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) --- Patt Haring | United Nations | FAX: 212-787-1726 patth@sci.ccny.cuny.edu | Information | BBS: 201-795-0733 patth@ccnysci.BITNET | Transfer Exchange | (3/12/24/9600 Baud) -=- Every child smiles in the same language. -=-