environment, and vulnerable monocultures have been substituted for 

 the natural diversity of plant life. This illustrates how progress in 

 dealing with one problem can generate side effects which may 

 themselves become problems to be understood and alleviated. 



Malnutrition is still very much a part of the world scene, in this 

 country and elsewhere. And because its existence in many cases is due 

 to cultural and social factors rather than to food shortages, per se, 

 malnutrition represents a problem for the social sciences as much as 

 for the biological and physical sciences. 



Considerable progress has been made in providing protection 

 from the normal threats of the elements. But the effects of hurricanes 

 and tornadoes, major floods, long-term droughts, and earthquakes are 

 still largely uncontrolled. In the past few years remarkable progress 

 has been achieved in predicting the location and occurrence of 

 earthquakes, leading to the possible development in the near future of 

 an earthquake warning system. In addition to prediction, much now 

 can be done to reduce the economic and human loss of earthquakes; 

 advances in antiseismic design of housing, as well as improvement of 

 regional zoning practices based on developing knowledge of the 

 earthquake process, are now feasible. Even the eventual control of 

 earthquakes is not beyond possibility, as suggested by recent 

 experiments in which earthquakes were initiated and stopped by first 

 injecting and then withdrawing water from deep wells. 



The vulnerability to severe storms has increased, as a result of the 

 greater density of population and valuable capital facilities. The early 

 warning of such storms by weather satellites and other observational 

 techniques, however, has greatly reduced the loss of life and damage to 

 property that would have occurred. The ability to manipulate weather 

 conditions purposefully and safely is perhaps just beyond present 

 capabilities, whereas the ability to affect weather and climatic 

 conditions, unintentionally and even unknowingly, grows daily. 



This cursory review of some of the challenges from the natural 

 environment does not do justice either to past successes or to 

 remaining problems. It does, however, illustrate some general points. 

 Challenges are endless; success with one problem often leads to the 

 discovery or creation of others. Challenges are interrelated; progress 

 in dealing with one problem may be enhanced or nullified by progress 

 or failure in other related problems. And challenges are dynamic; 

 apparent success in an earlier time period may become apparent failure 

 in a later one. This does not mean that progress is an illusion. It means 

 that new challenges emanate from change and from progress 

 itself — from changes in the natural environment, from advances in 

 knowledge, from changes in social values, and from expanded human 

 aspirations. 



