Air pollution is not merely a nuisance and a threat to health. It is a reminder that our most celebrated technological achievements-the automobile, the jet plane, the power plant, industry in general, and indeed the modern city itself-are, in the environment, failures.

Perhaps the simplest example is a synthetic plastic, which unlike natural materials, is not degraded by biological decay. It therefore persists as rubbish or is burned-in both cases causing pollution. In the same way, a substance such as DDT or lead, which plays no role in the chemistry of life and interferes with the actions of substances that do, is bound to cause ecological damage if sufficiently concentrated.

The modern assault on the environment began about 50 years ago, during and immediately after World War II.

We are in an environmental crisis which threatens the survival of this nation, and of the world as a suitable place of human habitation.

Everything is connected to everything else.

What is needed now is a transformation of the major systems of production more profound than even the sweeping post-World War II changes in production technology.

Environmental pollution is an incurable disease. It can only be prevented.