【101年警大研究所】碩士班英文詳解

  Concern for the environment in the US extends back into the nineteenth century, when nature lovers and sports enthusiasts first sought protection for areas of exceptional natural beauty or significance. But it was not until the late 1960’s that environment concerns entered the mainstream of American political debate. By then many Americans had come to the conclusion that more development was not necessarily desirable, especially if it meant more polluted air, dying lakes and rivers, and a landscape strewn with unsightly waste, and crowded with sprawling construction projects. In May of 1970, several environmental groups staged the first Earth Day celebration, designed to heighten public awareness of environmental problems. The success of that initial effort led to it becoming a regular annual event.

  During the 1950s and 1960s, industrial and vehicle pollution levels had become a serious threat to public health, so the environmental movement of this period focused heavily on restoring and ensuring the cleanliness of basic air and water supplies. Rapidly expanding development pressures were also spurring efforts to preserve unique lands and threatened wildlife habitats, and to protect the endangered species supported by them before they vanished into extinction. It is generally accepted that the environmental protection movement was so successful because of its grass roots support; groups of activists in hundreds of towns that took the initiative in cleaning up their own communities. During the 1970s, this local activism reinforced support for the passage of key laws at the national level, such as the Clean Water Act, Clean Air Act, Endangered Species Act, and National Environmental Policy Act, which together have constituted the foundation for environmental standards in the US ever since.

  In addition to this national legislation, the year after the first Earth Day, by executive order, President Nixon established the Environmental Protection Agency (EPS); an organization dedicated to restoring and protecting the environment. The EPA spearheaded many contemporary efforts to protect the environment, but it was not working alone. It was allied with a wide variety of distinctly different and separate organizations ranging from a small number of well-funded high-profile national and international organizations to many thousands of smaller special interest groups and even individuals working at the local level. The EPA has now become one of the government’s largest and most influential regulatory agencies. Through its own efforts and in cooperation with other organizations, it has earned a large measure of credit for protecting and restoring the quality of the environment in the United States.

  Although one might assume that the cause of environmental protection would engender universal support, it does have its detractors. One criticism that has been leveled against the movement is the claim that its predictions about the dire consequences of environmental damage have often been in error. Environmentalists counter this assertion by pointing out that their warnings have often brought about changes on the part of the public, the government and private industry, and that these changes prevented the predictions from being realized. However, just as it is often very difficult to gauge the impact of human activity on something as complex as the environment, it is equally difficult to determine which side is right in this debate. Because environmental issues cover such a wide range of concerns, this is a question that must be considered on a case by case basis. These voices of dissent have demonstrated to environmentalists the need to apply quantitative methods in assessing the extent of the destruction they have witnessed, or the degree to which their work has been manifested in actual improvement of the environment.

However vocal the critics of environmental protection efforts may be, given the very considerable body of environmental legislation that exists, it is safe to assume that their views do not represent the majority opinion. Private advocacy groups, the EPS, state legislatures and Congress have worked together to enact numerous laws regarding air and water quality, land use and waste management. That should be evidence enough of the broad extent of the popular support that underlies the movement.

美國對於生態環境的關注行動，可追溯至19世紀，那時熱愛大自然和運動的熱心人士，最初進行保護的區域，只在特別保有自然美景和具有重要意義的地方。直到上世紀六零年代，環境保育才醞釀成美國政治辯論的關注議題。之後，更多美國人才得出結論：更多的工業發展並非完全帶來稱心如意的結果，尤其和以下情形密切相關：空氣污染，死氣沉沉的湖泊和河流，伴隨慘不忍睹污染物的景色，充斥著大量的建築項目等等。到了1970年五月，有好幾個環保團體舉辦了第一個世界地球日的慶祝活動，初衷在於提高公眾對於環保問題的意識，初次成功的努力成果，使得這活動成為了一年一度的常規性大事。

上世紀五零至六零年代工業和汽車帶來的污染程度，已到了嚴重威脅公共健康的地步，也因此這段期間的保育活動，已更加著重於保證乾淨空氣和水源的基本修復以及供給過程。而快速擴張的工業發展，也促使人們更努力保存獨特陸地，保存受威脅的野生動物棲息地，搶在物種消失前保護瀕臨絕種的物種。由於廣受基層民眾，以及鎮內行動主義分子的支持，且他們早已貫徹行動在社區內進行清潔行動，此項生態保育行動辦的很成功，人們很是支持。在上世紀七零年代，當地的行動主義已將關鍵的通過法案增強至國家等級，像是清潔水源行動，清潔空氣行動，保護瀕臨物種行動，以及國家環境政策行動等等，自此之後，這些草案都在美國構成了環境標準的基礎根據。

除了這次的國家立法之外，設立第一個地球日的後一年，尼克松總統執行命令，建立了環境保護行政機構（EPS），該機構致力於修復和保護環境，環境保護署（EPA）則帶頭引領了各種當代的努力行動，達到保護環境的目標，但並不是單槍匹馬完成，而是結合了各種種類繁多且迥異的國家機構和國際機構，這些機構範圍，從一開始的小數量，只包含擁有充足資金且備受關注的國家級和國際組織，到數以千計的大數量，已包含了當地等級的小型特殊利益團體，甚至連單人公司都有。環境保護署當今已成為政府最大且最有影響力的管理政府機構，通過自身的努力以及和其他機構的合作，已在美國境內，對於保護和修復環境的品級，贏來了大筆的信用額度。

雖然有人認為：環境保護行動可能會產生遍佈地球的支持行動，但毀謗人士還是有的。其中一項批評聲浪主張說：針對生態損害帶來的嚴重後果，所進行的預測往往不正確。環境學家反駁了異議人士的這項主張，指出他們事前提出的警告，已改變了部分公眾，政府，私營工廠等相關人士的看法，這些改變已防止預測內容成真。然而，人類行動帶來的後果，就和環境本身一樣複雜，自然要預估後果衝擊的難度就變高了。這場辯論中，同樣很難判定哪一方的主張較為正確，因為環境議題涵蓋的範圍很廣，必須在接連著手各種案例之後，再充分考慮這項問題的基點。這些異議人士，已向環保人士展示心聲，也就是必須在他們親眼目睹的環境破壞程度上，用量化方法評估一番，或者是在實際改善環境的過程中，展現工作實際程度。

不管這些針對環境保護工作的批評聲浪為何，從那些已存在一段時間的多項環保法規來看，可放心認定他們的觀點不能代表大多數人的意見。那些私人提倡團體以及環境保護行政機構，州議會，還有國會已開始齊心協力，在涉及空氣品質，水質，陸地使用，以及污染物管理各項議題上，立了不少法規，如此一來，就能足以證明：這場行動在贏得廣泛民眾支持後，能帶來遠大的影響。