Brownwood Bulletin (Brownwood, Tex.), Vol. 71, No. 287, Ed. 1 Monday, September 13, 1971 Page: 4 of 12
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Monday,
Head in sand on
population crisis
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The project leaders. Dr Jay Forrester and Dennis
Meadows, think there is virtually no hope that the de-
veloping lands of Asia. Africa and Latin America will
ever climb to the economic plane occupied by the de-
veloped nations
Because of pollution, growing resources shortages,
swelling population and other factors, they see the
highly industrialized western lands moving steadily into
a deteriorating situation
The MIT team offers these conclusions as prelimi-
nary The scholars do not believe we have the sweeping
global theories we need to explein bow technology, popu-
lation and cultural values interact
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BROWNW000 BULLETIN
"Wow, It's Going Down!"
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Statistics—regularly trotted out by the alarmists to
make all sorts of impressive points—can also be quit
dull, mainly because we have heard them before. And
we will hear them again.
The legions of ecology buffs over recent years have
trapped their figures and proceeded to beat us over the
head with them
It’s not fair to say that any particular figures are most
important—even critical—for as we all know statistical
,4
Monday, September 13,1971
Polarization major
problem for today
By JIMMY R. ALLEN
Those who have blissfully assumed that the eighteen-year-
old vote would alter the political scene toward a higher degree
. of racial justice and sensitivity to problems of human survival
are in for a rude awakening We are about to discover that by
and large our young reflect as well as react to the society
which has produced them. ♦'
Optimists have centered their hopes on the romantic visions
. of young Americans highly motivated toward service They
have substance for this vision in the thousands of highly
. idealistic American teenagers who serve as volunteers in a
myriad of ministries to human need. There is also a spiritual
■ awakening sweeping some segments of the youth culture in the
reaction against the dead end streets of drug abuse and erotic
living However there is evidence that this aspect of American
youth culture has been blown out of porportion by an eager
group of media reporters and an equal eagerness on the part of
weary adults to look for hope for the future.
It is easy to forget the lessons of history. Young minds and
hearts can also be mesmerized by bigotry and selfishness
Hunan nature reflects an inevitable drag toward this
selfishness. Fear and misinformation is not solely possessed
by a confused adult world.
All of this is brought to mind by the political pollsters who
are probing the probable voting directions of the new youth
voters.
Nationally syndicated columnist Jack Anderson reports that
private polls are surprising the political professionals as they
reveal that more than twenty per cent of the new teenage
voters will cast their first presidential ballots for Alabama
segregationist George Wallace. Another twenty per cent are
expected to support Eugene McCarthy if he should establish an
ultra-liberal party. Anderson states "The young people, ap-
parently, are polarizing.”
It should not be surprising that young people nurtured in a
huckster atmosphere of manipulation of minds through
various persuasion techniques should be distrustful. Reared in
an atmosphere of racial strife and social discontent, they
easily turn to simplistic answers. Racism also has a way of
seeping into the pores of our skin from the culture in which we
are nurtured.
The challenge facing thoughtful and concerned citizens in
our nation is to find a constructive path for America s young. It
must be one which avoids the extremes of hate and bigotry
either racial or political. It should strive to seek realistic
solutions to the plaguing problems of our society Polarization
is not the answer.
The challenge to men of spiritual sensitivity is to look un-
derneath the external political behavior of our young to at-
titudes Spiritual renewal is essential to the soul of America. It
must come for the old as well as the young. It cannot be easily
assumed that the young will discover it simply because they
are fresh on the pilgrimage. They must be pointed to the
personal relationship with God out of which spiritual
revolution comes This spiritual perspective does not
automatically fashion one’s political view point, but it should
affect it toward righteousness and justice. Herein lies our
hope.
games can be played.
Even in light of this, however, it can be said that some
statistics, tabulations or indices are interesting. Among
the most interesting and readily understandable statis-
tics available concerning this country’s environment are
issued yearly by the National Wildlife Federation in the
form of its annual EQ (environmental quality) Index.
This year’s third annual EQ Index, published in the
October-November issue of National Wildlife magazine,
notes that the nation’s environment continued to de-
teriorate in 1971. But some critical areas have stabilized
and this year my well be the turning point for which
we have all been waiting.
