In general, any productive activity which introduces substances foreign to the natural environment runs a considerable risk of polluting it.

Nothing ever dies, nothing ever goes away.

Technologists practice faith too; 'Faith that problems have solutions before having the knowledge to solve them.'

Earth Day 1970 was irrefutable evidence that the American people understood the environmental threat and wanted action to resolve it.

The modern technologist is less 'sorcerer' and more 'sorcerer's apprentice'.

In every case, the environmental hazards were made known only by independent scientists, who were often bitterly opposed by the corporations responsible for the hazards.

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.