EDITORIAL Environmental facts obscure the truth In a sophisticated, highly technological society there seems little need to dally at the task of cleaning up the environment
E
NVIRONMENT is a dirty word. It needn’t be. It could be an 11-letter word that conjures up some pretty fine thoughts. But to the housewife it means dirtier linens and drapes. To her husband it means extra paint jobs that keep him from his weekend golf. T o the sportsman it is a fish story that ends with disappearance of sport fish and appearance of trash fish if, indeed, any fish appear at all. There can be little doubt about the callous attitude of the members of our society, individually and collectively, as they go about fouling the environment. Industry is a handy scapegoat because of its general reluctance to admit t o doing anything that could possibly contribute to pollution. According t o industry, some of the smells and particulates may be troublesome, but they’re harmless. The water temperature might be up 15 degrees, but the river doesn’t freeze in winter. Besides, if industry has to clean up, the effect could be economic ruin and abandonment of the offending town by industry. But the individual in our society is much to blame, also. His city sewers dump untreated sewage into rivers because he votes down bond issues for new facilities. His concern for solid waste disposal at five pounds per person per day ends at the garbage pail at the curb. His car contributes heavily t o air pollution (more than half of all air pollution comes from cars). In a society that bought close t o 2 million air conditioned cars last year-at a cost of more than S300 per car for air conditioning-there is little doubt of a compulsion in that society t o seek relief from its environment.
All in all, this is a sad commentary on a society that has the technology and the resources to take great strides in solving the major portion of its pollution problems. True, not all the problems can be solved or even all the problems known. But we certainly know enough to take some giant steps now. There seems hardly any justification in waiting until we know everything. Man just isn’t built that way. And there is no reason t o begin changing him when it comes to dealing with his environment. The carelessness and indifference of man should not be allowed to blight the environment. This is the place where we dwell. And t o the extent which we defile and destroy the environment we place limits on our right t o live a full life or to look at the positive face of health, as the quality of individual living was described by Dr. William H. Stewart, Surgeon General of the U.S., in recent testimony at a Senate hearing (ES&T, April, page 271). When the environment has changed, living things hale adapted, moved away, or perished. Geologic history is replete with examples. But we need not look back; we need only to look around us. Environment is a generic description of something that is one thing in Atlanta and another thing in Zanescille. It is an invigorating experience in the cool of a forest evening, an enervating experience in the close, stifling heat of a big city night. The fact is the environment is many things. The truth is the environment is one thing: the place where man lives. The fact should not be allowed to obscure the truth.
Volume 1, Number 5, May 1Y67 365