"Until now, I was afraid the script for the All-Ameri-
can dream was turning into a nightmare with acrid air,
stinking water, crowded slums and garbage-strewn land
scapes crowding out and killing off the wildlife, flowers,
birds and trees. And, if that, what chance for man?" asks
Thomas Kimball. NWF executive director
The most important fact cited by this year’s EQ re-
port. says Kimball, is that apathy is no longer our big-
gest problem
Here is the status, according to the NWF, of some of
the most crucial areas of our environment:
WATER—We have halted declining water quality, but
our waters are still incredibly foul and unacceptable.
NWF estimates that it will take an investment of $42
billion to clean up our water over a five-year period
Since 65 per cent of water pollution is still caused by
industry, they should foot more than half of the bill
AIR—Air pollution still ranks as our No. 1 environ-
ment problem—and it is still getting worse Dirty air
costs each American family $11/ a year in health. 1100
a year in degraded property value. $90 in cost to mate-
rials and $2 in vegetation It adds up to a 116.1 billion
cost to the nation each year. Some hope is held in the
new air quality standards Congress will require by 1975.
but that is still four years away
LIVING SPACE—Trend continues down as more peo-
ple crowd into less space. By the year 2000, 70 per cent
of people will be on 10 per cent of the land Pressure on
national parks jumps with more visitors "getting away
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Pushing aside all the happy talk about how we ll sup-
port these billions with food from the sea, the "green
revolution," and greatly enlarged industrial output, the
Forrester team flatly says it can't be done
Writing in the magazine. The Futurist. Dennis Mead-
ows. key associate of Professor Forrester says:
There is no possibility of sufficient technological and
cultural progress occurring in the next 100 years to sus-
tain as many as 14 billion people on our globe "
Indeed, adds Meadows. long before we reach the next
population doubling point, we will have learned that
"more people implies a lower standard of livine "
Forrester himself suggests that, though there is a wide-
spread feeling of malaise in this country and abroad to-
day, we may actually be living in a.golden age-with a
quality of life higher than we have ever known and higher
than we are likely to enjoy in the future
Meadows underscores the dark prospect with asser
tions that the hundreds of millions in the developing coun-
tries will never reach the economic standards of the de-
veloped lands, and that the likelier thing is the decline of
western nations’ standards toward the lower levels of
the others
It may not be true for many more decades that the
world’s rich nations will go on getting richer and the
poor ones poorer One scholarly projection into the fu-
ture suggests the gap may narrow through the downturn
of the rich rather than the uplift of the poor
This conclusion is one among many fairly gloomy
judgments reached in a ’ systems'’ study of interacting
global forces by a team of Massachusetts Institute of
Technology scholars
PAABANg
"Eventually. the pollution issue will have to focus on
the maintenance of automobiles Then drivers will have
to have their cars checked periodically and . . . will be
forced to make repairs that they might otherwise let
slide
New Jersey officials must have been listening when
oilman T W Sigler, marketing vice president for Conti-
nental Oil Co., made this prediction during the early
controversy over pollution. Beginning in 1972, the Gar-
den State will put into effect the most comprehensive
automobile air pollution inspection system in the country.
State motor vehicle inspection stations will begin
measuring the exhaust emissions of every car registered
in the state. from the oldest heap on the road to the
latest model off the showroom floor (Trucks and buses
are covered under a separate code )
Any car that fails the tests, which will be graded in
stringency according to the age of a car, will have a red
sticker placed on the windshield and its owner given a
two-week grace period to correct the trouble.
Environmental authorities expect at least a third of the
state's 3.3 million cars to fail the inspection and figure
it will cost a motorist whose car exceeds the allowable
pollution levels about $20 for a partial tuneup
“Up to now we ve mainly gone after the major pol-
luters and the big smokestacks, says John Elston, super-
visor of the program "But now. for the first time any-
where. we are going to place the onus on the individual
car owner and not on the factory down the street from
him."
