The AEC scientists were so narrowly focused on arming the United States for nuclear war that they failed to perceive facts - even widely known ones - that were outside their limited field of vision.

All of the clean technologies are known, it's a question of simply applying them.

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.

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.

Despite the dazzling successes of modern technology and the unprecedented power of modern military systems, they suffer from a common and catastrophic fault. While providing us with a bountiful supply of food, with great industrial plants, with high-speed transportation, and with military weapons of unprecedented power, they threaten our very survival.

When you fully understand the situation, it is worse than you think.

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