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GREEN PAPER ON ECOLOGY - 4 — >: | ; Bere, for example, is a long excerpt from a paper written by a radical ecology group Called “SURVIVAL?"., It begins with air pollution, and is a good illustration of the kind of holistic thinking that comes from an ecological awareness. Compare this approach with the band-aid anti-pollutionist approach to air pollution. . _ e / ‘ . ‘ So eG ee ee ee a . aye . Conservation proposals view air pollution primarily as an imperfection in automotive technology and therefore argue for a rationalization of that technology. This approach however overlooks the total impact of the . automobile upon the environment -- upon our visual and audial environments, upon our physical fitness, our use of space, upon our social relations, etc. The phenomenon of nightmarish traffic jams so common today and the consumption by automotive technology of at least 50% of the total space of urban areas, when combined with the problems of air destruction, represent more than ———— enough cause for abolishing the privately owned and operated automobile. Improvements of the efficiency of the internal combustion engine or deve lop- ment of a steam or electric propulsion unit for private automobiles can never be more than halfway measures. In fact, they may well forestall even longer ——— the necessary transformation of our transportation system. ee ee ee ee In addition, there is much evidence indicating collusive activity on the part of the automobile industry, oil industry, and the Federal government in order to avoid responsibility for the disastrous impact of the automobile upon the environment. In our society transportation systems are mechanisms for private profit and not instruments for community service. Genuine changes cannot possibly come from the polluters themselves, even though their own lives and the lives of their children are at stake. Serious consideration —— must be given to the conversion of all forms of transportation into socially w= owned and Controlled utilities which would develop cheap and efficient local and regional mass transit systems based on steam and electric power. — ’ We have not chosen the automobile as an example of the comprehensive nature of these issues by accident. The automobile is in Large measure responsible ~—— for the geographically-controlled class structure of our society - the dichot- omy between center city and suburb. By the same token, it is the primary ——— technological factor which makes possible enormous waste, imperialistic styles <_< of consumption and the directionless programs for urban expansion and develop- “ment which are rapidly devouring our best agricultural lands, huge quantities of open greenery, and destroying the cohesiveness of neighborhoods and towns. —— _De-automobilization ultimately means altering the structure of our everyday lives, reconstructing our society o on a qualitatively different scale, with decentralized urban communities instead of sprawling characterless urban massifications -- communities integrated into the ecology of their regions, dependent upon harmony with nature, instead of totally disfiguring and dominat- ing nature with glass, asphalt, concrete and steel. Thus we would in fact “—have to re-think our basic concepts of transportation, urban living, political o— liberty, geographical mobility, and even our philosophical notions of time and space and personal identity. When one approaches seemingly independent problems, such as air pollution, electric power, packaging, the SST, underground nuclear testing in Alaska, from an ecological perspective, the relationships of the problems to each other and to our values, Life styles, expanding economy and population growth become clearer. It is important that more people become aware of and explore these interrelationships as a first step toward understanding our total ecosystem and as a basis for ecology actions. Ecology people are now working out. what shape and style their actions will take. - ee Re ——_# =.