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Show I It's a matter of life and breath Situations often arise in which man has to be protected from himself. Traditional thinking most often causes us to think of the situations when wars or crimes of violence have been inflicted upon one group by another group of individuals. indivi-duals. Not until recently, however, has the problem of pollution pollu-tion of the enviornment received much attention as one of these cases in which man must be protected from himself. Society looks upon those who inflict damage upon others as criminals. But because pollution has been more subtle and less prevalent than crimes of violence, those responsible for it have not been looked upon with much disfavor. Now that the dangers of pollution are clearly evident, however, those who continue to pollute our streams, lakes and air cannot escape the fact that they are doing just as much to wipe out the human race as those who commit crimes of violence. Conducting a vendetta against these people is not going to solve the problem we are facing, however, because we are all responsible to some degree for. the despoiling of our environment. environ-ment. But the rising tide of public opinion has not done much to cut down the amout of pollution thus far. It looks as if new laws will be the only answer to the control or elimination of pollution. Hesitating to act on the problem right now will not do. We have waited too long already. Science has found the answers to seemingly impossible questions in the past, so the excuse that the eradication of pollution is not technically possible is not a very good one. And the claim that the elimination of pollution is not economically possible is the poorest one of all, for in a few years there won't be any need to worry about the money involved. There won't even be anybody to worry. Likewise, those factories and industries who pay those around them for the damage that they do are just as guilty as those who don't pay. They are trying to pay for something that really doesn't have a price. In a few years a good environment envi-ronment won't be around to buy. On Friday, hearings will be held around the state to discuss the pollution problem. Anyone concerned about the environment environ-ment in which he lives should attend. We hope the meeting is only a start in the controlling and solving of the poisoning of the environment. |