problems, including a discussion of the public policy aspects. I have invited additional papers to supplement those presented at the Symposium, and have added introductions to each set of papers. In setting up their Committee on Environmental Alteration, the AAAS Board of Directors leaned on a report, some of whose paragraphs appear to me to be especially relevant to this Symposium volume: EDITOR'S PROLOGUE IX "Man's relation to the environment is surely one of the most important problems facing society today. Yet these changes are still of limited public concern and have been given insufficient attention, especially by natural and social scientists." "Improved public understanding is essential, for successful methods of preventing great and perhaps irreversible damage to the environment will often require public financing and public acceptance, and may require changes in law or in social customs or institutions." S. FRED SINGER Deputy Assistant Secretary U.S. Department of the Interior Washington, D.C., U.S.A. January 1970 T ABLE OF CONTENTS Foreword, by Philippe de Seynes v Editor's Prologue VII PART IICHEMICAL BALANCE OF GASES IN THE EARTH'S ATMOSPHERE Introduction 3 FRANCIS S. JOHNSON / The Oxygen and Carbon Dioxide Balance in the Earth's Atmosphere 4 FREDERICK D. SISLER! Impact of Land and Sea Pollution on the Chemical Stability of the Atmosphere 12 SYUKURO MANABE! The Dependence of Atmospheric Temperature on the Concentration of Carbon Dioxide 25 RAINER BERGER and WILLARD F. LIBBY! Exchange of C02 Between Atmos- phere and Sea Water: Possible Enzymatic Control of the Rate 30 LOUIS S. JAFFE! The Global Balance of Carbon Monoxide 34 ELMER ROBINSON and ROBER T C. ROBBINS! Gaseous Atmospheric Pollutants from Urban and Natural Sources 50 PART II I NITROGEN COMPOUNDS IN SOIL, WATER, ATMOSPHERE AND PRECIPITATION Introduction 67 BARRY COMMONER! Threats to the Integrity of the Nitrogen Cycle: Nitrogen Compounds in Soil, Water, Atmosphere and Precipitation 70 D. R. KEENEY and w. R. GARDNER / The Dynamics of Nitrogen Transforma- tions in the Soil 96 T. C. BYERL Y ! Nitrogen Compounds Used in Crop Production 104 ARTHUR D. HASLER / Man-Induced Eutrophication of Lakes 110 PART III I EFFECTS OF ATMOSPHERIC POLLUTION ON CLIMATE Introduction 129 REID A. BRYSON and WAYNE M. WENDLAND / Climatic Effects of Atmos- pheric Pollution 130 J. MURRAY MITCHELL, JR.! A Preliminary Evaluation of Atmospheric Pollu- tion as a Cause of the Global Temperature Fluctuation of the Past Century 139 XII TABLE OF CONTENTS SYUKURO MANABE I Cloudiness and the Radiative, Convective Equilibrium 156 VINCENT J. SCHAEFER / The Inadvertent Modification of the Atmosphere by Air Pollution 158 PART IV / WORLDWIDE OCEAN POLLUTION BY TOXIC WASTES Introduction 177 EDWARD D. GOLDBERG / The Chemical Invasion of the Oceans by Man 178 GEORGE M. WOODWELL / Changes in the Chemistry of the Oceans: The Pattern of Effects 186 BOSTWICK H. KETCHUM / Biological Implications of Global Marine Pollution 190 BENGT LUNDHOLM / Interactions Between Oceans and Terrestrial Ecosystems 195 SOME UNSOLVED PROBLEMS: A PANEL DISCUSSION 203 EPILOGUE 205 ABOUT THE AUTHORS 207 INDEX OF NAMES 211 INDEX OF SUBJECTS 214
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