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rhar rhis atrirude is by no means lim–
ired ro Americans. Ir is found in vary–
ing degrees everywhere, and increases
wirh rhe rise in purchasing power and
living standard. Americans are used
here as an example because rheir af–
fluence makes their individual effecr
more visible.
Individual Impact
Each of us has an impacr on che
environment. And each of us,
rhrough habirs we may nor be aware
of, shares rhe responsibiliry for wasre
and pollurion. We need ro identify
our own personal role in pollurion
and rhen think abour rhc ecological
implicarions of each acr.
We muse realize rhar everyrhing
we buy and every manufacrured prod–
uce coses rhe earrh somerhing. And
jusr as we consider che cose of each
purchase ro our bank accounrs, so
musr we weigh irs cosr ro rhe eanh.
The Automobile's R eal Cost
Probably che bese example of che
effecr of producr overconsumprion on
che environmenr is the aucomobile.
A car is one of che largesr pur–
chases mosr of us will ever make. We
are indined ro see as irs cosr rhe
sricker price plus rax and license -
less anyrhing we can ger off in bar–
gaining wirh rhe dealer.
26
les actual cosr, however, far exceeds
dollars and cenrs in rerms of its im–
pacr on rhe environment.
Whar we pay a dealer for a car does
not even begin ro reimburse rhe earrh
for rhe depredarion ir suffers in order
ro provide rhe iron ore and coal from
which sreel is made. The cosr of ero–
sion and of filling up rhe deep scars
made by strip mining is enormous.
Afrer a rain, rhe runoff from rhe
eartb's gaping wounds chokes rivers
and screams. And rhe burning of coal
ro smelr iron inro sreel releases fly-ash
and sulphur dioxide inro che air ro
sting our eyes, sear our lungs and de–
srroy vegerarion.
Bur rhe auromobile's cose ro rhe
environmenr only begins with manu–
facture. Once iris on rhe road, ir pro–
duces even more wasre and pollurion.
According ro one calcularion, a
single auromobile consumes as much
brearhable oxygen per minute as
1,135 human beings.
Trees and orher green planrs help
ro replace oxygen in che acmosphere.
They produce oxygen as a by-produce
of a merabolic process called phoro–
synrhesis. The roxic by-produces of
gasoline combusrion inhibir chis
phorosynthetic acrion in planes and
severely limir che amount of oxygen
rhey can rerurn ro rhe armosphere.
In his book,
The Ecoiogical Citizen,
aurhor Dirck Van Sickle says rhar ir
rakes ren rrees one day ro produce rhe
oxygen rec¡uired co burn jusr one gal–
lon of gasoline.
Ar that rare, rhe average American
driver would have ro mainrain a
grove of 28 crees ro replace rhc oxy–
gen his car consumes each year.
Auto Overpopulation
Too many cars are replaced long
before rheir practica! value is ended
simply because rhey have ·'gone out
of sryle." Too many people buy new
models rhey know will break down as
fase as rhe old ones did, insread of re–
pairing che old ones.
In rhe Unired States alone, alrnosr
7 million cars are junked each year.
Thar's enough ro reach more than
5,000 miles inro space if rhey were
stacked one on rop of anorher.
All rhese effecrs of rhe auromobile
are readily observable, and rhe ren–
dency has been co b!ame the auromo–
bile irself, or irs manufacrurers as rhe
cause. Of course, che auromobi le does
pollure. Bur irs effecr on the environ–
ment is based directly on public dc–
mand, use and misuse.
Impacc on Water R esources
People everywbere rend ro respecr
a resource on!y when fear of irs Joss
awakens chem ro irs real value. Such
PlAIN TRUTH
Jonuory
1973