unitex@rubbs.fidonet.org (unitex) (09/20/89)
the air conditioners, and open the ventilators and the windows
and be warm for three months, he suggested. After all, in much
of Africa, it was warm for 12months!
The weight on the world was too great, he continued. The rich,
representing only onefifth of the world's population, were
pressing so hard on the Earth that it was being destroyed. And
they did that to maintain their own level of comfort. The
automobile pollutes the environment, he said, but no one was
willing to give up his car. "Everyone says there has to be a
change, but no one wants to make the change himself." It was the
people in the North who had to be aware of what they were
willing to sacrifice-- whether it be their cars, their air
conditioners, or their pesticides-- in order to ensure that the
world might survive a little longer. In the North, everyone
thought of "profits, profits, getting richer ... it is always the
same spirit", always power, increasing the power of the
individual or company, by over-exploiting the Earth's
resources. Everything had to be profitable and efficient. "If
you sell vegetables without pesticides", he said, "then your
profits are low and your vegetables are not beautiful and no one
will buy them and you will have to eat them yourself!"
At present, Governments were only making token gestures of
concern about the environment. They had all appointed
environment ministers, just as they had once appointed women as
ministers to discuss women's rights. But he doubted whether
there was any country where the Minister of the Environment had
any real power. On the contrary, that Minister was usually
waiting until he could become "a real minister". He had read
that the United Kingdom was considering imposing a tax on
polluting industries, which was good. But rather than use the
proceeds of that tax to restore the environment, they were to be
used to fight inflation! "We have to turn a corner", he said,
and people have to be more responsible about these things.
ROBERTO SAVIO, Director-General of Inter-Press Service Third
World News Agency, made a plea for non-governmental
organizations to devote about 10 per cent of their budget to
improving sources of information material about environmental
and other issues of public interest, bearing in mind that new
voices at the grassroots were not being heard from. He said
value systems of society tended to reject information which did
not conform to forms it was used to. He recalled that at a
recent meeting with the President of Brazil, the Brazilian
leader had indicated that international interest in the
preservation of the Amazon had reached such extremes that the
world, and not Brazil, was deciding what should be done. That
was an affront to Brazilian sovereignty, the President had told
him. The President had also said that what was needed was money
for the people of the Amazon region to improve and protect their
environment.
There was need for grassroots involvement in information
dissemination about environmental issues which, he said, seemed
largely absent in activities of non-governmental organizations.
For the first time, horizontal communication among people was
possible due to advances in electronic technology.
His news agency was devoting resources to try to get those new
voices in print and on the air. Environmental issues would
remain in committees and conferences if the real actors were not
involved. Public awareness of issues was short-lived as had
been evidenced by lack of information on the continuing issues
of hunger in Africa, for example. Public interest and
involvement in environmental questions could be sustained for a
long time depending on how information on the problems and its
content were made available.
* Origin: UNITEX --> Toward a United Species (1:107/501)
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