Water, trash, population provide dangers
Pollution problems threaten environment
(Editor's note—Information and statistics used in this report are taken from a series of articles prepared for HATPIN (Housewives Alert to Pollution in Northfield) and was first printed in the Northfield News of Northfield, Minnesota. It is printed in the Kansan with the cooperation of Ecology Action of Lawrence.)
By JIM ROTHGEB Kansan Staff Writer
Pollution is all around us. Like it or not it is closing in on our environment at a quickening pace. Emphasis on ecology seems to be the early trend of the seventies and more and more ideas have been devised in order to fight the newest war on pollution.
One can be convinced of the dangers of pollution and still not know what to do about it. It is sometimes hard to realize that as individuals we can cut down on pollution in our every day life. A person can write his congressman, appear before the state legislature and demand adequate sewage treatment plants in his area. But until he has tried to eliminate sources of pollution from his own home, he can not honestly say he has done all he can do.
One problem facing us is the scarcity of water. Our growing population has placed added pressure on the water shortage. In comparison with 1900, the population of the country is two and one-half times as large, but industry uses 11 times more water, agriculture uses seven times as much for irrigation, and homes use 10 times the amount they
KC truck drivers join other strikers
KANSAS CITY, Mo. (UPI)—Teamsters union members in Kansas City joined their fellow truck drivers across the nation Wednesday in a work stoppage, causing a shutdown of the Kansas City truck freight industry.
Local of the Teamsters has from 5,000 to 6,000 members. Stan Stanhope, executive vice-president of the union local, said all members were off the job Wednesday.
14 KANSAN Apr. 2
1970
used to. Three hundred fifty-five billion gallons of water are needed every day in the United States, and it is estimated that in 10 years this total will soar to 600 billion gallons.
After being used, water is able to purify itself. But now there is hardly enough time for this cycle to occur. This is why it is becoming more important that adequate sewage treatment plants are built to help make water more quickly usable.
But this makes up only a fraction of the problem. Many people obtain their water from under the ground, by drilling wells. However, in many places water is drawn out of the soil faster than it can flow back into the surface. Western Kansas is a good example of this where the water table has dropped 1,000 feet.
What, then, can be done? Besides demanding better regional management of water, there are many ways of cutting home use alone. Ecologists suggest that automatic washers should not be run until they contain full loads. Children can take baths together; showers can be run at half-force for half as long. Toilets need not be flushed after every use.
Another area in which ecologists have shown much concern is that concerning trash. The average United States resident creates five pounds of trash every day and that total is increasing.
The problem now exists as to what exactly should be done with the trash pile-up. As people crowd each other more and more, one man's "away" becomes part of another man's property. Cities must decide on refuge areas which will satisfy both the local residents and the conservationists. In some cities these sites are scarce.
The two most common methods of discarding trash are burning it and dumping it until space runs out. Incinerators are both expensive to the taxpayer and, in some cases, very dangerous. Many plastic goods are made of polyvinyl chloride which gives off a poisonous gas when burned. Possibly the smartest way for a city to dispose of trash would be to make separate collections of organic matter, acceptable combustibles, glass goods, and metals. The organic matter would be buried and would eventually become soil again, non-dangerous combustibles burned and the resulting cinders used in some manner (the Japanese make building blocks for example) and glass and metals returned to industries for re-use. Many aluminum companies are experimenting with collecting the metal used in their products after they are used. Ecologists encourage this idea because aluminum does not degenerate as do the "tin" cans.
As usual, the entire problem of trash wastes can be placed on each individual. Ecologists offer these suggestions:
- Do not buy items that are meant to be used only once; use sandwich boxes instead of plastic sandwich bags, metal trash containers instead of giant plastic bags.
- Whenever there is a chance, purchase soft drinks, beer and any other liquids in refillable or returnable containers.
- Buy products that have the least amount of packaging to discard. For example, buy cheese that does not advertise "individually wrapped slices" and buy hardware items that are not imprisoned in plastic bubbles.
- Try to conserve on paper by saving magazines and newspapers for paper drives, taking shopping bags along for purchases, and using cloth rather than paper towels.
The biggest threat of all to our environment is that of the population bomb. We must immediately begin to think of leveling off our numbers if any sort of "good life" is to be found on earth.
The world population adds 2 per cent to its total every year. This means that in 35 years the world's population will double. By the end of the century that means six billion people.
Debate rages among the experts as to where the limit of food production lies. Some say there are great untapped potentials, while others warn that the limit is already being exceeded. Whatever the truth is, food production today increases only 1.2 per cent annually for a population increase of 2 per cent and 35 million babies are born each year for which there is not enough food.
Too often people think the population problem has not hit the United States yet. This is probably because more than 70 per cent of the population live on less than 2 per cent of the land. The problem is that this country is already at the upper limit of resources.
The best solution to alleviate
the population growth problem is to put the brakes on the birth rate.
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