The Citizen, 1987-11-18, Page 4PAGE 4. THE CITIZEN, WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 18, 1987.
XI voice in the
wilderness
While the two sides of the/free trade debate argue which is
the best method for Canada’k future growth, there is one man
who says both sides are nuts. David Suzuki, scientist and
broadcaster says the obsc'ssion with perpetual grow th is
quickly leading to a planet that will be uninhabitable.
Speaking recently to a convention of high school science
teachers in London Suzuki argued “We must aim not for zero
grow th, but for negative grow th." He said people continue to
think they can have more and more but that "nothing in the
universe continues to grovy expotcntially."
Suzuki, and other scientists, arc truly voices crying in the
wilderness. People just don't want to hear the message he is
delivering. We just don't rwant to think we can’t go on having
more and more. There w as a time when that message seemed to
be making some headw ay in the 19b0’s and early 1970’s when
there w as w idespread concern over pollution. People seemed to
realize we can't continue to grow forever. But when the
recession hit early in the 1980’s and people began to lose jobs as
the economy turned to hewer technology, environmental
concerns were set aside in the race to provide more jobs and
more consumer comfort^.
Today, in the midst of the free trade debate, we hear both
sides call for the use of rational arguments not emotions yet no
one w ants to listen to the logic of scientists like Dr. Suzuki w ho
know the worldisaclo$edsystemandwe can’t ignore the
problem of acid rain, or chemical waste or increasing household
garbage. Businessmen wtill tell you that society must get back to
the undeniability of the bottom line, that the books must
balance yet they ignore the immutable laws of science that say
w e simply cannot continue to pour chemicals into the water and
hydrocarbons and other pollutants into the air and expect to
have the planet go on living.
Rather than look at the real problem, many of our leaders
prefer to pretend it isn’t a cold, factual issue but an emotional
one. U.S. President RonalckReagan dismissed concerns about
pollution by saying trees create more pollution than factories.
On a local level, hardly a municipal council meeting goes by
when there isn’t some discussion about the problem of garbage
disposal. Few councillors ever seem to consider the problem of
too much household garbage, however, but tend to blame the
problem on too many Ministry of Environment regulations that
prevent burning. If burning solved the problem 20 years ago, it
should do so now they feel and ignore the fact that today we put a
lot more dangerous things in our garbage, from leftover
chemical containers to styrofoam and plastic that, when
burned, create toxic chemicals.
"We use over 100 times as much of every thing as the average
Indianor Chinese," Suzuki said and estimated it would take 25
billion Chinese to consume what 227 million Americans
consume. The tragedy is that it isn’t North Americans who are
trying to be more like the Chinese in consumption habits, but
Chinese who are trying to be more like North Americans.
Every minute, heestimated, 49 acres of tropical rain forest is
being cut down to provide grazing land to provide cheap beef for
fast-food restaurants. At the current rate there won’t be any
wilderness left on the entire planet in 30 years and that’s
important because forests help turn carbon dioxide into oxygen
for our very survival.
With our obsession with material growth, the kind of
obsession that drives the free trade argument, only speeds the
inevitable day when we poison our planet. What’s more, as we
globilizc trade it becomes harder to any single country to take
steps to remedy the situation because its manufacturers will
find themselves at a competitive disadvantage if tighter
environmental laws are applied.
At the rate we’re going in a few years not only will scientists
like David Suzuki still be voices crying in the wilderness, they
won’t even have any wilderness to cry in.
That's foresight
The prize ofthe week for foresight must go to the board of the
Seaforth Community Hospital for the Community Health Care
Centre.
The idea for the centre which will house doctor’s offices, a
psychiatriccaredepartmentand the Huron County Health Unit
office, has been under consideration for 15 years but the board
waited until it had the money in the bank before it began
construction. In the day ofdeficit funding it is almost unheard of
to pay for something before it is built.
But credit should also go to the board for looking so far ahead.
Maybe all our communities should be looking down the road
and asking what the community w ill need five, 10 or 15 years
from now. If they did, maybe our communities could be both
progressive, and financially stable.
Lest we forget
1 here are people nho will telj you
that the miportant decisions in tow n
arc made dow n at the town hall.
People in the know . how ewer know
that the real debates, the real
w isdom reside dow n at Mabel s
(.trill where the preatest minds in
the town \i/ not in lhe country]
pather Jor morninp co/lee break,
olhcrwisc known as the Round
1 able Debatmp and bHibusterinp
Society. Since not just everyone can
partake oj these deliberations u e
w ill report iheaclix ilies from time Io
time.
TUESDAY: Julia Flint was notic
ing an item in the paper this
morning that says American offi
cials are puzzled because Cana
dian business and vacation travel
to the U.S. has jumped 13 per cent
inthelastyear. Nobody down there
seems to have any idea what would
cause it.
Tim O’Grady said that after
seeing the Reichman family mak
ing an offer on another American
company maybe the whole in
crease came from one family flying
south to buy the U.S.A. But Billie
Bean said he figured it was all the
officials we’ve been flying down to
the U.S. for the free trade
negotiations.
Whatever the cause, Hank
Stokes said, if the American play
their cards right, they won’t even
have to go into free trade with
Canada. Theyjustwait until the
the border then they close the
border and they’ve got the popula
tion without all those messy
acid-rain lakes and such.
WEDNESDAY: Ward Black was
saying this morning that maybe the
French wine he likes so much won’t
middle of February when about
three quarters of Canada is south of
cost such ridiculous prices now that
Continued on page 30
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