Council on Environmental Quality Message to the Congress Transmitting a Report.

To the Congress of the United States:

I am pleased to transmit to the Congress the Eleventh Annual Report of the Council on Environmental Quality.

As the Report shows, the Nation's environmental programs are producing tangible benefits. In two dozen of our larger cities, the number of days that air quality was in violation of pollution standards declined 18 percent between 1974 and 1978. By and large, water quality in our rivers and lakes has stopped deteriorating. Levels of certain damaging pesticides in the environment have ceased to climb or have dropped, and some of the bird species in danger of extinction a few years ago are returning. The number of American homes using solar power has increased tenfold in just four years. More efficient fuel use by cars and industry has helped to produce an 18 percent decline in oil imports by mid-1980 from 1977 levels.

The signs are unmistakable that we in the United States are learning how to live in balance with nature and beginning to find sustainable ways to exist on this Nation's plentiful but finite resources. Yet there are also undeniable signs that in many other parts of the world the Earth's carrying capacity—the ability of biological systems to meet human needs—is being threatened by human activities. At the time the Declaration of Independence was signed, there were fewer than one billion people on the Earth. Now there are four and one-half billion, and there will be more than six billion by the end of this century. If present trends continue, serious food scarcities are all too probable in many poor nations of the world. The world may continue to lose substantial areas of land to desertlike conditions. In addition, some projections indicate that as much as 40 percent of the world's remaining tropical forests, and perhaps 20 percent of all the species of plants and animals on Earth, could disappear by the year 2000.

We can no longer assume as we could in the past that the Earth will heal and renew itself indefinitely. Human numbers and human works are catching up with the Earth's ability to recover. With care and careful management, our planer's resources—its water, soils, minerals, forests, fish and air—should be able to sustain us in great numbers. But to a degree unknown in past centuries, humankind is now a potent force on the face of the planet. The quality of human existence in the future will rest on careful stewardship and husbandry of the Earth's resources.

During the 1970's, the government and people of this Nation showed an extraordinary grasp of the ties between human beings and their environment and demonstrated strong leadership in creating a sustainable relationship. The 1980's are presenting new challenges. Our Nation must continue to move forward and extend the progress we have made—progress for which we are being repaid many times over.

JIMMY CARTER

The White House,

January 17, 1981.