The Daily Tar HeelMonday, April 16, 19909
Ijivlronmentalists' means won't acheive desired ends
ight now your tax dollars are
subsidizing the destruction of
trees in Tongass National Park
inlAlaska. You have also paid for the
diversion of the San Joaquin River in
California to provide low-cost water
for, farmers, endangering 42 wildlife
species in the process. Wildlife in
Florida's Everglades National Park is
dying because tax dollars went to dig
ging 1400 miles of canals and levees in
1948. The culprits in these instances
are U.S. state and federal governments,
vhich own and mismanage over 40
percent of the nation's land and natural
resources. On April 22, environmen
talists will gather around the world to
djajionstrate their concern for Mother
Is! ajure as part of Earth Day. Their solu
tlofis to environmental destruction?
M3re government ownership of natu
ral resources.
J In Eastern Europe and the Soviet
Union, where government ownership
qY resources has been carried to its
extreme, people are dying from breath
ihg air dirtier than in most pool halls.
The Czechoslovakian government had
to build cubicles in Prague for people to
stand in and briefly breathe clean air on
particularly smoggy days. One-third of
Leningrad's inhabitants have respira
tory disease. Whole lakes and rivers in
the Soviet Union are for all practical
purposes dead. Volumes of evidence
exist exposing the systematic failure of
;CeMwratioii gives everyone an opportunity to help Earth
, "You and I on a small green island
v, spinning round and round in space
' , and this small green island is a living
. being
. v andyou and I are proof of her grace."
Susan Osborn's song captures the
message for Earth Day 1990.
1 i "
hat were you doing on April
22, 1970?
Most current University
'students were not alive or were too
young to remember Earth Day 1970.
But everyone knows something about
' environmental issues and why the
human race must act now to prevent
further destruction of this fragile planet.
fSb how should present-day University
'students observe Earth Day 1990 (and
perhaps environmentalism in general)?
' '. Environmentalism is one of today's
'sexy topics. Many diverse groups
ranked themselves amongst the envi
ronmental movement in the late '80s.
: Environmentalism has been a constant
media subject. Organic produce.
"Recyclable" , plastics. Global warm
h ifig. The realities of the environmental
r' crisis in Eastern Bloc countries as the
W
Anthony Woodlief
4 V$sv$S$ ,
governments to protect natural re
sources. Most people that call them
selves environmentalists, however, are
determined not to let annoying facts
change an idealistic belief that govern
ment can be responsible.
Many people, however, are realizing
the prudence of allowing private groups,
such as The National Audubon Society
or the Nature Conservancy, to own
natural resources we wish to protect.
Theory tells us that private owners are
much more capable of managing prop
erty than uncaring bureaucrats, and
experience bears this out. The Rainey
Wildlife Sanctuary in Louisiana, for
example, is owned by Audubon, which
directed the safe drilling of natural gas
there. Wildlife was unharmed because
the gas companies had to contract with
Audubon to use safe drilling techniques
and work under constant scrutiny. If
the companies had not done so they
would have been liable for all damages.
The Rainey Sanctuary is an example
of how private stewardship and en
forceable contracts can facilitate the
protection of nature and the extraction
of natural resources. Environmental
groups oppose, however, drilling on
Kim Connolly
Iron Curtain lowers. Deforestation,
socially conscious investment options.
The list goes on ...
Gaylord Nelson, founder of Earth
Day 1970, and Denis Hayes, chairman
of Earth Day 1990, point to many posi
tive changes in the past two decades
attributable to a consciousness borne
from the 1970 Earth Day movement.
And indeed a lot has been done for the
planet since the first official Earth Day.
But even as the Environmental Protec
tion Agency declares pollution preven
tion a fundamental goal for the '90s,
our society is promoting fast, dispos
able living.
So Earth Day 1990 must be more
than a celebration. Hayes calls for
updating "outdated assumptions, val
ues and institutions that prevent prog
ress toward a sustainable society."
Environmental crises are most often
global issues: Ozone depletion, air
government-owned sanctuaries, like the
Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, be
cause they rightly fear damage to the
wildlife. What they fail to see is that
drilling does not have to be harmful, if
people with a vested interest in the
land, like environmental groups, con
trol its use. Why, then, are so many
environmentalists hell-bent on giving
more land to the very apparatus which
currently oversees its destruction?
