A master plan desperately is needed

A series of worldwide natural disasters illustrates the need for humankind to better coexist with nature, claims civil engineer John M. Tettemer, author of Creating the National Environmental Master Plan--2006.

The onslaught of hurricanes, tsunamis, earthquakes, tornados, and floods has shaken our existing beliefs in man's current environmental policies, he maintains. These events and disasters have reminded us that we need to plan our world keeping the environment in mind. Mother Nature cannot--and will not--be ignored any longer.

"The growth of large population centers, the industrialization of much of our agriculture, and our fascination with short-term economic return have left any long-term interest in the environment on the back burner," Tettemer asserts. "The result is that we have no clear vision and no real plan."

In order to address this lack of focus, Tettemer advocates the implementation of a comprehensive, common-sense master plan, one that respects man's desires and nature's requirements. "The time has come to replace regulation with cooperation by implementing a clear vision of how man and nature will coexist.

"We need to bring together those currently involved in all levels of environmental regulation and use their expertise. It is time to centralize the currently scattered responsibility for environmental management into the hands of Secretaries of the Environment at the local, state, and Federal levels. We need to centralize authority over the problem and reassign environmental protection to local government under state and Federal supervision.

"[Humankind should] honor the environment we rely on by planning our relationship with it the same way we do roads, sewers, the Internet, and social programs," Tettemer concludes. "We should acknowledge that our long-term relationship with nature has not been given a place in our urban planning, and get to work on rectifying this oversight"

COPYRIGHT 2006 Society for the Advancement of Education
COPYRIGHT 2008 Gale, Cengage Learning