阅读理解
The
Truth About the Environment
For many environmentalists, the world seems to be getting
worse. They have developed a hit-list of our main fears: that natural resources
are running out, that the population is ever growing, leaving less and less to
eat, that species are becoming disappeared in huge numbers, and that the planet's air and water are becoming ever more polluted.
But a quick look at the facts shows a different picture.
First, energy and other natural resources have become more abundant, not less
so. Second, more food is now produced per head of the world's population than at any time in history. Fewer people are
starving. Third, although species are indeed becoming disappeared, only about
0.7% of them are dying out in the next 50 years, not 25-50%, as has so often
been predicted. And finally, most forms of environmental pollution either
appear to have been best cured not by limiting economic growth, but by
accelerating it.
Yet public opinion surveys suggest that many people hold the
belief that environmental standards are declining and four factors seem to
cause this gap between what they know and what the reality is.
One is the unbalanced budget for scientific research.
Scientific funding goes mainly to areas with many problems. That may be wise
policy, but it will also create an impression that many more potential problems
exist than is the case.
Secondly, environmental groups need to be noticed by the
mass media. They also need to keep the money rolling in. Understandably,
perhaps, they sometimes overstate their arguments. In 1997, for example, the
World Wide Fund for Nature issued a press release entitled: „Two thirds of the
world's forests lost forever'. The truth turns out to be nearer 20%.
A third source of confusion is the attitude of the media.
People are extremely more curious about bad news than good. Newspapers and
broadcasters are there to provide what the public wants: That, however, can
lead to significant misunderstanding. An example was that America came across
EI Nino(厄尔尼诺) in 1997 and 1998. This climatic
phenomenon was accused of breaking tourism, causing allergies, melting the
ski-slopes, and causing 22 deaths. However, according to an article in the
Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society, the damage was estimated at $4
billion but the benefits amounted to some $19 billion.
The fourth factor is poor individual knowledge. People worry
that the endless rise in the amount of things everyone throws away will cause
the world to run out of places to dispose of waste. Yet, even if America's trash output continues to rise as it has done in the past,
and even if the American population doubles by 2100, all the rubbish America
produces through the entire 21st century will still take up only one 12,000th
of the area of the entire United States.
It is extremely important that we look at the facts if we
want to make the best possible decisions for the future. It may be costly to be
overly optimistic, but more costly still to be too pessimistic.