Tangible resources aside, environ
mentalists say air is something that
needs government protection, and they
are right. But in their fervor to support
any piece of legislation with the name
"Clear Air," they don't consider costs.
They ignore that at some point, the cost
of marginally cleaner air will be greater
than its value to millions of Americans
who will soon face stagnating economic
growth and unemployment if the host
of environmental bills before Congress
become law. Polluters, from car drivers
to power plants, should be charged for
their pollution, but with rational air
quality targets in mind. Currently,
environmentalists have no scientific
basis for their pollution-reduction tar
gets, nor do they care for efficiency. If
environmentalists base their desire for
cleaner air on concern for fellow hu
mans, why don't they consider the costs
of the policies they advocate?
Questions about environmentalists
increase if we consider their manipula-
Earth Day activities offer fresh opportunity
Students can make a difference through long-term commitment to goals
Twenty years ago this week
20,000,000 people clogged the
streets of the United States in the
name of Earth Day. Calling for eco
logical sanity and environmental re
form, these 20,000,000 people brought
environmental issues to the forefront of
our minds.
Twenty years later, however, we are
still breathing poisoned air, people are
still living on toxic wastelands and the
fragility of the earth is still ignored
when political and industrial decisions
are made. From the activism, emotion
and dedication shown on Earth Day
1970 the student movement fizzled,
and all the idealistic changes proposed
by Earth Day 1970 were replaced by
apathy and a real lack of student leader
ship. With Earth Day 1990 approaching it
is appropriate to ask how effective Earth
Day 1970 really was. As a day of in
tense action and- emotion, Earth Day
1 970 was instrumental in getting people
to think about the environmental chal-
Recycling reduces environmental problems
ecycling and "precycling" are
hot in the media these days, and
rightly so. Recycling and pre
cycling solve many of our problems in
the environment. They're also not hard
to do. It's obvious how recycling re
duces the strain on America's over
flowing landfills, but what's not so
obvious is its effect on toxic prolifera
tion, racial and economic discrimina
tion, water and energy conservation
and wildlife conservation.
There are any number of toxic chemi
cals used in the processing of. raw
materials; whether it's refining bauxite
ore into aluminum or turning wood
pulp into white paper, dangerous chemi
cals are involved in the process. Recy
cling reduces the use of these toxins
and in some case eliminates the need to
use them altogether. This can save lives.
There is less exposure to the public and
particularly to those who work in alu
minum and paper mills.
What's more, as I mentioned earlier,
the more we recycle, the less we need to
have new dumps. Almost three-quarters
of all dumps in the United States
are upwindupstream from minority
communities. Dumps never get put in
the middle of rich white neighborhoods.
They get put in poor communities,
which are stuck in a cycle of poverty
pollution, air toxins, ocean pollution
and the population explosion affect the
whole planet. No living human being
can permanently escape the planet
Earth. Breathable air and drinkable
water are far too easy to take for granted.
But the reality is that all the planet's
inhabitants cannot be held responsible.
Disposable income and a level of edu
cation may be prerequisites to commit
ment to the environmental movement.
So international Earth Day Events in
developing nations invite questions like:
Who is going to pay for the changes
that these countries cannot afford?
Even in the United States environ
mentalism seems to be reserved for the
elite. For impoverished or disenfran
chised communities other problems are
first on the list: food, housing, educa
tion, health care, etc. Yet all those needs
can be connected to the environment.
Helping people to have power over
their own lives might empower them to
take responsibil ity for the environment.
Approaches like minority outreach and
appropriate literacy levels for educa
tional materials should be pushed up on
the priority list for environmentalists.
R
Most people that call themselves en
vironmentalists are determined not
to let annoying facts change an
idealistic belief that government
can be responsible.
tion of the American public. In Febru
ary 1989 the Natural Resources De
fense Council (NRDC) terrified par
ents with claims that Alar, a growth
regulator sprayed on apples, would give
children cancer. The same test that the
NRDC used to assess the carcinogenity
of Alar, however, revealed that a liter of
tap water is just as carcinogenic, and a
12-ounce beer is 2,800 times so. Envi
ronmentalists have whipped up a na
tional furor over pesticides, even though
a human is three times more likely to be
killed by lightning than get cancer from
pesticides.
