Show Who Will Pay The Clean Up Costs The greatest stumbling block on the road to a solution of our environment dilemma is the reluctance of the general public to face up to certain unpalatable but unavoidable choices If improvement of the environment Is actually the high national priority that recent polls suggest then we should expect ex cx- to find a general willingness to share the costs Regrettably this is not the case Upwards of 85 per cent of the Americans interviewed in one ono recent poll expressed the opinion that pollution is our country's number one problem But Butof Butof Butof of the same sampling fewer than one in four foury y were ygre re realistic enough to face the clean up cost if any part of it had bad to come out of their own pockets If we are arC to make certain that the costs costs' of pollution abatement are arc kept to toa toa a 11 minimum and allocated fairly it is going to require a much better understanding understanding understanding under under- standing of the economics of pollution than we now have as well as a coordinated coordinated agreement among all those involved involved ved designers manufacturers and consumers Despite the fact that popular indignation indignation tion lon has made pollution preeminent w. w among the nations nation's s crises far too many individuals still cling to the simplistic notion that I 1 dont don't cause pollution they do Conversely too few are prepared prepared pre pre- pared to make the individual sacrifices in comfort and convenience that will have to be made The question we should all be asking is not Who will pay the costs but rather What is my fair fall share A second and to me even more disturbing disturbing dis question has been turning up with regrettable frequency lately It appears to be an outgrowth of the environmentalists environmentalists environmentalists environmentalists' en en- attack on modern technology tech tech- The q question is Why not stop pollution by slowing down production We sometimes tend to forget that for every benefit there is a corresponding cost When unemployed workers get extended ox ex ex extended tended benefits taxes go up When juries juries jur jur- ies award larger settlements to plaintiffs plain tiffs in accident cases Insurance rates go society demands and gets pollution-free pollution power generators the electric electric elec elec- bill goes up There is no such thing as a free cost benefit And this applies to environmental benefits as aswell well DAVID ROCKEFELLER |