George Bush and the Environment

While it is true that we have an environmental problem, it is global in nature and the real problem seems to be avoided by all those who blame Reagan or whoever is opposite their political party. The news media tell us that we are losing thousands of acres of rain forest daily; that our atmosphere is absorbing too much carbon dioxide; that our land, rivers, and oceans are being saturated with pollutants. The only real polluter on earth is man. This world can accommodate only so many people without deteriorating and it is clearly approaching or at that point now.

Every person on this earth requires resources from the earth--somewhat limited in the Third World and somewhat extravagant in the developed countries. Let us imagine by some miracle that everyone on earth had a standard of living equal to our own (that is the aspiration of most people). It would stagger the imagination to calculate the resources required to provide the automobiles, fuel, power, timber, etc. for this elevated standard of living in China and India alone. The additional pollution would be just as staggering.

We are unable to handle our present rate of pollution and to think that the world’s population keeps growing is mind-boggling. It should be clear to every thinking person that we have to get a handle on population growth or we are doomed.

SHIGEO YUGE

Los Angeles