GOALS AND DETERMINATIONS 



The full and general realization that our 

 planetary environment has limits is an event 

 of recent times. Indeed, as a factor of consid- 

 erable national and international concern, it 

 has emerged only within the last five years. 

 These limits manifest themselves in many 

 ways. Some are dramatic, such as the energy 

 crisis. Some are more subtle, such as the 

 gradual accumulation of man-made pollutants 

 in the farthest reaches of the world ocean. 

 They also show themselves in the onset of 

 domestic conflicts over the uses to which spe- 

 cific national resources shall be put — to mine 

 or maintain pristine beauty, to clear-cut or let 

 the forests stand, to dump untreated waste or 

 pay more for everything we do or use. They 

 are evident, too, in conflicts among nations 

 over access to such resources and the emer- 

 gence of politics as an increasing factor in de- 

 cisions that previously were mainly economic. 



Global limits may be viewed from two basic 

 perspectives: (1) What the environment can 

 do for us in the sense of providing the re- 

 sources necessary for human existence; 

 growth and development; and [2] what we can 

 safely do to the environment without endan- 

 gering our survival, derogating the quality of 

 life and reducing our future options. In the 

 first respect we are concerned with a global 

 demand for food, fuels and minerals that is 

 rising faster than the discovery and proof of 

 resources. In the second respect we are con- 

 cerned not only with quality of life and future 

 options, but also with the continued viability 

 of the natural plant and animal cycles from 

 which mankind derives its food. 



It is through increased knowledge of the 

 planetary environment that (1) the limits 

 themselves can be pushed back through the 

 discovery of new sources of raw materials, 

 fuels and food; and [2) more efficient use can 

 be made of those resources available to us at 

 any given point in time. It is to the develop- 

 ment of just this kind of knowledge that the 

 International Decade of Ocean Exploration is 

 dedicated. 



The establishment of oceanic environmental 

 baselines and the effects of environmental fac- 



tors — both natural and man-made — on the 

 biomass give us a standard against which we 

 can measure and evaluate releases of pol- 

 lutants, thus providing us with sound bases for 

 avoiding major adverse impacts and for intel- 

 ligent, balanced regulation. Through the study 

 of marine ecosystems, we develop knowledge 

 which not only permits fisheries harvest man- 

 agement within the limits of maximum sus- 

 tainable yield and, therefore, assurance of 

 continuing supplies, but also ecosystem en- 

 hancement and simulation — e.g., expansion of 

 natural stocks and the creation of whole new 

 stocks through mariculture. These are the 

 kinds of questions to which IDOE's Environ- 

 mental Quality and Living Resources programs 

 seek answers which, in turn, serve the needs 

 both of science and of men and nations. 



Knowing more about the patterns of energy 

 transfer within the ocean, within the atmos- 

 phere and between the two already enables 

 us to make more accurate weather predictions 

 over longer periods of time and over broader 

 areas. This is important not only to protec- 

 tion of life and property, but it is also impor- 

 tant to the more efficient use of resources, 

 both human and material. If the farmer knows 

 the next growing season will be cold or hot, 

 dry or wet, early or late, he can plan and 

 plant accordingly, and a whole new dimen- 

 sion can be added to the technology of mod- 

 ern agriculture, with concomitant increases 

 of both nutritional and economic yield. To 

 whatever extent the construction industry 

 knows the weather in the next few days, 

 weeks or months, greater economic efficiency 

 is again realized. Similar benefits accrue to 

 the fuels industry, states and municipalities, 

 resort areas, transportation companies, indeed, 

 to every individual and segment of the econ- 

 omy. Thus, while investigators of the MODE, 

 NORPAX and CLIMAP programs are pursuing 

 lines of purely scientific inquiry, they are also 

 developing knowledge of immediate practical 

 benefit to the whole of human society. 



Recent rapid and exciting strides in marine 

 geology — the whole field of plate tectonics, 

 seafloor spreading and continental drift — have 



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