Environmental Quality as an Administrative Problem

Abstract

The basic task of protection and control of environmental quality involves the integration of man's arti ficial and managed systems with the evolved systems of the natural world. Imbalances and incongruities among these systems are the underlying causes of resource depletion, pollution, and qualitative deterioration of the environment. The essential purpose of environmental administration is therefore to obtain a synthesis of artificial and natural systems that will simultaneously serve man's needs and values, and maintain the life-support systems of the biosphere upon which man's welfare and survival ultimately depend. New struc tures and procedures of planning and control appear to be inevitable if contemporary man is to deal effectively with the circumstances that he has himself created. But governmental reorganization cannot safely be undertaken solely with respect to environmental needs. Provision for meeting the environ mental challenge, if it is to be effective, must be made within the context of the broad range of issues and problems confronting contemporary society.