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April-May, l970
not served by sewage systems has
resulted in considerable pollution of
local streams. In Norway, less than 3
percent of second bornes are connected
to a common sewage system.
Foul Air, Fetid Water
Europe's leaders are not just con–
cerned about the qua lity of life their
peoples enjoy. They are above all wor–
ried about the health-destroying poi–
sonous climate that increasing numbers
of Europeans are forced to live in.
Industrialization has brought a higher
material standard of living - but at a
big price.
Take Europe's air, for example.
Madrid and Milan are in a race for
the dubious honor of Europe's "smog
capital."
Rapid industrialization, mushrooming
population and a fantastic increase in
car ownership by an cxpanding middle
class are the ingrcdients for Madrid's
befouled atmosphere. The city was once
noted for its pure air.
In Milan, heart of ltaly's industrial
north, smog is so bad during the winter
that sorne residents go about with hand–
kerchiefs around lheir heads to cover
nose and mouth. In the 1968-69 winter,
80 percent of Milan's children suffered
respiratory ailments.
All across Italy, art treasures are
being irreparably damaged by industrial
air pollution and automobile exhausts.
The problem ts especially acute in
Venice.
Europe's walers are reeling undcr an
onslaught
of
industrial expansion. Most
of Switzcrland's big lakes are now pol–
luted. Lake Zurich, once clean and
productive, is now, according to a
Council of Europe report, "an evil–
smelling muddy sewer." Lakc Constance
is rapidly undergoing eutrophication.
Lake Geneva is also suffering from
pollution.
Swiss chemical and tcxtile industries
are givcn much of the blame.
Finland - thc famous land of lakes
- is under closc scrutiny by ecologists.
Already 10-15 percent of Finland's
interna! waters are polluted.
Finnish industry is confined to the
south, where the population density is
also greatest. Contrary to what might be
supposed, Finland has a poor supply of
" Self-discipline , a
return to reason
is
the mental revolu–
tion that the indus–
trial world must
accept .
. ."
The followi1Jg are excerpts of
tt
speech
givm
by His Royal Higlmess Pri11ce Albut
of
Liege
tlt
tbe
openitlg ceremotlJ of the
Europetm Comervatio7J Co11/ere11ce.
We are bere to launch a campaign which,
we bope, will influence nor only the acrion
of governments bur also and especially the
behaviour of individuals. For a year we in
Europe shall be talking about nacure, about
thar nature whose immurable laws man
thought he could violare with impuniry,
and which is now begioning ro cake
its
revenge.
Today, tbose who know mosr abour
the
matter have become frightened and are won–
dering what ro do.... \Ve must prevent the
problems of environment, which are such a
marvellous subjecr for speeches, being
ralked abour so often thar the public be–
come bored with them and abandon tbem ro
the sceptics. That is a real danger that we
have to avoid.
Let us be honesr enough to get ro the
botrom of the matter and ask ourselves
what has made the problem so acure during
the lasr twenry-five years.
It
is cerrainly the growth ln population,
but above all it is tbe technological up–
heaval which malees man hope for more
material good fortune and therefore induces
bim to produce and consume still more....
The most serious thing for tbe communiry
is not so much the constraints imposed by
these new and often superfluous needs.
It
is not even that tbis artificial Jife makes
man forget the simple pleasures.
Jt
is that,
under our present sysrem, each privare pro–
ducer manufactures what he thinks he can
sell - and he hopes to be able to sell more
and more of
it
-
withour considering the
social cosr of bis activities, for tbar
is
tra–
ditionally the rask of the public autborities.
What does ir matter
if
millions of acres
of land are converted into roads or car–
parks,
if
millions of tons of rubbish are
buried, burned or thrown ioto the sea ?
Wbat does it matter
if
ever-increasiog
quaotities of raw materials are toro from
the soil as if
tbey
were inexhaustible and
as
if
their disappearance made no dif–
ference?
Mankind makes a god of economic
growth and thinks only of speeding ir up
Ambonodor
Col/ego
Pholo
witbout, bowever, being willing to pay tbe
price. Men seem to believe that if tecb–
nology upsets nature, technology can also
repair the damage or,
if
need be, can
pro–
tect them from tbe results of this dan–
gerous disorder. WiJI it be our lot one day
ro see tbe sorcerer's apprentices tbat we
have become, going on our picnics dressed
in space-suits like those worn by the cos–
monaurs?
I sincerely believe that tbe best of enter–
prises, sucb as your own, will remain a dead
Jeuer if we do not tackle tbe problem at its
roors. There are some needs that are es–
senrial; some targets of progress are reason–
able; but it is no longer healthy to accept
tbis rat race to destruction in the name of
so-called progress which
is
really aoarcby.
Man must learn to divide the spoils
if
the
species are to survive, aod ro curb bis
appetites. Self-disciplioe, a return to reason
is the mental revolution that the industrial
world must accept, and which I believe
wiJI condition everything else.
May 1 now come back to my last poiot.
Shall I be out of order
if
J
suggest a new
attitude to meet tbis frenzy of economic
developmeot? Am I naive to suppose that
man will improve ro the point of becoming
Jess selfish and restraining his appetite for
gain? Am I blind to the poiot of delusioo
in believlng that when the human species
scents danger it will react to eosure its sur–
viva!?
1 think not, so long as tbe tbreat is rec–
ognized and raken seriously. It
is
therefore
imperative to state
it
dearly, completely
and withour pulling our punches ro suit
any panicular vested interest.
It
will cerminly not be easy to promote
a new attirude that will harmonize the de·
sire for progress with the needs dicrated by
fact and reason, more especially as the
necessarily universal and worldwide nature
of any planned action and the financia)
sacrifices it involves will be sucb as to
dis–
courage tbe waverers.
But in all sincerity, have we any choice?
Now that we are beginning to realize the
magnitude and tbe gravity of the problem,
dare we really let things slide and bequeatb
to future generations a completely artificial
civilization in a poisoned and hostile en–
vironment which would leave precious little
room for human beings?
To do that would be to renounce the
dignity of man.