This is particularly true when walking in Asian cities. The automobile has effectively shut out from American society this valuable asset, so that, for example, when confrontations do occur, they take place between groups of Americans who are already strangers. The result, to my mind, is a very serious gap in understanding, with the quality of empathy notably absent. G. Harvey Benham Ofice of Community Outreach and Research University o f Wisconsin-Green Bay Green Bay, Wis.54305 DEARSIR: I have a few remarks to add to John T. O’Connor’s incisive letter on the automobile (ES&T, March 1970, page 177). I should like to call attention particularly to the many secondary blights engendered by these vehicles. For example, freeway construction brings about much stream pollution by concrete and asphalt producing industries, and the despoliation of the coun-
tryside by sand and gravel pits is well known. Secondly, I wish to commend Mr. O’Connor for his suggestion that we restrict the power consumption and polluting capacity of cars by engine governors or by other means. However, if we are to institute these most effective forms of control it is necessary to assemble performance data for the great population of automobiles both here and abroad. We need particularly to know the resource consumption and pollution emission rates as a function of vehicle weight, engine type, and vehicle speed for specific types of our most abundant vehicles in various environments. It is likely that such a study would reveal a very large “overload” of heavy, overpowered, and inefficient vehicles. It is also likely that elimination of this overload by a short phase-out period would cut pollution sharply over that envisioned by control devices alone. It appears foolish indeed to attempt to control emissions that could be entirely eliminated at no sacrifice to transportation efficiency.
Unfortunately, we are finding that the necessary performance data are difficult to obtain. They should be freely available so that work can begin on the elimination of our most wasteful and pollution prone vehicles. I would even go further than Mr. O’Connor and call for the complete elimination of the automobile, but this would be a vain hope in this dawn of environmental concern. In the meantime, however, much can be done by more imaginative control programs. Robert F. Mueller Goddard Space Flight Center Greenbelt, M a . 20771
Copper in steel scrap
DEARSIR: The article, “Auto hulk disposal-a growing business” in the January issue (pages 17-19) refers to copper as a serious contaminant in steel and pinpoints the auto hulk copper problem (Continued on page 368)
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364 Environmental Science & Technology
