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A UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS STUDENT WRITES ON 
‘THE PROBLEM FACING CONSERVATIONISTS’ 
by GARY BARNER 
The major obstacles facing ccnservationists do not lie in the gathering 
of vital informaticn, the identifying of possible solutions, nor in the evalua- 
tion of possible solutions. The basic obstacle is simply this: lack of 
awareness of the problem, i.e., few people feel the need for conservation, 
other than the relatively few conservationists. 
We hear of a water shcrtage in certain areas; yet we turn on the 
faucet and there is water. We hear of polluted air; yet none of our friends 
have been known to die because of smog. To the uninformed individual 
all is running smooth, and the resource-population problem is cast aside 
as a secondary problem in a world filled with enough first-class problems. 
But the resource-population crisis is by all means a first-class problem. 
We simply haven’t learned the gravity of this situation. 
To illustrate this point, I will take an example from the University 
of Illinois. In one of the first lectures of an English rhetoric course, 
students were introduced to the “deliberation” process as a way of think- 
ing. An anology was used to show the steps in the deliberative process: 
(1) becoming aware of the problem, (2) collecting of information, and so 
on. The analogy used was introduction of the rabbit tc Australia, where 
no natural enemies of the rabbit existed. We were given the sad facts 
on how the rabbit reproduced unchecked, how means to control them were 
established, hcw the controls often backfired, and how the problem is now 
being solved. 
What was the common response ‘to this analogy? Laughter! How the 
destruction of hundred acres of farmland, unchecked reprcduction, and 
the presence of the poiscnous chemical DDT in drinking milk is humorous, 
is beyond my scope. As Dr. Martin W. Schein stated in an interview with 
American Forests Magazine: “It is my opinion that the students coming 
nto college haven’t the foggiest notion of what life science is all about.” 
Now, if we can pin-point a major obstacle, we must also pin-point 
4 way to overcome this obstacle. The easiest (and perhaps the only) way 
(0 overcome lack of awareness is through education. We must show the 
ndividual to look around and see, smell, and touch these resources so 
shat he knows that they are essential to his well being ... to his very 
sxistence. How to introduce this process of education, and in particular 
the education of the very young, should be a primary concern of the 
Tue conservationist. 
| To speak to an elementary school child in such abstract ideas as 
‘aesthic value,’ and the “effect-counter-effect one living organism has on 
nother organism,” would be foclish. A New York City child has little 
ise for knowledge of the increasing chemical content of water in the 
2io Grande river. Perhaps this is too abstract and could be a reason for 
he laughter when a lecture class heard about the rabbits in Australia. 
An interesting solution to this abstraction problem was offered by 
Ir. J. Klinias on a recent Dateline radio broadcast. “I recall a teacher 
aking her elementary grade school class out to the playground. A previous- 
y marked-off area was to be investigated. All were told to get down on 
