The Rice Thresher (Houston, Tex.), Vol. 60, No. 15, Ed. 1 Thursday, December 7, 1972 Page: 3 of 14
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U.S. government survey shows Houston going down fast
This KAUM editorial was Houston is sinking, but no- National Geodetic Survey will and how fast land is sinking in It is thought that the reason
broadcast Nov. 27 and 28. We
reprint it because it seems to
be of interest to the entire com-
munity.
Unesco...
(Continued from page 1)
adequate and the charge was
ridiculous, the real value of the
juries was not in the verdicts
they produced but in the dis-
cussions that went into trying
to evaluate both the conference
and some aspects of the en-
vironmental question. Diverse
points of view gave a breadth
to the deliberations that eluded
the conference as a whole. No
meaningful judgement was
passed on the views, both man-
conceived, that were placed in
opposition for trial purposes.
Some of the participants, how.
ever, left the conference with
a better understanding- of the
politics and widely divergent
views on the environmental
problem that are a major rea-
son why little effective action
has been taken to come to
terms with it.
Craig Collins
A courtroom format is well-
suited to providing the sort of
theatrics and confrontations
that delude one into thinking-
he is actually sorting out facts.
This deception was often pres-
ent here. For the environmental
issue, however, the courtroom
has deeper roots. As humanistic
concerns for the environment
slowly became absorbed into
political structures, the court-
room becmes the scene of con-
frontation, the place where
facts and figures must some-
how be interpreted in the pro-
per perspective.
The basic contradictions aris-
ing from the situation could be
readily observed in the con-
ference. A witness spews forth
technical data, folowing it
with general conclusions by no
means apparent to the layman
who is unfamiliar with the is-
sue. A cross-examining lawyer-
attempts to ask probing ques-
tions; failing to tear down one
testimony, he falls back on a
body really knows how fast or
how much. Fortunately, we
are going to find out.
Starting next January the
second authority whose data
seem to point at an opposite
conclusion. Eventually legally
and environmentally sound
choices must somehow be made
between two opposing, perhaps
equally valid, certainly equally
obscure conclusions.
So it was in this courtroom.
A well-qualified staff of law-
yers began with well-studied
questions. By the second day
the questions had become blank
checks for witnesses to ramble,
and cross-examination gave way
to the calling of witnesses who
would offer the opposing view-
point.
Dr. Charles Cargille of Glob-
al Dynamics concludes his tes-
timony by stating that increas-
ing technological advances ne-
cessarily imply increasing en-
vironmental damage, just as
throwing more wood on the
fire necessarily increases the
smoke. Dr. Richard Gonzalez,
former board member of
Humble, subsequently offers the
opinion that, on the contrary,
increasingly sophisticated tech-
nology is the only solution to
the crisis. He points to the auto-
mobile with pollution control
devices. Technologically super-
ior to its predecessors, it re-
quires more fuel to produce
less pollution. Who to believe?
You pays your money and you
takes your choice.
Compare this with the Hous-
ton Post report of the recent
suit to stop the daily discharge
of 7000 lbs. of ammonia into
the Ship Channel by Rohm and
Haas Company:
"B. D. McKinney, and attor-
ney for the Chemical firm,
said a 13-mile Ship Channel
area above the Rohm and Haas
plant also is devoid of oxygen
and that other firms discharge
ten times the amount of wastes
his client discharges . . . Rohm
and Haas, which operates a
begin a 300-thousand dollar
study on local land levels. The
result of that survey will be
a precise description of where
•V
$100 million plant on the chan-
nel, said additional waste treat-
ment plants under construction
will solve the ammonia dis-
charge problem. Attorneys for
Rohm and Haas say the firm
is using the best available
methods to combat pollution
and that the plant's discharge
constitutes no more than one
percent of the Ship Channel's
total volume."
"Dr. R. W. Hann, head of
the environmental engineering
division at Texas A&M Uni-
versity, said 7000 pounds of am-
monia dumped into the channel
daily by Rohm and Haas Co.
contributes substantially toward
the depletion of oxygen in the
channel . . . Dr. Hann testified
that he believes ammonia dis-
charges contributed to numer-
ous fish kills in bays along the
lower section of the channel."
