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Columns::September 23, 2002
Weekly Reader
Prof celebrates environmental progress
In The Greening of Georgia: The Improvement of the Environment in the Twentieth Century, UGA professor emeritus of
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$39.95
Mercer University Press |
crop and soil sciences Harold Brown argues that while there is much left to do in environmental preservation, Georgia’s environment is better at the end of the 20th century than any time in the previous 100 years.
This improvement has occurred despite a near quadrupling of the population and enormous industrial and residential development. Since the 1930s, topsoil erosion has been reduced to a minor problem, forests now cover at least three million more acres, and wetlands appear nearly as extensive as in colonial days. Industrial and residential growth increased pollution of streams, but dumping of untreated waste has been stopped, water-related human diseases have virtually disappeared, and fish have returned.
“Georgia’s water and air are the cleanest in 50 years. Atlanta’s air is clearer than at mid-century when there were four times the level of particles and sulfur dioxide,” Brown says. “No air pollutant is higher than in the 1970s, and most are much lower. Wildlife is more plentiful and diverse. The white-tail deer population has risen to nuisance levels, new species of songbirds have moved into the state, and the bluebird population has increased over 4 percent per year since 1966.” |
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