Document wr9e24bxJBbXnQyLjw2Zoy07E

TO: Distribution jGGr^eCm^- 1F Interoffice Communication FROM: DATE: SUBJ: T. G. Grumbles April 27, 1990 ATTACHED ARTICLE The attached is a refreshingly different opinion on the state of environmental affairs in the world today, and it's treatment by the press. T. G. Grumbles dlj .111 Attachment R. J. Andersen, J. D. Burns, J. R. Ball, J. A. DeBernardi, G. G. Draper, R. T. Ferrell, H. R. Flararaer, N. C. Frost, R. D. Gamblin, T. H. Huffman, B. E. A. Larsen, M. J. Schneider, W. J. B. Vogel, J. J. Weidner, W. L. McClain, D. L. Cohen, J. C. Ledvina-Houston VVV 000012937 Patrick P. McCurdy THE ENVIRONMENT IS TOO IMPORTANT TO LEAVE IN THE HANDS OF PROFESSIONAL ENVIRONMENTALISTS VVV 000012938 As this issue of lb- blitzing plans and machinery have day's Chemist goes been in place for months; activists to press, activities have been beating their environmen and gatherings tal tom-toms since at least last sum *commemorating mer, and the media have been duti Earth Day 1990- fully amplifying the message ever Sunday, 22 April-- since.) In fact, if Denis Hayes, who is are in full swing chairman of Earth Day 1990 and who across the United coordinated the first Earth Day in States and around the19w7o0r,ldh.asAhnisd way, the movement will they are being drenchedcaarnryd dornaptehdroughout the year and with media hype--at mleaaysbteienvetnhethe decade and beyond. United States--possibly uSnolikewhaanty's wrong with that? thing seen before. (Even though I Shouldn't we all be concerned with wrote this piece in February, I can say our earth, its fate, and, thus, ours too? this with certainty because the media lo be sure. I am the product of a time Wide Range... 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CCL 36 ON READER S5WICE CARO 4 TODAY'S CHEMIST, APRIL 1990 and a place when and where not much heed was paid to environmental values and costs, until it was almost too late. I grew up in Pittsburgh, PA, in the 1930s and 1940s when that city was the environmental pits. I know what pollution can do to a community and to the quality of its life. I know what concentration on profit without regard to environmental side-effects can do. But I also know the situation, bad as it was, was far from hopeless. For one thing, the city possessed a signifi cant knowledge and culture base, lit tle understood by outsiders then or now, that was to stand it in good stead. I witnessed the initial cleanup and the first of Pittsburgh's several renaissances. And I have some idea of how they were accomplished. In Pittsburgh of the eariy 1940s, the key problems were clear: Indus trial pollution, coupled with smoke from residential burning of soft coal, had darkened the sky, made sewers of the rivers, and encrusted buildings with layers of grime. Thoughtless waste handling and other practices such as rip-it-and-leave-it strip mining in oudying areas had produced lunar landscapes. The solutions, too. were clear, if dif ficult. Reduce pollutants to "safe" levels. Require restorative measures after strip mining. But never forget economics or politics. There was ra tional debate. And local news media played their proper role in airing the problems, the debate, and the poten tial solutions. As I recall, the report ing was reasonably objective. And TV, with its flare for the sensational, was still in the wings. In any event, the mess was there for all to see. Although the specific cleanup mea sures were technical, the driving force was political and involved for mation of a coalition, a partnership, of public and private interests that cut across local business and industry. Democratic boss Mayor David Law rence and local business folks like the Mellons made strange but effective bedfellows. Most Pittsburghers were ready to climb aboard the environ mental bandwagon, knew where it was going, and wanted to help get it there. My recollection is that most Pitts burghers felt comfortable with this coalition and what it was about. But I must admit to a fair amount of dis comfort concerning Earth Day 1990. Where is the environmental band wagon constructed by Earth Day 1990 and similar groups taking us? Do we want to go there? Can we af ford it? Is this trip really necessary? Where are the needed coalitions and partnerships? Why are Hollywood ce lebrities so involved? In the first place, I don't buy the basic premise of some Earth Day peo ple that it is "one minute to twelve," that this "fragile earth" has been so mistreated that doomsday is around the comer and that only Draconian measures can save it. Bans and regu lation are too much a part of their pre scription. Preservation of mythical "pristine" wildernesses figures too high on their agenda. Nor do I buy the notion that some how, mankind (or humankind, if you prefer) is something apart from na ture, even evil, a "disease" that has infected the earth and threatens to kill VVV 000012939 it. In fact. I find the notion offensive. All species--animal and plant--are predators, to some extent, by defini tion, and in one way or another. One could argue that man. though cer tainly having a history of cruelty, is no more cruel, relatively, than some lower species, in the context of their situations. Finally, as one with almost twenty- five years of chemical news journal ism experience (Chemical & Engineer ing News. Chemical Week), I decry the apparent abandoning of basic journal istic principles in "reporting" envi ronmental topics. In fact, I am ap palled. And as a one-time chemical engineer, I question the scientific and engineering basis for many of the doomsday pronouncements of some environmentalists. ' greenhouse effect, the ozone jn, acid rain, and waste man.uent have not attracted a scien tific consensus, despite the conven tional environmental wisdom. (Some scientists even see good in global warming.) There is still much re search to be done before we waste much of our national treasure on here-today, gone-tomorrow environ mental crises. But lack of facts seldom stops the media manipulators, who are hard at work. If you don't believe it, read Vanity Fair. September. 