Do we feel indignant or show-
leniency because other firms
are ten times as bad? What is
clear is that the environmental
issue is being decided today in
the courtroom. The statutes are
there; it is their enforcement
that is critical.
Another aspect of our gen-
eral approach to our environ-
mental problems present in the
Conference was the tokenism
of our commitment. It is in-
teresting to ask the question,
"Who in this country is con-
cerned about our abuse of the
environment?" If you look at
the list of members of the U.S.
Commission for UNESCO,
sponsor of the trial, you find
names like Sammy Davis, Jr.,
George Meany, Lloyd Bentsen
and Robert Dole. If you were at
the reception opening the con-
ference, you enjoyed the drinks
and saw Judson Robinson, Jr.
of the Houston City Council,
Dr. Frank Vandiver of Rice, and
pianist James Dick. You found
it praiseworthy that such people
(Continued on Page 10)
Roundup honors faculty writers
Rice faculty members Rados-
lav A. Tsanoff, Carolyn and
Fred McManis Professor of
Philosophy, and F. Chandler
Davidson, assistant professor
of psychology and sociology,
were two of 29 prominent Texas
authors and co-authors recog-
nized at the 24th Annual Texas
Writers Roundup Dec. 2 in
Austin, Texas.
Sponsored by the Austin pro-
fessional chapter of Women in
Communications (founded as
Theta Sigma Phi, a journalism
society), the Roundup honors
Texans who have published out-
standing books during the past
year.
Civilization and Progress
(University Press of Kentucky,
1971) by Tsanoff and Biracial
Politics (LSU Press, 1972) by
Davidson were among- the 18
books chosen for recognition.
Other books selected included
The Vantage Point by former
President Lyndon B. Johnson,
Out of (he Old Rock by the late
J. Frank Dobie, and Bonney's
Place by Houston Post column-
ist Leon Hale.
Copies of .both Civilization
and Progress and Biracial Poli-
tics are available at the Rice
campus store.
the Houston area.
There are several indications
that we may be facing a ser-
ious problem of land slowly
sinking out from under us. For
example, the U. S. Commerce
Department estimates that
some land in Houston has sunk
five feet in the last 20 years.
In practical terms, that means
that once dry areas like the
Brownwood subdivision of Bay-
town now are underwater
whenever there is a high tide
. . . the San Jacinto Battle-
ground Park is slowly shrink-
ing, as water covers more and
more of its land. And the list
of evidence could go on.
Yale...
(Continued from page 2)
cynicism, suffering from the
fact that lawyers are better at
finding out what is wrong than
in prescribing what is right,
there is the terrible risk that
we will conclude there is no-
thing- to be done: in dealing
with crime, or managing the
economy, or ending the war.
We need perspective if we
are to tolerate all these am-
biguities and avoid the retreat
to cynicism. That perspective
can come, I think, from the dis-
ciplined pragmatism which
marks the lawyer at his best.
Lawyers are schooled in an ad-
versary culture which makes it
essential to be vigorously and
rationally partisan while yet re-
taining- forms and processes
which permit the adversaries
to survive the particular case,
so that they may meet as ad-
versaries again and again. That
adversary culture depends, in a
deep and fundamental way, on
a faith in intelligence as a guide
to human affairs; on a faith
for this subsidence is the pump-
ing of an estimated 600 million
gallons of underground water
each day. The largest portion
of this is taken by the City of
Houston. In addition, several
Ship Channel industries are big
users of underground water.
It may be that we will have
to ban underground pumping
and turn to surface water sup-
plies if the problem is as bad
as some suspect. But first wo
have to find out what is hap-
pening . . . and where it is
happening . . . and how fast it
is happening. That's why the
National Geodetic Survey is so
important.
that we will make progress --
in historical terms if not im-
mediately — if we preserve a
eliminate of inquiry and ex-
change of ideas which is hard
and vigorous, yet neither smug
nor self-righteous.
