Our society is consumer oriented - dangerously so. To keep the wheels of industry turning, we manufacture consumer goods in endless quantities, and, in process, are rapidly exhausting our natural resources. But this is only half the problem. What do we do with manufactured products when they are worn out? They must be disposed of. Unsightly junkyards full of rusting automobiles already surround every city in the nation. Americans throw away 80 billion bottles and cans each year, enough to build more than ten stacks to the moon.
It wasn’ t always like this.( 46. Only 100 years ago man lived in harmony with nature. There weren’ t so many people then and their wants were fewer.) Whatever waste were produced could be absorbed by nature and were soon covered over. Today this harmonious relationship is threatened by man’ s lack of foresight and planning, and by his carelessness and greed. For man is slowly poisoning his environment.
Pollution is a “dirty” word. To pollute means to contaminate - to spoil something by introducing impurities which make it unfit or unclean to use. Pollution comes rn many forms. We see it, smell it, taste it, drink it, and stumble through it. (47. We literally live in and breathe pollution, and, not surprisingly, it is beginning to threaten our health, our happiness and our very civilization .)
Once we thought of pollution as meaning simply smog - the choking, stinging, dirty air that hovers over cities. But air pollution, while it is still the most dangerous, is only one type of contamination among several which attack the most basic life function.
Through the uncontrolled use of insecticides, man has polluted the land, killing the wildlife. By dumping sewage and chemicals into rivers and lakes, we have contaminated our drinking water. (48. We are polluting the ocean, too, killing the fish and thereby depriving ourselves of an invaluable food supply.)
Part of the problem is our exploding population. More and more people produce more wastes. But this problem is intensified by our “throw-away” technology. Each year Americans dispose of 7 million autos, 20 million tons of waste paper, 25 million pounds of toothpaste tubes and 48 million cans. We throw away gum wrappers, newspapers, and paper plates. It is easier and cheaper to buy a new one and discard the old, even though 95 percent of its parts may still be functioning. Baby’ s diapers, which used to be made of reusable cloth, are now paper throwaways. (49. Soon we will wear clothing made of paper: “Wear it once and throw it away,” will be the slogan of the fashion conscious.)
Where is this all to end? Are we turning the world into a gigantic dump, or is there hope that we can solve the pollution problem? Fortunately, solutions are in sight. A few of them are positively ingenious.
Take the problem of discarded automobiles, for instance. Each year over 40,000 of them are abandoned in New York City alone. Eventually the discards end up in a junkyard. But cars are too bulky to ship as scrap to a steel mill. They must first be flattened. (50. This is done in a giant compressor which can reduce a Cadillac to the size of a television set in a matter of minutes. )Any leftover scrap metal is mixed with concrete and made into exceptionally strong bricks that areused in buildings and bridges. Man’ s ingenuity has come to his rescue.
We can reduce pollution, even if we can’ t eliminate it altogether. But everyone must do his part. Check your car to see if the pollution-control device is working. Reduce your use of electricity. Don’ t dump garbage or other waste on the land or in the water. Demand that government take firm actions against polluters. We can have a clean world, or we can do nothing. The choice is up to you.
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