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Brirain. India and Japan all follow
wirh sraremenrs. objecrions, in–
sercions, ecc. Brazil spcaks up. feeling
rhac chere is a cercain elemcnc of coer–
cion in a \X/ese German amendmenc.
Australia. Scnegal and Cosca Rica
again have rheir birs ro say.
The preceding is a descriprion of a
meeting rhar acrually rook place dur–
ing rockholm's cnvironmenral con–
ference.
1
gor up and lefr rhar
particular meeting - afrer sraying
until well inro che aftcmoon. Presurn–
ably, you would havc lefc roo!
Four Wasrcd Years?
had sac in on a Unired Narions
Genrral Assernbly session severa] yea rs
ago and was general ly aware of whar
transpired ar such inrernarional rneer–
ings; nonetheless,
1
was srunned ar
how little was accomplished in Scock–
holm and was shockcd ro sec rhe
pickiness, rhc concern for minor de–
rails and rechnicalirics rhar were ab–
surdly unimporranr in rhe concexr of
che mammoch pollurion problcms
obvious ro all ar che confcrcnce. All
of chis was a reflccrion of nacional
selfishness. Apparenrl
y
nonc of che
114
narions represcnred were willing
ro
lose or givc up any possible advan–
ragc ro any orher narion!
Afrcr four years of prepararion (rhe
decision ro call such a conference was
made by the Unitcd Narions General
Assembly in L968), and rhe cx–
penditure of mil lions of dollars and
thousands of man-hours, whar, in
realiry. was accomplishcd?
A declaration on che human envi–
ronmenr, consisring of a preamble
and 26 principies scning forrh che
guidelines for internacional environ–
menral bchavior. was approved. An
"Earrhwarch" sysrcm ro monitor rhe
earrh's environmental problems was
also approvcd. The conference did in
facr bring
lltl
nations cogecher ro at
least talk abour che earrh's major pol–
lution problems. lr has indeed under–
lined che internacional narure of che
crisis - thac no narion can any
longcr k<.>(:p irs pollurion ro irself. Air
and sea curren es scc ro rhac.
16
Having said rhis. we muse unforru–
nacely poinr out rhar all of rhe prin–
cipies, resolurions and directi ves put
forward during rhe enrire conference
are
sugc:estiom onl}.
1
Ther musr firsr be
approved by che U.N. General Assem–
bly. Afrer thar. ther become no more
rhan "official suggesrions.''
And sadly, rher are not binding -
even on che governmenrs rhar sup–
porred rhem!
Selfish Narional l ncerests
Most governmenrs are happy
ro
en–
courage more facc-finding abour rhc
" ...
when any envi–
ronmental issue is pursued
to its origins it reveals an
inescapable truth
...
a
peace among men must
precede the peace with
nature."
worldwide problems of rhe environ–
menr and are glad ro sce furrhcr
monicoring of che effecrs of pollurion
on rhe earrb's vital lifc-supporr svs–
rems. Bur rhe samc govcrnmcnrs
were, and are roday. instantly hostilc
ro
any policy proposals which might
even appear ro conflict wirh rhcir
short-rerm cconomic intereses.
"You see." rhcy say. "ir's
a
<jllCS–
rion of economics." In orhcr words.
which nation is going ro be che first
ro force irs industries ro either clcan
up or shur down? Which governmenr
is going ro force its manu factu rers ro
produce guality produces for export.
utilizing pollurion-frcc merhods and
eguipmenr? Such eiTorrs cose hug!:
sums of money. \X/hich narion is go–
ing ro be willing ro clean itself up
and rhereby put irs producrs on che
marker wirh price rags 20 ro 50 per–
cenr higher rhan che exisring world
marker price for rhose produces?
In rhe weeks and monrhs since the
Scockholm Conference. the response
has been all roo predictable. The rcsr–
ing ground is. of course, rhc inrer-
nacional markerplace. look ar onc
cxample.
1
n Srockholm, che rescue of
whales from cxtincrion carne doser ro
winning unanimous approYal rhan
anv orher single cause.
8\'
a vore of
53
ro
O.
a working commirree approved
a resolurion for a 20-vear morarorium
on all whale huncing. and rhe confer–
ence. as a whole, agreed.
Bur in fuly. when rhe
14
narions
of che Inrernarional Whaling Com–
mission considered rhe marrer in Lon–
don, commerce as usual prevailed.
\X/hi le cucring down on che allowed
quora of cerrain species of whales. rhe
Commission refused
a
morarorium.
Why' Because severa! narions are
conccrned abour che sizable invcst–
menr rhey have made in facrory ships
and whaljng equ ipmenr. For rhem,
roo many jobs and roo much monev
are at srake.
Surcly rhe greed of man would be
srcmmed by che rhoughr of wiping
whole species of wildlife off rhc
facc of rhe
earrh~
Hardly! The faces prove orher.'-·isc.
Since rhe year 1600.
359
species of
wildlife have disappeared from the
earrh. Bur rhar was due ro rhe igno–
rance of pase generations of "unen–
lighrened" men. goes rhe argumenr.
Nonsense! Today. in rhe exalred agc
of scicnce. rhe exrincrion rare is much
more rapid. Presendy, there are 922
specics on the endangered lisr.
*
For all
che posirive words wrirren
abour Stockholrn. reality srill con–
fronrs us.
Thc ideological and economic dif–
fcrcnccs rhar divide rhe wodd ap–
pcarcd covcred up by che final 26-
poinr documenr. bur rhey were all
roo apparenr during rhe committee
meerin_gs and debates. The Unired
Srarcs dis.1pprovcd of widespread criri–
cisms of che massive defoliarion and
merhodical denuding of rhousands of
•
29"
'f>CCie.
of mammals. 359
~ped~
of hml•.
187
<¡~cíes
of reptiles and amphibians and -9
'1""¡"'
of
fi,h
are
cndangcnxl (Sourccs:
1
1nt('r·
national llnion for rhc Conservarion of
Na~ure
and
Naruml Rcsourcc:> Red Book.
April 19"1,
2. \Xforld \XI,tdlife Fund: 3.
?>:e"
York ZooiC>}¡ical
Sodcr¡ NN<slcncr. November 1968.)
PLAIN TRUTH December 1972