ILLINOIS AUDUBON BULLETIN 
Published Quarterly by the 
ILLINOIS AUDUBON SOCIETY 
Number 167 Winter 1973-1974 
ihe nei e bore "6 Message 
This winter the various agencies of government have finally come to 
a realization of a point conservationists have been trying to get 
across for years: we are faced with a serious energy crisis. It has 
taken a war with oil-import impact and a decline in other energy 
sources to a serious point to make seemingly everyone suddenly 
aware of the problem. It will probably require radical changes in 
the life style—that Americans have been encouraged by industry 
and government to embrace—to reach some sort of equilibrium 
again between energy supplies and requirements. 
We can all remember encouragement from power companies 
to buy more electric appliances, erect senseless gas lights in our 
yards to consume gas twenty-four hours a day to provide a weak 
light for a few minutes of nightime passage, and even heat homes 
with electricity when it is the least efhcient heating source known. 
We are also encouraged to buy larger, energy-wasting cars, keep 
thermostats set too high in winter out of the mistaken idea that 
seventy-two degrees is an optimum temperature, and engage in 
energy-consuming recreation, which does nothing for our health, 
such as snowmobiling or motorcycling. 
Now that “everyone” has seen the light in the area of energy 
conservation, we have to renew the struggle in other conservation 
areas. 
It should be obvious to anyone with average intellect that the 
natural resources of the earth are limited to a finite, measurable 
quantity. All people on earth consume these resources—and the 
higher their standard of living, the higher their consumption. The 
only possible way the earth can continue to be inhabitable is by 
insuring that population does not get any higher than it already is, 
especially in high-standard-of-living countries like the U.S. If this 
had been done a hundred years ago, the world would be a much 
better place in which to live now. 
One facet of conservation is to ensure a place for nature in the 
world of the future. One aim of Illinois Audubon Society is to gain 
public recognition for the value and need for preserving our natural 
resources. It is probably the basic precept for the entire environ- 
mental movement. An earth without nature would be one which 
