PROBLEMS OF THE NATURAL ENVIRONMENT IN THEIR GLOBAL ASPECT

The dean of Moscow University's Geography Faculty, a physical geographer, takes issue with alarmist predictions of an environmental deterioration and contends that modern technology will find ways of protecting the environment against pollution. Modern cities, which are among the principal sources of pollution, are taking steps to preserve the urban environment by the increased planting of greenery and the systematic installation of waste treatment facilities for noxious industries. Natural processes are found to have a surprising ability to adapt themselves to new conditions and thus play a more important role than generally assumed in restoring the chemical equilibrium of the natural environment. The cost of environmental protection is undoubtedly rising, and an effort at arms limitation is urged to make the necessary money available. The threat of an exhaustion of energy sources is discounted on the ground that new nonpolluting sources of energy are likely to be developed as fossil fuels approach depletion.