TH. AWE Di BON Se GeUe iae ioe be Pay 
Cyuest Gy re | 
by TOM BELL, Editor 
THE HIGH COUNTRY NEWs 
Published at Landers, Wyoming 
One of the distressing elements of 
the environmental movement is 
the lack of knowledge and under- 
standing on the part of the gen- 
eral public. Such lack is fed upon 
and exploited by the special inter- 
ests. And sometimes special inter- 
ests themselves lack the basic un- 
derstanding. 
Take the current price and 
shortage of lumber. Harry Bridges’ 
Longshoreman’s Union vehement- 
ly protested any cut-back in log 
exports to Japan because it would 
put men out of work on the docks. ~ 
The volume of logs being shipped 
to Japan, of course, has grown to 
such proportions that a great work 
force has been created. 
Men who work on the docks 
have little knowledge or under- 
standing of what is happening 
back on the land in Oregon, Wash- 
ington, Idaho, Montana, or Wyo- 
ming. If they have ever heard of 
multiple-use or sustained yield, 
they have little concern. And if 
they have heard the terms, it was 
probably from an employer who 
has prostituted the meanings to 
suit his own purposes. 
One of the failings of our socie- 
ty, especially our urban-oriented 
society, is the basic lack of under- 
standing of the vital elements of 
our environment. People even con- 
fusingly use the terms evironment 
and ecology interchangeably. So it 
-1s no wonder the public is confused 
over complex issues in which 
environmental matters are set 
against jobs, taxes, and the growth 
ethic. 
Somehow the public has to be 
made aware that the basic concern 
of knowledgeable environmental- 
ists 1s for the life-support system 
itself. Destroy the land-base, or 
the envelope of air, or the quality 
of the water supply for the human 
race and you have destroyed so- 
ciety. Jobs or taxes will then be 
irrelevant matters. 
The cry is heard that there must 
be a balance between the environ- 
ment and economics. But so far 
the imbalance has not been right- 
ed. If the choice is between clean 
air and jobs, the jobs still have it, 
hands down. No matter that the 
life of the worker, or even the lives 
of his children living nearby, are 
foreshortened by emphysema or 
lung cancer. (And now, it seems, 
we are also going to be given the 
choice between clean air and the 
lights in our own homes. Question: 
“Do you want to go back to can- 
dles?’’) 
Clever advertising and the ora- 
cles of big business have even led 
the public to equate a “quality” 
environment with a man-made en- 
vironment. As a result, the public 
is led to believe that science and 
technology in the hands of big 
