The Natural Environment

• Published date: 01 May 1967
• Author: Joseph L. Fisher
• DOI: 10.1177/000271626737100108
• Date: 01 May 1967
• Subject Matter: Articles

127

The

Natural

Environment

By

JOSEPH

L.

FISHER

Joseph

L.

Fisher,

Ph.D.,

Arlington,

Virginia,

has

been,

since

1959,

President

of

Resources

for

the

Future,

Inc.,

where

he

was

Associate

Director

from

1953

to

1959.

From

1939

to

1943,

he

was

Planning

Technician,

U.S.

Natural

Resources

Planning

Board

and

(

1943

)

Economist,

U.S.

Department

of

State.

From

1947

to

1953,

he

was

Economist

and

Executive

Officer,

U.S.

Council

of

Economic

Advisers.

He

has

taught

at

Harvard

University,

Allegheny

College,

and

the

University

of

Colorado

and

is

a

member

of

the

American

Economic

Association,

the

American

Society

of

Public

Admin-

istration,

and

other

professional

organizations.

He

is

the

author

(

with

others

)

of

Resources

in

America’s

Future

(

1963

)

and

of

articles

in

various

scholarly

journals.

ABSTRACT:

In

the

United

States,

the

problem

of

sheer

quantity

of

raw

materials

has

given

way

in

importance

to

the

qualitative

problem

of

environmental

pollution.

On

the

quantitative

side,

physical

and

economic

indicators

and

goals

are

available,

but

on

the

qualitative

side,

such

goals

and

indi-

cators

are

more

difficult

to

conceive

and

work

with because

the

more

subjective

problems

of

individual

and

social

welfare

must

be

taken

into

account.

As

exemplified

by

the

water-

quality

studies

of

the

Delaware

Estuary,

probably

the

basic

indicator

for

social

welfare

would

be

the

net

social

benefits

(minus

costs

or

losses

in

some

sense)

that

would

result

from

various

selected

measures

to

deal

with

a

specific

problem.

Where

estimates

of

benefits

seem

impossible,

a

second-best

objective

would

be

minimizing

the

social

costs

of

selected

measures.

In

view

of

the

interrelatedness

of

environmental

pollution

problems,

the

concept

of

the

"environmental

problem

shed"

has

been

suggested—taking

into

account

the

various

interrelated

physical

and

social

problems

and

indicators

within

a

given

area.

Research

is

also

needed

on

the

processes

by

which

environmental

quality

standards

and

programs

are

reached,

the

direction

and

rates

of

change

for

which

statistical

indicators

are

necessary,

and

to

create

and

improve

the

indi-

cators

of

trends

in

environmental

pollution

and

its

effects

on

people.—Ed.