Uncovering the Basic Source
THE escalation of mass waste and mass pollution has continued right till the present day. But what is the basic source?
Is it human inventiveness? Not of itself, for men have invented things throughout human history. In fact, the Bible book of Genesis tells of men before the global flood like Jubal who “proved to be the founder of all those who handle the harp and the pipe” and “Tubal-cain, the forger of every sort of tool of copper and iron.” (Gen. 4:21, 22) It is not man’s inventive ability but the misuse of it that creates problems.
Similarly, the problem does not all lie with industry, for industry can come in all sizes. It is the concentration of industry and the methods of industry that have brought damage. But industry produces for people. So, basically, pollution comes from people and their wants. Do you live and work in an industrial city, or drive an automobile, or heat your home with coal or a petroleum oil, or use chemical fertilizers and pesticides, or use products with “disposable” containers—jars, cans, bottles? Then you contribute to the pollution problem.
The True Source
The true source of massive pollution actually lies in the set of values that men in general have accepted, the way of life and the system that has developed. Mental pollution has led to physical pollution.
Bigness has been viewed as a virtue. Speed, mass production and quick profit have become the yardstick of success, glorified as the benefactors of mankind. As an Australian Senate committee reporting on pollution said: “Growth is still the national religion and development is its prophet.”
Sunlight, fresh air, pure water, grass, trees, wildlife—well, all these may have to be sacrificed. But “progress” must go on!
Happiness has been sought in the possession of manufactured products, bringing a steady deterioration in human relationships and spiritual values.
True, many persons today are, as it were, “in a bind.” They find themselves locked into a system that was not of their making. They feel helpless to change matters in their brief lifetime.
But what if the way were opened up to make such a change? How many would make it? Do you personally deplore the selfish materialism that has fomented the misuse of earth’s natural elements? Most persons today inwardly prefer a materialistic way of life, only wishing that somehow the unpleasant consequences could be avoided. They may not have originated the pattern of pollution, but they prefer its perpetuation because of the so-called “benefits” that pattern produces.
Danger from the “Developing” Nations
We see that a society quite different from that prior to 1750 has developed in many lands. And those lands that have not developed along such lines have found themselves at an ever greater economic disadvantage in their relationships with the “progressive” nations. Their national currency is worth comparatively little on the international market.
Now the “underdeveloped” nations are striving anxiously to join the ranks of the “progressive” nations. The people in such nations crave the products that others have. This can only compound the problem for the earth. Why?
Because the average person in an industrial society creates many times more pollution than persons in an agricultural society. According to Dr. Paul Ehrlich: “Each American child is 50 times more of a burden on the environment than each Indian child.”
Why So Little Concern Till Now?
Why has the situation been allowed to reach crisis proportions? The Australian Senate Select Committee on Water Pollution isolated two basic factors, saying: “Behind most pollution problems lie the twin factors of ignorance and inertia.” Or we might say, ignorance and apathy.
The early technological scientists did not foresee the massive effect their laborsaving, mass-producing inventions would have on human living conditions. The early industrialists may not have realized the degree of poisoning that would result from their large-scale use of fossil fuels nor the limited capacity of rivers, lakes and even oceans to absorb the waste dumped into them. The people who coveted the early laborsaving devices and helpful equipment originally were seeking to lighten somewhat the load they bore. They did not deliberately set out to destroy their environment. But neither were they particularly concerned when the damage became more evident.
Author Lewis Mumford says of the callous viewpoint the industrial society developed: “To pay attention to such matters as dirt, noise, vibration, was accounted an effeminate delicacy.” He relates that when Scottish inventor James Watt wanted to improve his design of the steam engine so as to reduce its loud noise, the manufacturers of England prevented Watt from doing so. Why? They liked the audible evidence of power the noise gave! A modern industrialist in Germany showed that the attitude has changed little. As reported in Der Spiegel of September 14, 1970, when interviewed about the polluting of the Rhine, he expressed some concern over the death of fish, but said, “Bathing, fishing and romance—a bunch of baloney!” To sacrifice these things was simply the “price of progress.”
Getting at the root of the problem, ecologist Barry Commoner states: “The earlier depredations on our resources were usually made with a fair knowledge of the harmful consequences, for it is difficult to escape the fact that erosion quickly follows the deforestation of a hillside. [And it takes only common sense to realize that if you load a stream with garbage it will affect people downstream.] The difficulty lay not in scientific ignorance but in willful greed.”
There is still ignorance, of course. Scientists admit they still do not know the full effects of many of the chemical combinations being spread into air, land and water. This ignorance is dangerous. But apathy to that danger, an apathy rooted in human selfishness, “willful greed,” has prevented any real halt or even a slowdown in technological development of new devices and chemical products.
What hope or remedy is there then? What of the success had in some areas in rolling back the poisoning of the environment? Can it lead to full relief?