Environment

Press, Volume CIX, Issue 32265, 7 April 1970, Page 14

Environment

lights at thia corner would be of more practical use than

Sir,—The statement that man is the most destructive species ever to appear on earth and his premature extinction is inevitable would ' presume he has lost all control of his environment. The focal point of all natural forces is man, and ever since he inhabited this earth his sole occupation has been to < Use these powers to help in , his struggle up the ladder of evolution. Greed and selfishness are counter ■ forces and have always been present to motivate periodic accelera- ; lion of a changing environi pent outstripping man’s I ability to keep pace with his . spiritual and physical adjustment The present period is > one of acceleration, and man ,is already aware of his l danger and directing his > powers towards an adjust- . ment Lest we forget, man ; controls his environmentj not , the reverse, and in his climb ■ upwards will throw off the .. shackles of greed and selfisht ness, the underlying cause of i his present predicament— Yours, etc., T. J. GLEN. April 5, 1970.

Sir,—Your otherwise very able correspondent, Mr Neary, states that your very fine

.article offers us nothing as a guide to the solution of our universal environmental problems, the perversion, destruction, and profligate use of the earth’s very limited resources, as well as our own threatened existence. For if we cannot adapt we die. Professor Salmond remarks that the earth is beginning to stink, but the Duke of Edinburgh put his finger on the basic solution when he said that there is a plague of people, and he should know. No time should be lost by all governments, in the common interest, in convening a highlevel meeting to drastically and immediately restrict the monstrous population growth, despite the squeals of the pressure groups, from churches to powerful world monopolies. If the position is not, or cannot be, reversed' in the near future, then our evolved species may as well call it a day and hand over.— Yours, etc.,

W. J. COLLINS. April 6, 1970.