Show 10A Standard-Examin- er Saturday April 21 1990 Standard-Examine- r tflflO Editorials MmiL THIS BIG 1- ANTI-SMOKIN- G -1 ADVERTISING IS A SHAM Davis board shows way in AIDS study The battle against AIDS has ielded an unexpected victory from a most conservative public school system the Das is School Board has agreed to partially participate in a national Healthy Lifestyles Survey It’s too bad that it couldn't have become the real pathfinder by agreeing to allow the entire survey to be completed The survey spearheaded by the US Centers for Disease Control will primarily focus on a form for AIDS educa- - BUT! MISLEADING THEIR COMMERCIALS AVOID THE FACTS- - tion allowing more extensive details on what students need to learn about the menacing disease d The “Healthy Lifestyles” survey will be administered after May 1 in select classrooms throughout the district The Healthy Lifestyles Survey has been offered throughout the nation to various school districts including Ogden and Weber which refused to participate because of the direct questions on sexual behavior that it contained Davis has agreed to the survey since some of the more direct questions on sexual activity have been removed The health education survey stresses moral lifestyles the importance of marriage and family and abstention from sexual activities outside of marriage Davis County one of the most conservative d counties in Utah has acted boldly in agreeing to allow questions on AIDS to be addressed in the classroom It has recognized that AIDS education cannot work in a vacuum It acknowledges that it is the small but necessary part of a much bigger job of growing up While AIDS has raised interest in sex education it also has caused people to be afraid of the issue Sex education historically has been a highly emotional issue for parents A study by Boston University indicates they seem to endorse schools being the purveyor of information about AIDS with 63 percent surveyed saying instruction should begin as early as the sixth grade A new study by a Washington-base- d research group sug-sts that there is more need than ever for society to control the spread of AIDS among young people Davis School District has taken a giant step where other school districts feared to tread It has agreed to approach a subject of grave concern intelligently and with care ensuring that the topic will not be suggestive or offensive while addressing a serious problem National health officials are predicting that there will be a great increase in AIDS among young adults in the next decade There is a compelling case for effectively raising awareness among adolescents to the consequences of the THE ENTIRE CAMPAIGN IS GROSSLY AND ON HYPE RELY TO GET THEIR MESSAGE ACROSS' AIDS-relate- Tobacco co ffoSACCQ CO I WONDER IF THEY'RE USING OUR AD ASENGL family-oriente- - eves? stNce me cold war ewoeD TesesuM!TsseenT & me lost S0AK7HINS disease v Davis County school board members have shown cour- age in their leadership by introducing a sensitive subject into the classroom dialogue in a societal environment that values and protects its high social mores ¥-- Earth Day 20 years later: President Bush goes fishing WASHINGTON — Other reporters have war stories about war I have war stories about Earth Day I covered the first celebration 20 (gulp) years ago I remember the eager frivolity the earnest street ' preaching the the incongruities of the rich and famous touting windpower and recycling I remember the ferocious dedication and tireless "enthusiasm of w hat was a remarkably small cadre of environmental activists in Washington There was one who stood out a tall thin serious young man named Denis Hayes who helped organize Earth Day Now he’s 45 a lawyer and presides over the massive Earth Day 1990 operation in Palo Alto Calif with the double title of chair and CEO He's just as committed but now has vast resources computer banks and teams of young environmentalists at his call This year Earth Day will be observed with 3600 events in the United States and as many as 60 million people participating Worldwide Hayes thinks maybe 200 million people in 140 countries will join Ann McFeatters in Earth Day 1970 was the largest political demonstration in the nation’s history 20 million Americans taking a break that day to cheer for the environment From the young saplings planted that day sturdy tall trees have grown From the impassioned r calls for clean air and water legislation sprouted costing billions of dollars From the bicoastal giddiness sprang a movement no politician can dismiss lunch-hou- My most vivid memory of Earth Day is of a young mother with one baby in a backpack pushing another youngster in a stroller at the Washing- ton Monument Somehow she also managed to carry a sign: “Let my children breathe” Looking back it would be easy to be cynical The cutesiness of the idea — finally a day for the Earth! — was overblown just as it will be this April 22 The problems are more overwhelming than anybody knew back on that jubilant day Toxic wastes radiological waste nuclear waste are harder to get rid of than we knew One hundred twenty million Americans still live in areas with potentially unhealthful air Global warming caused by the coal we burn in our power plants and the gasoline we burn in our cars may be a timebomb The disappearance of resources is tragic The research and development that was going to solve so many problems never got done On the eve of April 22 there’s a quaintness to President Bush’s preparations for yet another fishing trip in the Florida Everglades where he’ll spend Earth Day He told his spokesman to say he’ll be “enjoying the splendors of our great outdoor heri- tage” Bush has an infectious passion for being outside g whether it’s fishing golfing horseshoes swimming jogging tennis or hiking It’s as maddening as it is