Geography And Public Policy1
Geography And Public Policy1
复制标题
地理与公共政策1
DOI：
10.1111/j.0033-0124.1972.00101.x
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发表时间：
1972
期刊：
影响因子：
--
通讯作者：
G. F. White
中科院分区：
文献类型：
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作者：
G. F. White
对地理思维在教学和公共行动中的社会应用的关注是值得赞扬的。我们应该尊重这种关切，赞扬其持续和富有想象力的表达，并吸取其教训。但我们现在这样做的程度如何？我们是否正在解决真正紧迫的问题？这就是为什么协会直到最近才对危机时期的公共政策问题给予如此少的关注，以及它可以做些什么来帮助其成员更有效地处理这些问题。让我们首先考虑这样一种观点，即人类长期以来对地点和环境的变迁无动于衷，确实已经进入了一个前所未有的危机时期。这一判决的主要内容是我们大家都熟悉的。在全球范围内，只要认真考虑经济发展问题，人们就会认识到，国际社会迄今未能找到有效的办法来缩小富国和穷国之间的差距。资源使用和人口密度这两个问题继续恶化。作为人类大家庭的一员，我们对如何加速较贫穷国家的发展，如何减缓人口膨胀与经济增长的关系，或者什么才是最佳人口和承载能力这些虚幻概念的适当表达知之甚少。我们并不真正了解全球土壤、氧气、二氧化碳和其他重要资源储量的加速变化对生存的威胁有多严重。在国内，种族团体、地区团体、知识分子和安全帽之间的紧张关系变得非常严重。我们的城市在物质上衰败，而意大利面条般的高速公路则把向上流动的移动的带到郊区的避风港。我们对以国民生产总值作为生活质量指标的幻想正在迅速破灭。美国人民目前是世界社会中最强大和最富有的部分，一再提出这个问题是否能够生存下去，已经不再是学术性的或幻想性的了。这是对我们与近40亿人共享的世界的歇斯底里、夸张的看法吗？我不这么认为。如果有人能说服我，我会很高兴，如果在20年后的太平日子里，我们大家运气好一点，就可以愉快地回顾1970年那些令人不安的日子，当时我们严重怀疑人类是否能够避免核浩劫，或防止真正的全球混乱，或避免不可挽回地弄脏自己的巢穴。人类做这些事情的能力是新的和无可争议的。这是一个令人震惊的问题，是个人和公司的判断。如果清醒的判断是，这些都是想象的或极不可能的未来的图片，没有必要改变立场或步伐。如果这不是一个遥远的可能性，那么我们是
The concern for social applications of geographic thinking in teaching and public action is commendable. We should respect that concern, applaud its persistent and imaginative expression, and heed its lessons. But to what extent do we now do SO? And are we addressing ourselves to the truly urgent questions? These are, why the Association until recently has given so little attention to problems of public policy in a period of crisis, and what it might do to help its members deal with such problems more effectively.Let us first consider the opinion that the human race, long hardened to vicissitudes of place and circumstance, has indeed entered into an unprecedented period of crisis. The principal elements in that judgment are familiar to all of us. On a global scale, wherever economic development is seriously considered, there is recognition of the world community’s failure thus far to find effective ways of closing the gap between the rich and poor nations. The twin problems of resource use and population density continue to worsen. As members of the human family we know very little about how to speed development of the poorer countries, how to slow population expansion in relation to economic growth, or what would be an adequate expression of these illusive notions of optimal population and carrying capacity. We do not truly understand how serious are the threats to survival of accelerated changes in global stocks of soil, oxygen, COz and other vital resources. At home, the tensions between racial groups, regional groups, and the intellectuals and the hardhats become deeply devisive and strong. Our cities decay physically while spaghetti-like expressways carry the upwardly mobile to suburban havens. We are fast becoming disillusioned with GNP as an index of quality of life. It is no longer academic or fanciful to pose again and again the question of whether the world society, in which the people of the United States currently are the most powerful and richest segment, can survive. Is this an hysterical, exaggerated view of the world we share with nearly four billion others? I think not. I would be delighted to be persuaded that it is and that with a little bit of luck in a halcyon time 20 years from now we all can look back with amusement to those harassed days of 1970 when we entertained serious doubt that man could avoid a nuclear holocaust or prevent genuinely global disorganization or keep from fouling his nest irreparably. Humanity’s capacity to do any of these things is new and undisputed. That it is alarming is a matter of personal and corporate judgment. If the sober judgment is that these are imaginary or highly improbable pictures of the future, there is no need to change stance or pace. If it is more than a remote possibility, then we are