We are in desperate need of
that climate of inquiry because
we now know that Archibald
MacLeish was mistaken when
he wrote, in a more hopeful
time: "We know the answers,
all the answers; it's the ques-
tions we are seeking." We now
find ourselves uncertain about
both questions and answers,
where complex social pheno-
mena are concerned. We really
have no alternative, if we are
to avoid a paralysis of will, to
placing our faith again in a way
of doing things, in the idea of
progress — knowing full well
that there will be many false
starts. Our only hope is that
we will learn again to listen
to each other and find the hu-
manity which binds us, even as
we rub against each other on
particular issues.
Exam regulations
Here are some suggestions
that will help everyone enjoy
the advantages of the Honor
System:
• It is the student's respon-
sibility to know the rules for
each exam—the time dura-
tion, the allowed reference
materials, the time and place
to turn it in.
• Most professors would ap-
preciate it if you would mark
the time and place the test
was taken on the cover of
the blue book.
9 When you are finished with
a take-home exam, seal the
test and test booklets by
stapling them shut or by
sealing in an envelope.
• Try to turn in the exam
yourself as early as pos-
sible; if you cannot, make
sure w homever you de-
signate to do this for you
knows the correct time and
place for turning it in.
Reme m b e r to sign the
pledge; not signing the
pledge does not relieve you
from the responsibilities of
the Honor System.
Be circumspect in your con-
versations so as not to inad-
vertently give or receive aid
concerning an a exam.
Self-scheduled examinations
are to be taken in the room
they a r e distributed in.
While a student is free to
leave at any time, the exam
is to remain in the assigned
room. The only exception to
this policy is a student wish-
ing- to type his exam.
SA committee to recycle cans Phi Beta Kappa names members
by CRAIG COLLINS
After some initial hasseling,
the S.A. recycling committee is
about to get off the ground. To
begin with, a building behind
the old stadium has been se-
cured for on-campus storage of
m aterials to be recycled. At
present, however, it is filled
with some Buildings and
Grounds materials and must be
emptied before it can be used.
SA ELECTIONS
Filing - Jan. 1 to Feb. 12
Campaigning Feb. 13-19
Voting Feb. 20
The recycling committee will
furnish hot buttered rum for the
clean up crew. Come over and
lend a hand Friday the eighth
from 9:30 in the morning
through the afternoon.
Right now, cans are being re-
cycled. Look for the receptacles
near coke machines and in front
of Fondren. When the new
phone books arrive, the old ones
will be collected in each col-
lege for recycling.
Next semester the committee
will expand its program to in-
clude newspapers and will hire
students to collect the cans and
newspapers. Pay will be around
$1.65 to $2.00 per houn If you
are interested in the job leave
word at the S.A. office.
The Beta of Texas Chapter of Phi Beta Kappa at its meeting
on Friday, November 10, 1972, elected the following Rice students
as the fall contingent of Members-in-Course of the Class of 1973.
Black, James L.
Clayton, Frederic C.
Denbina, David L.
Emery, Herschell S.
Ferguson, Michael McVea
Griffith, Joseph E.
Hibbs, Gwenn Lee
Hott, Sharon Kay1
Johnson, Kyle Raymond
Kittrell, Norman G.
Roggli, Victor L.
Shandera, Wayne X.
Talbot, Charlotte F.
Vondy, Amy Lynne
Welgus, Howard G.
Willis, Sanidra Kay
Woelfel, Alan K.
Physics Baker
Mathematics/'Biochem. Baker
Cheni. Eng'g Richardson
Biochemistry Will Rice
Psychology Will Rice
Phys./Math. Lovett
Poli. Sci. Jones
Econ.-B.A./Math. Sci. Jones
Architecture Will Rice
Chem. Eng'g Wiess
Biochem./Enbi. Sci.
& Eng'g Baker
Biology Wiess.
Art, Hist, of Art/Psyc. Jones
English/Classics Brown
Biol./Psyc. Hanszen
Math. Sci. Jones
Biology Baker
the rice thresher, december 7, 1972—page 3
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Jackson, Steve. The Rice Thresher (Houston, Tex.), Vol. 60, No. 15, Ed. 1 Thursday, December 7, 1972, newspaper, December 7, 1972; Houston, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth245149/m1/3/: accessed July 18, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu.; crediting Rice University Woodson Research Center.