Page 175 -

The Beginning and the End? • 149

The Road to (Environmental) Hell Is Paved with Good Intentions.

We have a long history of “solving” one problem by unwittingly cre-
ating another—often with even worse long-term consequences. For
example, kudzu, an Asian vine, was introduced as a way of preventing
erosion in earthworks in the southeastern part of the United States.
It now grows unchecked and is considered an invasive pest. In the
1930s and 1940s, many cities thought streetcar tracks and overhead
wires were “unsightly.” They rushed to replace “old and inefficient”
means of transport with fossil-fueled vehicles. Some claim it was all
a “Great Streetcar Conspiracy” by carmakers, oil companies, and tire
manufacturers seeking a bigger market for their products. Today,
the same cities are spending millions to re-establish rail lines in an
effort to minimize traffic congestion, reduce air pollution, and curb
urban sprawl. Scores of drugs meant to cure ills were later found to
cause horrible harm. Thalidomide is the most infamous (and tragic)
example. But even medicines as familiar as aspirin have been linked
to serious health problems (for example, Reye’s syndrome in children).
The debate continues over the potential long-term effects of pharma-
ceuticals in the environment (PIE), while the list of drugs with dubi-
ous risk-to-benefit profiles expands each year. Similarly, the long-term
risks and benefits of genetically modified (GM) foods and crop-based
ethanol fuels continue to be hotly debated. 3

liFe CyCle assessment

The basic tool that can be used for holistic life cycle thinking is an LCA (life
cycle assessment). LCA enables the estimation of the cumulative environ-
mental impacts, often including impacts that go beyond the boundaries
of traditional analyses. By including the impacts throughout the product
life cycle, LCA provides a comprehensive view of a product’s environmen-
tal aspects. It is also valuable in evaluating the many interdependent pro-
cesses that are involved in a product system. A change to one part of this
system may have unintended consequences elsewhere. LCA identifies the
potential transfer of environmental impacts from one medium to another
(e.g., eliminating air emissions by creating a wastewater effluent instead)
and/or from one life cycle stage to another (e.g., from use and reuse of the