Reporting the Good News on Earth Day, 1999
Latest Index of Leading Environmental Indicators Shows Marked Improvement in Recent Years
1999-05
Every April we have come to expect Earth Day news coverage filled with gloom and doom regarding the state of our environment, but new research shows there is also some good news to report.
To provide a more balanced view, the Washington Institute Foundation teamed up with the San Francisco-based Pacific Research Institute to provide an up-to-date assessment of the environment since the nation marked the first Earth Day more than two decades ago.
Using EPA and other federal scientific data, the 1999 Index of Leading Environmental Indicators, concludes that steady innovations in industrial technology and ongoing economic prosperity “have led to continuous improvement of environ- mental trends in the United States.”
In addition to the national report, we arranged to publish a special Washington supplement that assesses leading environmental indicators in our state. Here are some highlights:
Washington’s improving air quality is consistent with trends across the nation. Since 1970 the U.S. population has increased by 29 percent, yet air quality has dramatically improved:
Puget Sound’s water quality is also improving compared with pollution levels monitored over the last twenty years.
The Sound and its surrounding land form the nation’s second largest estuary system, and with 3.8 million people, the area is home to about two-thirds of our state’s population. Twice-daily tidal movements mix water from the Pacific Ocean with the fresh water that drains from hundreds of rivers and streams to create a system enclosed by over 2,000 miles of meandering shoreline.
The concrete signs of improving water quality are:
The report notes that the total land area of the continental United States is less than 5 percent urbanized, a figure which includes all roads and interstate highways. The rate of urbanization increase each year is just .07 percent.
The report’s findings show Washington’s total land area is about four percent developed, one percent below the national average, leaving 96 percent of the state as open space of one kind or another.
These figures seem low in light of steady news coverage about urban “sprawl.” But because nearly every acre of open space that comes under development is in sight of a populated area (typically the edge of a suburb), we have a perception that land is being used at a precipitous rate. That perception is aggravated in Washington by the fact that most of the state’s growth and population is concentrated on the west side of the Cascade Range.
The report points to technical progress and general economic growth as contributing to reductions in pollution. The report also cites market incentives, property rights and voluntary cooperation as successful policies often used in place of the traditional top-down, one-size-fits-all ap-proach imposed by government regulation.
We don’t often see headlines like, “Washington has one of the best air quality records in the nation” or “Water quality in Puget Sound improving,” but these are exactly some of the solid results that are measurable today.
Of course we should continue to work as a society to protect the environment, but the progress made so far shows how the creativity of free markets and free individuals can lead to similar successes in the future.
The full national report (about 50 pages) is available upon request. If you would like a copy, just let us know and we will promptly send it to you. It is also available at www.pacificresearch.org.