Environmental Bargaining

Lake Eleanor on the Los Angeles-Ventura county line, “the jewel of our open-space system,” and the “thriving wildlife community” and endangered plant species around it should not be lost to pollution and development.

I don’t know when the rate of planetary destruction we endure will be slowed. But I know that a lot of governmental creativity will be necessary to turn the tide, along with a widely shared attitude that further environmental damage is unacceptable in developed nations like ours, where it is not caused by a daily struggle for survival as it is in some areas of the Third World.

Why not an environmental bargain with developers like M.J. Brock, in which lands with great ecological or scenic value are subject to trade with other tracts, not so environmentally valuable, owned by the government as a result of the savings-and-loan defaults? A developer then could develop or sell these lands to other buyers.

This would be good for our environment and for U.S. taxpayers, who need to salvage every possible advantage from the S&L; debacle.

Maybe the affected developers won’t make a killing in real estate development, but they won’t be as active in killing the environment either.

“Property rights” have to be decoupled from the “right” to destroy Earth’s beauty and vital biological functioning.

GREGORY WRIGHT

Sherman Oaks