EDITORIAL Society sometimes speaks with cautious tongue The several sectors of our society must seek ways to work together yet remain independent, to achieve a wholesome environment
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hc act of communication requires a sender, a message, and a receiver. One measure of the effectiveness of con~municationis the degree of fidelity between the message sent and the message received. When green is the message sent but red is the message perceived, there is a sort of communication, albeit faulty. Another nieasure of the effectiveness of communication is the kind and extent of the action the message induces in the receiver. Again, if the message is green for go but the action generated is stop, then it hardly matters whether the message is really perceived as green or red or brown. The effective action is stop. When the message from the public is green, connoting an earnest desire to see an improved, healthful, pleasant environment, there is no conimunication if the polluters and the legislative controllers read some other color and fail to take cffectivc action to improve the environment. Dr. Donald F. Hornig, Director of the Office of Science and Technology, points out (this issue, page 709) that the pace of change today leads to dramatic environmental changes in a decade rather than a century. But, he notes, problems of today are not necessarily diffcrent in kind from those of 100 or even 1000 years ago. “What is new is the scale, variety, and speed of changc. both in man’s physical and social environment,” he says. He comments further that because technological change is a national necessity in the modern world, wc are now unwilling to pay the price of technological stagnation. Yet, it does seem also that we are often unwilling to pay the full price of technological advancement. Wc. as individuals, contribute heavily to pollution; en masse, we have wrcakcd a kind o f havoc on the en-
vironment. Thc busincssman also detracts through his frequent indifference or his rationalization that doing something about the problem would place his product out of the financial reach of his customers. And legislators often are loath to act for fear of alienating influential groups or of disrupting the economy. The cycle seems complete. The three concerned sectors of our society are reluctant to admit to their culpability, reluctant to face up to the kind of fiscal responsibility required to meet the price of the technology they demand. Each sector gives lip service to the concept of a wholesome environment, but prefers to leave to the others the reality of achieving it. Perhaps, then, the real message that the three scctors are sending to one another, and to themselves, is yellow for caution. Perhaps, indeed, there is a fair level of communication among the groups as they seek progress through an infinite number of tiny steps. Nonetheless, if the caution light means inaction, neglect, or indifference, then the message needs bolstering. Otherwise, the cynics among us may perceive the yellow message as cowardice-an unwillingness on society’s part to face up to its responsibilities in preserving or rehabilitating the environment. Society is simply at another of the myriad crossroads it meets along the evolutionary pathway. The traffic signal at the environmental quality crossroad must be powerful enough to be read through a smog of indifference, special pleading, lack of candor, and unawareness, Each color in the traffic signal has its proper function, the net effect of which is to create some order in a dynamic system without destroying the system’s vitality. Any one of the colors, inoperative, out of cycle, or in the wrong proportion, can create chaos.
Volume 1, Number 9, Septernhcr 1967 681
