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Agriculture, Man, and His Environment¹

ABSTRACT

The relationship between the scientific and social aspects of environmental problems imposes responsibilities and constraints on both scientist-educators and laymen. Scientists now have much of the technological knowledge needed to help clean up the American environment, but pollution control can be successful only if Americans are made aware of and accept the tremendous social and dollar costs involved. In some way, every American will be affected in the process of implementing solutions to pollutional problems. The problem for the businessman is whether the public will buy his product if he spends millions on his plant to reduce pollution, and then passes this "social" cost on to the consumer in the form of higher prices for products. Caution is needed, for some small businessmen may be forced out of business if strict enforcement of pollution controls call for production changes that the small businessman cannot afford. In the area of the quality of life, public universities must make education available to all who are qualified for it, and should help produce social leaders who can reside in and help resolve the problems of violence-torn communities. A list is presented of seven environmental problem areas in which colleges of agriculture are conducting or should conduct research.

¹ Paper presented Dec. 28–29, 1970, in Chicago, Ill., at the American Association for the Advancement of Science, Section "O" Agriculture Symposium on "Agriculture and the Quality of the Environment in the Seventies."

² Dean, College of Agriculture, University of Illinois, Urbana, Ill. 61801.