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Spring/Summer
2008 Issue

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About This Issue...

October/November Issue, 2004

Come Nov. 2 cast your vote for the environment. But first read this issue’s main feature article, An Ounce of Prevention: A Precautionary Principle Primer.You won’t find either presidential candidate’s name in it, and ostensibly it’s not about the election at all. What you will find is a discussion of a way of thinking and acting that is so revolutionary and insightful that at first glance it appears to be just plain common sense all gussied up in academic garb.Yet its power lies in its simplicity and universality -- you may invoke its most basic premises for decisions regarding the environment and public health, personal health, economic, business, or legal questions -- even presidential elections.

The precautionary principle, as it has come to be known, is a rather toothy term that means “better safe than sorry.” Our primer examines the history of the concept and how it is emerging as one of the single most important tools for environmentalists and public health activists in the U.S. and around the world. An organizing principle in theory, a policy instrument and unifying idea in practice, the precautionary principle is goal-driven and value-fueled, and in essence underpins much of the work of the Ecology Center itself.

It’s safe to say that Judge Donald Shelton could benefit from the guidance that the precautionary principle offers when it comes to making public decisions in the face of the unknown. The Washtenaw County Circuit Court judge is slated to render his decision on how Pall Life Sciences must clean up dioxane-contaminated groundwater in Scio Township and west Ann Arbor (A Pall Spreads Under Ann Arbor). The stakes are especially high considering the threat to Ann Arbor’s water supply and the inability of Pall to bring the contamination under control.

An even more stark opportunity to take precautionary action to prevent potential harm to the environment or public health awaits Governor Granholm and state Department of Environmental Quality Director Steven Chester. As we reported in recent issues of FTGU, very few hurdles remained for Birmingham-based Environmental Disposal Systems before they started operating the state’s first for-profit hazardous waste deep-injection wells in Romulus, near Metro Airport. After more than 12 years of struggle only one hurdle now remains: final approval from the state (see Toxic Treats in Romulus?).

The governor and her administration have a choice. They can grant the permit and allow even more hazardous waste to be brought into the state, to be transported on our highways, roads, and through our neighborhoods, then to be injected a mile into the ground under a densely populated area where it is supposed to stay safe for 10,000 years. Or they can choose a “better safe than sorry” approach. Very risky commerce or public health and safety? Will there be a political price to pay? You bet. There always is for leadership.

Pity not our governor but our poor Cranky Consumer columnist who had to wait since last November for delivery of a precious Prius hybrid car and in the bitterness that only an eight-month wait to spend $20,000-plus can generate taunts those still in line. Not wanting to shed any sun on a rainy day, we held off telling her (but not you) that relief is on the way for all looking to buy hybrid electric-gasoline cars and other green vehicles as many new models -- Toyota Highlander SUV, Lexus SUV, Honda Accord, GM Silverado, to name a few -- will soon appear in showroomsall over the country.

In fact, the Aug. 4 debut of the first U.S.-made hybrid (Ford Escape) signaled the beginning of a new era for hybrid gasoline-electric technology availability in the domestic auto market. It also served as the ideal backdrop for the Ecology Center’s ‘Green Machines’ Tour kick-off event and as such marked the official beginning of a new alliance between environmental groups and labor organizations, historically at odds over fuel-economy standards (see ‘Green Machines’ Tour Hits the Road).

-- Ted Sylvester, Editor