“FRIENDS OF THE EARTH”

Press, Volume CX, Issue 32406, 19 September 1970, Page 10

“FRIENDS OF THE EARTH”

The Environmental Handbook. Edited by Garrett de Bell. Ballentine/ Friends of the Earth. 367 pp. If the United States has the worst manifestations of congestion, pollution and destruction of natural habitats, it seems also that it is a nation that is becoming thoroughly aroused. Several conservation groups like the Sierra Club, the Audubon Society, the Wilderness Society have been operating conservatively for some time, but the newly-formed “Friends of the Earth” are aggressively political now, calling upon their growing membership to stir politicians into action “to restore the environment misused by man and to preserve remaining wilderness . . .” This paper-back edition encompasses 50 contributions, many published elsewhere and intended as preparatory information papers for the national “Teach-in” that was held last April. It may be significant that in August the American legislature began to deliberate on one of the major issues proclaimed in .the book—whether to stop the development of super-sonic air transports—regarded by the ‘Triends” as an alarming menace to our welfare. Some of the contributors to the handbook are famous—John Gardner, Lewis Mumford, Rene Dubes, Paul Ehrlich. The others may be less renowned, but they forcefully and competently make their plea in relation to pending “eco-catastrophe.” Some of the tenets explode like the shot of a heavy gun, for example:— “America is a nation knee-deep in garbage firing rockets to the moon . . .

“The super-sonic transport summarises in one project our society’s demented priorities . . . “Freedom to breed is intolerable . . . “Some of our less complacent academics are trying to restore coherence to American education . . . “The car is robbing Americans of their land, air, minds and lives . . . The book is intended for nonspecialists. It unashamedly aims to arouse, even with tear-cut end-papers for transmission to the President on issues of population and pollution. These two particular matters receive the greatest emphasis, and the facts given appear to be incontrovertible and most alarming. Some of the provocation of authority is vigorous, as in the section on university education, where there is scathing condemnation of

futile graduate programmes devoid of relevance to the socio-economic needs of the contemporary world. If some scepticism is engendered at the tone and manner of some of the contributions, there is likely to be acceptance of the reality of looming disasters. What thinking person above 50 years of age can aver that our natural environment of air, water, space is as it should be for our comfort and the welfare of our children? Americans, no matter what they have done to their environment, will, if aroused in the manner of the “Friends,” find effective solutions—they are already extracting ingredients of value from pollutants. The rest of the world should take notice of what they have done, to the environment and from them it seems likely that we will have a pattern of remedial action for our guidance.