He hastens to add, however, that the 20 bucks will be
well spent because in turn the motorist will get a better
running car
A variety of studies long ago showed that if every
driver kept his car in tune, exhaust emission levels could
be drastically reduced even without benefit of new anti-
pollution devices New Jersey expects its program to re-
move about 20 per cent of the carbon monoxide and 32
per cent of the smog-producing hydrocarbons emitted
by cars
The United States has been called a nation with 50
states of mind One state has made up its mind to get
tough about automobile pollution Others, especially the
most densely car-populated, can be expected to follow
School tax shift?
It seems inevitable that the U.S Supreme Court will
eventually second the California Supreme Court in the
matter of school financing. If the California case itself
is not appealed, there are similar ones pending in other
states. any one of which could precipitate the "landmark’'
school decision of the Seventies
All have one thing in common—the contention that it is
inherently unfair that school districts with greater re-
sources of taxable real estate and lower tax rates are
able to spend more money on schools than poorer districts
with fewer tax resources and higher tax rates
To take the example used in the California case, the
lower middleclass district of Baldwin Park in Los An-
geles spent $840 per pupil in 1968. while upper-upper-class
Beverly Hills spent $1,231.
The variance in tax bases in California runs from one
extreme of $103 per pupil in the poorest district to an-
other extreme of $952,156 per pupil in the wealthiest dis-
trict.
The California Supreme Court ruled that this situation
violates the "equal protection" clause of the Fourteenth
Amendment, a breach of the Constitution made no less
repugnant by the existence of per-pupil funds provided
by the state and by federal grants in aid
If the ruling stands, California, and most other states,
must drastically and fundamentally revise the systems
by which they finance their public schools. The obvious
answer is for state governments to assume the full burden
—that is. to collect school tax monies statewide and dis-
pense them on an equitable basis statewide Such a sys-
tem is already followed in Hawaii
The repercussions of the California ruling might not
stop there, however
If money available to schools is .to be equal throughout
a state would it be legal for a district to tax itself extra
in order to provide a superior education for its children?
If inequality of education is unconstitutional within a
state, is it constitutional among the states'* That is.
should a student be penalized because he lives in a state
which cannot afford to spend as much on education as
larger and richer states’*
If not. will the federal government sooner or later be
called upon to "equalize" the financial quality of educa-
tion among the 50 states’
from it all."
TIMBER—Trend gaining as last year National Forest
timber cut reduced, but 60 per cent increase in lumber
need by 1978 may cause problems. Forest fires were the
worst in 36 years.
MINERALS—Trend is down as we use up minerals
and fossil fuels faster than we can replenish our reserves
The EQ Index has gone down less this year than last,
or the year before. But it is still going DOWN. We have
gained an increased awareness of environmental prob-
lems. but the big question remains: Will we turn the
corner in 1972?
The NWF’s answer is this: “Yes, if—but only if—
we’re willing to work and fight for it."
Consumers must work through their representatives
and the courts as well as in more individualized ways.
Industries, which have shown improvement in the last
year, must continue to improve
Next year, perhaps, the EQ Index will be up.
(For one free copy of this year’s EQ Index write to
Educational Services. National Wildlife Federation. 1412
16th St N W.. Washington, D.C. 20036 )
.Writes Dennis Meadows in the magazine. The Futurist
"The predicament of mankind is that we can perceive
the individual symptoms and the components of pro-
found social problems, but we are stymied in our efforts
to comprehend the total situation and develop global
solutions "
One notion which strikes Forrester is this
“industrialization may be a more fundamental disturb-
ing force in world ecology than is population in fact, the
population explosion is perhaps best viewed as a result
of technology and industrialization
"A society with a high level of industrialization may be
nonsustainable it may be self-extinguishing if it ex-
hausts the natural resources on which it depends
On the chance this judgment may be cruelly accurate,
the MIT project leaders feel the present efforts of under-
developed nations to industrialize may be quite unwise
The Forrester view
-They may now be closer to an ultimate equilibrium
with the environment than are the industrialized nations
i They > may be in a better condition for surviving
forthcoming environmental and economic pressures . . .
