University of Virginia Library

Turn To Die

The public is finally awakening
to the twin issues of population and
ecology, characteristically at one
minute to midnight a a civil rights
and Viet Nam. In some ways it is
already too late: "The battle to
feed all of humanity is over. In the
1970's the world will undergo
famines. Hundreds of millions of
people are going to starve to death
in spite of any crash programs
embarked upon now." (Dr. Paul
Ehrlich) - all we can do is watch
via satellite relayed color T.V. while
sipping our Metrecal. Biafra rather
than Viet-Nam is the prototype of
the decade: the removal of surplus
human material through famine,
plague, warfare. We will be too
numbed by its inevitability and
immensity to care.

Closer to home, Lake Eric
(10,000 sq. miles) is a sterile
cesspool; the Chicago and Buffalo
rivers are fire hazards (!); mass
deaths from air pollution are
expected (scheduled?) to begin at
Long Beach by 1975-76; the very
soil may be incurably poisoned by
the late 1980's (through fertilizers
and insecticides). The automobile is
not only fouling the atmosphere, it
is altering its very composition by
converting oxygen to CO2: a
process which not only endangers
all animal life but will also change
the earth's temperature by enough
to cause either a new ice age or a
catastrophic rise in the sea level
through polar melting. The DDT
already released has virtually exterminated
several species of birds
(including the American Bald
Eagle): they can no longer lay
normal eggs. Man is more resistant;
it will be several years before its
long range effects, such as cancer,
become fatally noticeable among us
en masse. The list could be
extended indefinitely...

What can we do? Aside from
nationwide activities such as the
April 22nd teach-in, pressure on
elected officials, and the obligatory
demonstrations, we can begin by
improving our local environment.
The University should immediately
stop the generating plant next to
the Hospital (!) from pouring filth
into the air; it should promote
ecological rather than military research;
and it should give woodland
preservation priority over blind
cancerous growth (conservatives
rally! here is an issue of traditional
beauty vs. "state-U-ism"). Automobiles
should be banned from
parking anywhere in the grounds
(particularly the amphitheater); car
privileges should be greatly restricted
(walking is good for you).
Nobody has an inalienable right to
destroy the environment which all
of us must share: one car driven
down one block consumes the
oxygen needed by one hundred
people for one month. Choose.

The problem is one of will not
means. There are many who,
through greed, the frontier ethic,
and a paranoiac fear/hatred of
nature agree with the defoliation
teams in Viet-Nam: "Only we can
prevent forests." Act now...or soon
it will be your turn, your turn, your
turn to die.