PSU Magazine Summer 1989

Earth's fragile balance For 20 years the Environmental Sciences and Resources program has tackled the tough environmental questions of the day. T ime magazine's "Man of the Year" in 1988 was planet Earth , this ever-shrinking home to countless billions of creatures all depending on a fragile balance of temperature, chemistry, food and living space for their survival. It was more than a tribute. It was an alarm, a cautioning, a graphic announce– ment that humanity, in its growing numbers and its quest for the necessities and luxuries of life, was ruining the only home it has. Global warming, caused by the greenhouse effect, triggered by the mowing down of tropical rain forests and the burning of fossil fuels, was only one of a number of huge changes that civ iliza– tion was bringing on itself. In the last seven months, the United States has suffered the worst oil spill of its history, Oregon's forest products industry has been turned upside down for threaten– ing the survival of the spotted owl, earth– quakes in the Soviet Union have killed thousands of people, and the list goes on.... Article and photographs by John R. Kirkland No longer can humans take the Earth for granted . Politics and philosophy aside, the study of the planet is becoming more important every day. Not only is mankind making an increasing number of changes in the natural order of things, but natural events themselves are affecting more and more people, simply because there are more people to be affected . Portland State University real ized this back in 1969 when it established the En– vironmental Sciences and Resources doc– toral program , offering a course of study and research that combines chemistry, biology, physics and geology. Geography is being added to the list next year. The program is unique in the state in its emphas is on scientific research at the doctoral level. In April , the ESR program organized a major scientific conference on the environmental sciences as part of a (John R. Kirkland, a Portland free- lance writer and photographer, is a frequent contributor to PSU Magazine.) joint fac ulty research program with Hok– kaido Uni versity, wh ich has the largest en– vironmental sciences sohool in Japan. And an initial agreement was recently announc– ed to begin an environmental research ex– change with Mendeleev Institute of Chemical Technology, a leading research institute in the Soviet Union. Although each student in the ESR pro– gram is affiliated with a specific depart– ment and receives a strong background in that discipline, faculty members from each department sit on every dissertation com– mittee, providing a wide range of viewpoints. The faculty realizes that any study of the environment has to be interdisci plinary. For example, the study of the atmosphere involves both chemistry and phys ics, and the study of the oceans involves chemistry, biology and even geology. Since its founding 20 years ago, the program has tackled countless environmen– tal issues and scientific problems. Here are a few of the projects that are happening right now. PSU 3