This is America's implicit policy towards environmental protection and waste management. In recent decades, our awareness and concern for environmental problems have increased. We have marched in the streets, written to our Congressmen, and purchased unleaded gasoline for our automobiles. And we have achieved measurable results.
Factories release less pollution into the sky and spill fewer chemicals into lakes and rivers.
Concentrations of sulfur dioxide, nitrogen dioxide, and lead in the earth's atmosphere have declined in accordance with standards established by the government in 1975, though carbon monoxide remains a problem. Yet the sobering truth is that all the progress made to date pales in comparison with the problems we face and the changes we will have to make in the next few decades. Land fills are reaching capacity and we have a limited ability to create new landfill areas. Nobody wants one in his community. Incineration sites also have limited capacity.