Environmentalists are also creating
mortal fear of the elusive Greenhouse
Effect, even though the evidence for
global overheating is tenuous at best.
Warming proponents base many of their
claims, for example, on temperature
measurements from U.S. weather sta
tions, which are predominantly near
BallICappel
lenges we were facing. But what hap
pened to those 20,000,000 people? What
happened to their emotion, their anger,
their dedication to save the Earth?
What failed to happen after Earth
Day 1970 was comprehensive follow
up. Following the high of Earth Day
people had nowhere to channel their
emotion or their motivation.
Earth Day 1990 has the potential to
achieve what Earth Day 1970 failed to
do, simply because it has an organized
national student movement dedicated
to long-term fundamental change. The
National SEAC Network has been
working for two years to develop a
cohesive network of student environ
mental groups. These groups, although
diverse and independent, are all work
ing actively for local, national and inter
Mark Chilton
and political disempowerment. They
can't fight off dumps when they're
having a hard enough time keeping
their heads above water. Recycling
prevents the spreading of this problem.
Recycling uses less energy and wa
ter than the creation of virgin materials.
Less electrical power needed means
less coal burned an d therefore less acid
rain. Less water used means fewer water
shortages and a reduction in irrigation
problems.
Finally, recycling metals and paper
means less clear cutting and strip min
ing of not only private land, but also our
precious public lands. Surprisingly, the
United States Department of Agricul
ture shamelessly subsid izes the destruc
tion of our National Forest System, by
selling mining and cutting rights at
bargain basement prices. These federal
subsidies help to destroy not only natu
ral habitats, but the earth's own natural
water and air purification systems: the
forest. Recycling eases the demand for
virgin materials and thus decreases
HHT
If anyone can catalyze these (environ
mental) changes t it is the University
community.
Maybe environmentalism deserves
its yuppie image. Some say that the
official Earth Day 1990 has adopted
too much mainstream '90s culture. They
even have a "900 number." For just 95
cents a minute, you can call 1 -900-226-2212
for current information, contacts,
and to take the Earth Day 1990 Green
Pledge from Howie Mandel (actor from
"St. Elsewhere").
But the past two decades since Earth
Day 1970 have seen many positive
changes as a direct result of the envi
ronmental movement. So, while recog
nizing some limits and inherent contra
dictions within the movement, one still
comes back to the original question.
How should the University community
at Chapel Hill observe Earth Day 1 990?
It's too late to celebrate any more
than a memory of parts of the planet
Earth. Deforestation and other habitat
cities. But large cities are about 18
degrees Fahrenheit warmer than their
surroundings, so average temperatures
increase over time as the number and
size of cities grow, affecting the meas
urements. In fact, rural weather station
readings from 1941 to 1986 show a
decline in temperature of 1 percent to 8
percent of a degree per year in many
areas, with the coldest average annual
temperatures of the period occurring in
the 1980s.
So what's wrong with the environ
mentalists? Why do they refuse to
consider property rights solutions to
environmental problems, or concern
themselves with the possibility that their
policies might hurt people? Why has
terror become a tactic? Why does envi
ronmentalist Jeremy Rifkin, who spoke
at the UNC Student Environmental
Action Coalition Threshold Confer
ence, call cold fusion, which could
national change. Presently more than
650 university and high school cam
puses nationwide are working on coor
dinated campaigns to make our voices
heard.
Student apathy of the '70s and '80s
is being replaced by a sense of urgency.
We the students are going to inherit this
disintegrating planet. We the students
are going to be the ones raising families
and making the political and industrial
decisions of the future, not the senators
and representatives who compromise
our planet away. We the students are
already voters and a major part of na
tional consumers. We the students are
in the prime position to effect funda
mental change.
