单选题
The history of modern pollution problems shows that most have resulted from negligence and ignorance. We have a shocking tendency to interfere with nature before all of the possible consequences of our actions have been studied in depth. We produce and distribute radioactive substances, synthetic chemicals, and many of other powerful compounds before fully comprehending their effects on living organisms. Our education is dangerously incomplete.
It will be argued that the purpose of science is to move into unknown territory, to explore, and to discover. It can be said that similar risks have been taken before, and those risks are necessary to technological progress.
These arguments overlook an important element. In the past, risks taken in the name of scientific progress were restricted to a small place and a brief period of time. The effects of the processes we now strive to master are neither localized nor brief. Air pollution covers vast urban areas. Ocean pollutants have been discovered in nearly every part of the world. Synthetic chemicals spread over huge stretches of forest and farmland may remain in the soil for decades. Radioactive pollutants will be found in the biosphere for generations. The size and persistence of these problems have grown with the expanding power of modern science.
One might also argue that the hazards of modern pollutants are small compared with the dangers associated with other human activity. No estimate of the actual harm done by smog, fallout, or chemical residues can obscure the reality that the risks are being taken before being fully understood.
The importance of these issues lies in the failure of science to predict and control human intervention into natural processes. The true measure of danger is represented by the hazards we will encounter if we enter the new age of technology without first evaluating our responsibility to the environment.
单选题
According to the author, the major cause of pollution is the result of ______.