“If one of the several forces strong enough to cause a
collapse of world population does arise, the underdevel-
oped countries might suffer far less than their share of
the decline because economies with less organization,
integration and specialization are probably less vulner-
able to disruption "
All this has to be terribly tantalizing to leaders of the
developed western world They know industrialization
has given them their cherished affluence by allowing
advances in production to outrun population gains They
can hardly be expected' to embrace even a partial de
industrialization Inevitably it would look like a retreat
Toward poverty
in much more limited scope, that's one dilemma facing
today's pollution fighters They can push and shove
against stubborn industries The real crunch will come
when clean air and water means heavy industrial unem-
ployment in some critical places The prospect is not
imaginary
it is simple to say it What we and the world need is
effective equilibrium, a working balance among popula-
turn food and other resources the levels of technology
and industrialization, the consequences in pollution
But today we don t have the faintest idea how to find
that balance ,
WASHINGTON (NEAI
This capital is going to be a very, very busy place this
fall and winter It will all be important—Congress acting
♦ on the President's economic package, his decision on the
next phase, a new Vietnam pullout announcement, wel-
fare reform, revenue-sharing But it will be quite sec-
ondary One might even say shallow
These things of the moment will get the hot glare Our
truly monumental dilemma, threatening the whole fabric
of civilization, will be lucky to capture a little Sunday
news space
That dilemma is a complex mosaic composed of vauit-
• ing population, still rising industrialization, social dis-
organiation, smothering pollution, world food shortages,
diminishing natural resources
What is going to happen on this globe in the next 30
40, or 50 seats is being decided right now in high govern-
ment sanctums, industrial board rooms, city councils
Yet the focus seems to be on the immediate Only in
obscure seminars and conferences is the longer future
being examined And very little word seeps out from
these
Aren’t we showing healthy alertness to our difficulties
when we shout about ecology, slap pollution curbs on in-
dustry. clamor for conservation and ’zero population
growth”?
To a point, yes. we are But we nevertheless only dimly
perceive the gravity of our peril Not many really want
to look It is easier to take comfort from the wonder of
the computer It is even argued that our fretting over
pollution is a luxury we may now happily enjoy because
we have reached economic levels that let us thrust sur-
vival worries aside
The truth just is not that cheerful The darker reality
is seldom glimpsed But. under spur of an organization
called the Club of Rome, a group of 50 scientists, econo-
mists. educators and businessmen met last year in
Switzerland and commissioned Jay Forrester, professor
of management at Massachusetts Institute of Technology
to apply his ’systems dynamics" theories to the world
problem His team's grim preliminary conclusions have
been looked at by universities, governments. and U N
agencies—and judged to be valid
It used to take about 1,500 vears for world population to
double But with the global total now at 3.5 billion, trends
indicate it is going to double to 7 billion in 32 years, and
then again to 14 billion in another three decades
— R
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Man assists nature
Man is the only creature capable of destroying the
environment—his own and that of all other creatures
Yet man is the only creature that can care about pre-
serving a haphazard arrangement of rocks on a mountain-
side
After a two-year study of the Great Stone Face on Can-
non Mountain in New Hampshire, overlooking Franconia
Notch. a team of government seismologists has reported
on the condition of the state's foremost tourist attraction
They found that the greatest danger to the stability of
the famous profile was the wind blowing on the boulders
and vibrating the turnbuckles that hold them together
■ The turnbuckles were installed years ago to keep the
profile from disintegrating >
The vibrations were eliminated by wedging supports
under the turnbuckles
in addition to the wind, three other varieties of seismic
phenomena could affect the rocks that make up the face
These are quarry Masts, earthquakes and nuclear explo-
sions
None of these offers any appreciable threat to the rocks'
stability, say the seismologists Earthquakes particularly,
are "a remote hazard" to the Old Man of the Mountains
Now, if we can just keep those nuclear explosions under
control, many generations to come will continue to marvel
at this example of Mother Nature’s sculpturing abifity
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Fisher, Norman. Brownwood Bulletin (Brownwood, Tex.), Vol. 71, No. 287, Ed. 1 Monday, September 13, 1971, newspaper, September 13, 1971; Brownwood, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth1574714/m1/4/?q=Lamar+University: accessed June 2, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Brownwood Public Library.