Earth Day 1990 has ,worked very
hard to extend and motivate the na
tional student movement. Through the
Earth Day 1990 office in California,
students across the country have been
empowered as organizers and leaders
to build networks andcoalitionsto make
Earth Day 1990 a day when people
forest destruction. But that problem
won't be solved until the USDA also
stops giving away our National For
ests. Clearly, recycling reduces our im
pact on the environment in almost every
area. It's not the only solution, but it is
the biggest and first step. Unfortunately,
on the UNC campus recycling is still a
baby, but both the Tar Heel Recycling
Program and Orange Recycling Serv
ices are expanding their respective
programs of recycling aluminum and
office paper. Both groups work hard
and are gaining momentum, but ulti
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destruction has lead to the loss of count
less species. The accoutrements of our
modern society have caused irrevers
ible harm to the atmosphere. But as the
Earth Day commercials point out: "Who
Says you can't change the world?" And
if anyone can catalyze these changes, it
is the University community.
So take some personal steps to cele
brate this week of the Earth. Plant a tree
(primary absorber of carbon dioxide
from the air). Write a letter to a law
maker voicing your environmental
concerns. Connect the Earth to your
personal form of worship. Talk to kids
about the environment. Buy recycled
paper. And think about how to turn
little commitments into big ones.
Join in the celebration of Chapel
Hill-Carrboro Earth Day 1990. March
in the community parade starting at 10
provide energy and prosperity to bil
lions of human beings, "the worst thing'
that could happen to our planet?" The'
answer, in a nutshell, is because th'ei
national leaders of the environmental,
movement, unlike the millions whoj
support them, don't give a damn about
human life, prosperity, or freedom?
Consider the chilling words of biolo
gist David Graber: "Human happiness
and certainly human fecundity, are not
as important as a wild and healthy planet,
... Until such time as Homo sapiens
should decide to rejoin nature, some of
us can only hope for the right virus to
come along."
For most students at UNC, being an
environmentalist means carrying a
green plastic cup tied to their book bag
and wearing a Greenpeace T-shirt. This
kind of concern for nature is great. But
we should be concerned not because of
pseudo-intellectual metaphysical ram
blings about the intrinsic value of na
ture, but because the Earth is our home,
and keeping it clean makes us and fu
ture generations safer and better able to
enjoy its beauty. We should also take
care to ensure that in our furor to save
the world, we don't hurt our fellow
humans, and question the credibility of
those who would.
Anthony Woodlief is a senior politi
cal science major from Winston-Salem.
' '
worldwide get together to learn, cele
brate, and work towards saving the
Earth. Following the swell of activity,
support and emotion of Earth Day,
student activism and involvement will
increase dramatically. SEAC and Earth
Day are working together to expand the
results of Earth Day to a yearlong, a
generationlong, movement.
We must not fall into the trap of
feeling too good about doing some1
thing wonderful for one day. Change
occurs over time and, in order for real
change to occur, long-term commit
ment and action are needed. Earth Day
1990 will act to highlight the issues
facing our generation, but the real battle
has already begun and will continue,
rejuvenated and expanded, after Earth
Day.
David Ball is a sophomore botany
and nursing major from Atlanta, and
Quaker Kappel is a sophomore biology
major from Toronto. They are SEAC
Network co-chairs.
mately the fate of recycling is in the
hands of the students, staff and faculty
of UNC. Next semester, there will be a
number of pilot projects in recycling,
but unless everyone makes the effort to
make these programs work, and work
well, they are doomed to fail. It may
take a little extra effort, but it's worth it
to breathe cleaner air and drink cleaner
water.
Mark Chilton is a sophomore unde
cided major from Raleigh and co-chairman
of the Tar Heel Recycling Pro
gram. a.m. on Saturday from the Morehead
Planetarium to the Weaver Street Mar
ket. Get involved in Student Environ
mental Action Coalition campus ac
tivities. Then take responsibility for
helping this University community
protect our planet: the small green is
land in space. .
President Bush's message before
signing the proclamation for Earth Day
1 990 was: "Earth Day and every day
should inspire us to save the land we
love, to realize that global problems do
have local solutions, and to make the
preservation of the planet a personal
commitment." Whatever one's politi
cal beliefs, this is advice to live by.
Plan now, so that 20 years from this
week, you will have a good answer to
this question: What were you doing on
April 22, 1990?
And so that there will be people left
on this planet to ask that question.
Kim Connolly is a 1987 UNC gradu
ate working as director of the N.C.
Rural Communities Assistance Project
and serving on the Chapel Hill
Carrboro Earth Day 1990 Committee.