reassuring To Bush as it was to Ronald “Polluting Killer speed-boatin- Trees” Reagan environmental damage still isn’t a seriously urgent concern After all they reason the environment has always been there and always will be Don’t modern corporations spend billions to protect the environment? Don’t laws prevent the outrages of the past? To salute Earth Day saplings were passed out on Easter Monday to children who came for the annual egg roll on the White House lawn Bush gave a speech at the White House Conference on Science and Economics Research There was a White House reception for environmentalists And the weekly Point of Light focused on environmental volunteerism It somehow seems a simplistic 1970ish approach to a massive complex muddle of 1990 problems It’s telling that Bush’s favorite song during his presidential campaign was “Don't W'orry Be Happy-” And his motto? Just go fishing Scripps Howard News Service Earth Day: Communities chart way toward cleaner future As Earth Day approaches it is lime for my first annual Good Planetary Citizen Awards We learn best by example So without further ado let me offer three models for an enironmentally clean fu- ture The first is Village Homes the most ecological housing development in the world Opened in 1976 this community located in the northern California city of Davis has the same density as other subdivisions but that’s where the similarities end Village Homes is designed to live in harmony with nature Narrow streets and coupled with endless bike and walking paths reveal its preference for pedestrians ocr drivers Its homes use half the energy of others in the area Thirteen of its 72 acres are demoted to agriculture Half-acr-e orchards and vineyards of almonds and peaches grapes and berries stand alongside extensive vegeta1000-memb- er ble gardens Village Homes has no expensive storm drains Kainwater trickling olf roofs and lawns moves into shallow swales and then to larger channels landscaped like seasonal streambeds with rocks bushes and trees Its soil absorbs and retains water reducing the need for external waleimg Natural drainage has other advantages "Lvcrv winter I get a pleasant feeling of warmth David Morris and righteousness around the Christmas season as storm drains back up and pumps fail in other parts of Davis while Village Homes’is beautiful with its multitude of little streams and its gentle waterfalls” writes developer and resident Michael Corbett in “A Better Place to Live" Sounds dreamy but it’s also sound economics' Natural drainage saved $800 per house in construction costs enough to cover the cost of landscaping Sales of fruits and nuts from the agricultural areas offset maintenance costs Corbett made a healthy profit and a residence in Village Homes is appreciating faster than that in'Iary other part of Davis Today Michael Corbett as mayor of Davis is busily trying to apply his unique planning principles to other sections of the city T wo thousand miles east of Davis the liny city of Osage Iowa is also pioneering a clean future In 1974 under the leadership of Wes Birdsall general manager of its municipally owned electric and gas utility Osage's 3700 citizens embarked on the nation's most aggressive energy conservation program They did so even though they were blessed with surplus power Other utilities facing such a situation would have encouraged higher demand But Osage took the long view Its utility handed out free insulation and high efficiency light bulbs provided easy financing for heavier conservation investments and most recently offered free trees to help reduce summer air conditioning needs The policy has paid off handsomely Electric demand stabilized By 1984 the utility had become debt-fre- e Since 1976 electric rates have decreased five times Business is happy A local Super Valu market for example saved enough on its heating bill to hold food prices low enough to discourage people from driving to large discount supermarkets 15 miles away in Mason City The city estimates that $750000 that would have left Osage to buy imported fuels and power now circulates through the local economy as a direct result of conservation efforts My final award goes to the ISC' paper company located in the industrial heartland of America just outside of Chicago Started in 1968 ESC has improved its papermaking process every year and today is one of only four North American paper nulls that manufacture newsprint from 100 percent recycled new spunt This year it began to manufacture tissue paper relying again solely on wastepaper rt The new tissue papermaking machine will allow I SC to “deal with more contaminants than any other mill we're aware of in the state-of-the-a- world" says Larry Domark director of waste procurement That means ESC can handle mixed paper envelopes with plastic windows and even paper with laser printer ink “It makes it easier on the collector" says Domark ESC is making it easier to economically recover greater portions of our wastepaper At the same time it is learning how to turn that waste into new and more valuable products Recently ESC became the first company to upgrade recycled newsprint in- to computer paper and telephone books FSC makes use of waste in many ways Its sludge is composted or applied to farmland Its power plant doubles the efficiency of ordinary power plants by capturing the waste heat from its boiler And in a nice touch the power plant is fueled in part from methane piped in from an old landfill four miles away The methane is generated by deon-si- te caying trash Village Homes Osage I SC A housing development A municipal utility A manufacturer All pioneering a new way of doing things Writing the rules for a new economy Showing the way to a clean future (David Morris an author lecturer and consultant writes for the St Paul Pioneer Press) knight Kidder Newspapers |