1989, and its article headlined: "Environment: The Hot Issue; It's the Great Awakening. Hollywood gets ready for the nine ties--by turning various shades of green." Midst phrases such as "eco logical woes," "sudden sense of im pending doom." and "terrifying statis tics," the article goes on at length to describe the "Great Awakening" of the entertainment industry "at last to ecological woes" and what it plans to do about it. One. Bonnie Reiss, "entertainment lawyer" and co-founder of something called the "Hollywood Women's Polit ical Committee," much taken, appar ently, with a series of soirees featur ing Jeremy Rifkind. rushed right out and formed yet another organiza tion--the Earth Communications Of fice. or ECO. Her goal, says Vanity "to get environmental informashot out to the globe' in as many ways as possible ... Reiss hopes to recruit producers, directors, and writ ers to weave environmental messages into everything from TV movies to Saturday-morning cartoons." As for shooting the environmental word out to the news media, Reiss may not have to work very hard. In the 5 October 1989 Wall Street Jour nal, editorial writer David Brooks de scribed an environmental conference sponsored by the Smithsonian Insti tution and co-chaired by the heads of ABC, NBC, CBS, Turner Broadcast ing, Time Warner, and the Los Angeles Times, as well as senior peo ple from other media companies. Brooks quotes Time magazine sci ence editor Charles Alexander as pro claiming, "As the science editor at i Time I would freely admit that on this issue we have crossed the boundary from news reporting to advocacy." Other journalists made similar state ments. ... I QUESTION THI SCIEN TIFIC AND ENDINEERING BASIS FOR MANY OF THE DOOMSDAY PRONOUNCE MENTS. . . To my way of thinking. Time crossed that boundary years ago. Consider the near-twin "Poisoning of America" covers of 27 September 1980 ("The Poisoning of America: Those Toxic Chemical Wastes") and 14 October 1985 ("The Poisoning of America: Toxic Wastes"). (You'll re call the poor guy sinking into a pool of toxic wastes, his body below nose level a skeleton.) More recently, in its 15 January 1990 issue, Time bemoaned the fate of Antarctica. "Is any place safe from mankind?" the cover blurb asked. At one point Time associate editor Mi chael Lemonick writes, "Along with the exploiters [seal hunters and whal ers] came explorers searching for nothing more than scientific knowl edge and personal and national glory." And all along I thought pursuit of scientific knowledge was a worthy calling, And those polar explorers have long been heroes of mine. Oh well. The article leaves little doubt that the author would like the conti nent made into a "world park," its "pristine wonders" protected from mankind. Environmentalism, a most worthy cause, badly needs perspective. For tunately, a new book by Melvin A. Benarde titled OurPrecarious Habitat: Fifteen Years Later (John Wiley & Sons, 1989, 636 pages, $24.95) goes a long way toward filling the bill. Benarde, associate director of the As bestos Abatement Center and profes sor of epidemiology, Temple Univer sity, cites as his purpose: "to provide eaders with a broad spectrum of acmrate and reliable information which ;an assist in placing attitudes and beiefs about environmental impacts in Nearer perspective." His "bottom ine," he writes, is "mobilization--of public opinion--away from the fixed position it has assumed since Silent Spring." "A healthy skepticism," he adds, "is far more preferable than passive acceptance of much of the nonsense served up as our daily fare." While recognizing the many real environmental problems facing us, Benarde remains optimistic. In a fore word, he raises the hope that "Per haps the approach of the millennium offers a period of pause, during which the scientific data obtained over the past 20 years can be assessed calmly. The substantially increased life span and life expectancy at birth are facts of life, at variance with much popular and preferred belief. Perhaps, too, it is time `to march to a different drum mer.' " And in his final paragraph, he writes. "Risk and vitality have given way to fear--to playing it safe at a time when all indices clearly show the American people to be the healthiest in history. When the protectionists grasp the idea that they are a healthy bunch, the outpouring of pent-up en ergy will move this country forward as nothing since the opening of the West!" A number of organizations--chemi cal companies and the American Chemical Society among them--are gearing up programs parallel with and in some cases meshing with Earth Day 1990. For example. ACS is cooperating with local Earth Day peo ple in Boston in connection with a morning program just before the So ciety's spring national meeting. And the Chemical Manufacturers Associa tion is going public with its enlight ened Responsible Care program (see p. 28). This is unlike the first Earth Day in 1970, when environmentalists pretty much had the stage to them selves. Although I am skeptical of some elements of the Earth Day movement, such cross connections are needed if we are to forge the pub lic-industrial-scientific-environmental partnerships so needed. The environ ment is too important to leave in the hands of professional environmental ists. Patrick P. McCurdy is director of communications for the American Chemical Society. EXCLUSIVE. 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