132 The Environmental Debate
is indivisibly meaningful form, but it can reveal ill
fit, misfit, unfit, fit and most fitting. There seems
to be no good reason to change these criteria for
human adaptations. Is the environment fit for
man? Is the adaptation that is accomplished fit
for the environment? Is the fit expressed in form?Source: Ian McHarg, Design with Nature (Garden City, NY:
Natural History Press/Doubleday, 1969), pp. 169-70, 173.[M]an is involved in exactly the same type of
activity as the chambered nautilus, the bee and
the coral, and subject to exactly the same tests
of survival and evolution. Form is not the preoc-
cupation of dilettantes but a central and indis-
soluble concern for all life.
Certainly we can dispose of the old canard,
“form follows function.” Form follows noth-
ing—it is integral with all processes. Then form
DOCUMENT 111: National Environmental Policy Act of 1969 (1970)
The National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA), signed into law by President Richard Nixon on January 1,
1970, set the stage for much of the environmental legislation passed in the 1970s. Its impact on economic
and technological development in the United States has been broader than that of any other environmental
legislation. Under this law, all federal agencies and departments are required to “monitor, evaluate, and control”
their activities to protect and enhance the quality of the environment. The agencies must inform the public of
their actions, review alternate courses of action, and allow the public to comment on those actions.
The law generated new power for the public and for organizations concerned with environmental issues. It
also caused the creation of new divisions of law firms and corporations dealing in areas of the environment
in which conflict might occur.
The environmental impact statement, the public document required by NEPA for any significant development
involving a federal agency, became the focal point for many environmental battles.Sec. 101. (a) The Congress, recognizing the
profound impact of man’s activity on the inter-
relations of all components of the natural envi-
ronment, particularly the profound influences of
population growth, high-density urbanization,
industrial expansion, resource exploitation, and
new and expanding technological advances and
recognizing further the critical importance of
restoring and maintaining environmental quality
to the overall welfare and development of man,
declares that it is the continuing policy of the Fed-
eral Government, in cooperation with State and
local governments, and other concerned public
and private organizations, to use all practicable
means and measures, including financial and
technical assistance, in a manner calculated to
foster and promote the general welfare, to create
and maintain conditions under which man and
nature can exist in productive harmony, and fulfill
the social, economic, and other requirements of
present and future generations of Americans.
(b) In order to carry out the policy set forth
in this Act, it is the continuing responsibility of
the Federal Government to use all practicable
means, consistent with other essential consid-
erations of national policy, to improve and coor-
dinate Federal plans, functions, programs, and
resources to the end that the Nation may—(1) fulfill the responsibilities of each
generation as trustee of the environment for
succeeding generations;
(2) assure for all Americans safe, health-
ful, productive, and esthetically and cultur-
ally pleasing surroundings;
(3) attain the widest range of beneficial
uses of the environment without degrada-
tion, risk to health or safety, or other unde-
sirable and unintended consequences;
(4) preserve important historic, cultural,
and natural aspects of our national heritage,
and maintain, wherever possible, an environ-
ment which supports diversity and variety of
individual choice;
(5) achieve a balance between popula-
tion and resource use which will permit high