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these plants is going to "dean up" fos–
sil fuels!
Would the public stand for shutting
off electrical power? It is highly doubt–
ful. Affluent socíeties will not give up
their affluence - not willingly. And
affluence is measured in terms of energy
at the disposal of people - energy har–
nessed by modern technology. Tech–
nology, which by definition is the
"application of scíeoce," is not neces–
sarily a villain. It's the
turo11g appli–
cation
of science -
wrong technology,
which is
ecologically rmso11nd.
Wrong
technology causes pollution. A technol–
ogy which is firmly rooted in ecolog–
ical principies and
naturaL laws
-
its
function to serve the overall
good
of
mankind (present and future) - is
desperately needed. Short-term profits
by industry, agriculture, or other activi–
ties do not justify Joog-term destruction
of man's environment.
Technology must be redirected - not
necessarily phased out.
Industry is not about to
close
clown
its operations, or change them drasti–
cally overnight. The public demands its
goods and services. And certainly the
present economy could
not
withstand an
irnmediate redirection of ecologically
unsound present-day technology.
Therefore, we can only expect contin–
ued pollution - with no hope of
immediate solutions. You can rest
assured - mercury pollution, too, will
continue for sorne time to come.
The question then remains: Can and
wi/1
technology "clean up" soon enough
to avoid disaster?
There's no evidence to prove it can.
It remains a matter of
F
AITH that tech–
nology can and will be able to save us
- or we've all had it. "The mercury
episode illustrates what can happen
when man violates ( willfully or igno–
rantly) the natural laws of thc world
he lives in," commented biologist Dr.
Douglas Winnail. "This is most Jikely
to happen when short-term economic
interests (greed) take precedence over
Jong-term ecological interests."
Mercury pollution is a potent indica–
toe of man's woefully misdirected, tech–
nology-based way of life. And serious
as mercury is, it is only
one
such
indicator. There are other heavy metals
which may prove even more disastrous
The
PLAIN TRUTH
to health than mercury - cadmium,
zinc, vanadium, lead, beryllium and
thorium among them. The same mis–
directed technology which supposedly
brought us the "good life" may bring
more future disasters.
Will consumers and profit-motivated
industries who created modern tech–
nologies be willing and able to change
soon enough ?
It's time we seriously asked
whether
the highly technological, iodustrialized
societies of the world today represent
the epítome of civilization, after all.
Misguided Technology at Faul t
Dr.
Barry Commoner recently stated
at the American Association for the Ad-
11
The mercury pollution
problem repeats a fault
which has been very
common in recent tech–
nological intrusions on
our environment-that
they hove occurred
massively long before
the consequences were
appreciated.
11
Dr. Barry Commoner
vancemeot of Sciencc meetings, held in
Chicago and attended by PLAJN TRUTH
staff members, that: "The mercury pol–
lution problem repcats a fault which has
been very common in rccent
technoLogi–
cal intftlsiom
on the environment -
that they
have orcm't·ed ma.rsivel)' long
before the conseq11ences tuere app,.e–
ciated."
He stated further: "Thus, in my
view, the basic cause of the environ–
mental crisis is the massive intro–
ductioo ... in the advanced countries of
the world of
new lecht10iogies .
..
which
by their very design, are strikiogly in–
compatible with the natural balanced
processes that sustain the environmental
system."
In recent years, there has been whole–
sale departure from "natural" products
and methods to
synthetics.
In fact,
increased mercury usage, and increased
manufacture of synthet ic products
June
l971
(plastics, synthetic fibers, chemicals of
all kinds) form an interesting parallel,
both increasing dramatically since
World War II. Technology has gone
the route of synthetics to reduce costs,
increase overall production, and make
greater profits, without considering the
environment. Result: effluents from the
production of synthetics are taking
heavy toll on the basic
q11ality
of life -
the air we breathe, the water we drink,
the "spacious skies" clouded by air
pollution, and nerves jangled by noise.
But what is the solution for our
world - a world locked into its own
deadly technology? There
are amwers
to this bleak, seemingly hopeless situ–
ation of technological dilemma, shock–
ing as this assertion may sound.
The words of Dr. Barry Cornmoner
echo the present dilemma facing man–
kind:
"1 believe that we have, as of now, a
single decade in which to design the
fundamental changes in technology that
wc must put into effect in the 1980's –
if
we are lo s111·vive." H e
called the
1970's "a period of grace," and warned
that "we must determine now to
develop in the next decade, the
new
means of ortr salvation."
Mankind is now fumly set on a
course which appears irreversible and
headed toward repeated crises, scares,
and disasters - until one wonders if
aoything short of disaster will stop
the ever-moving technological "frank–
enstein" man has created. The mercury
crisis is simply one of many indicators
of that wrong direction.
It
is a warning
for us to change the way we Iive on this
earth - to change the direction and use
of technology - to become more con–
cerned with the
q11ality
of life, rather
than with the
quantity
of "things" and
the acquisition of profits.
We need to change our basic philos–
ophies - whether we are a producer
of goods and services, or a consumer.
And we need a new approach - a
con–
cemed
approach - to other human
beings and the world we live in, NOW!
Remember Dr. Barry Commoner's
words.
He
called the decade of the
1970's "a period of grace." Drastic
changes need to be made in both tech–
nology and basic human attitudes "if
we
are to survíve."
O