The Ecological 'Balance': Dollars VS. Facts

The Bush Administration is permitting oil drilling in Alaska and off the shore of California, more logging in the Pacific Northwest, while Brazil's rain forests are dwindling as new roads and housing and factories replace pristine vegetation and wildlife. There is global warming, which is frightening to some in the Arctic and Antarctic regions, fearing that melting ice may inundate coastal areas within a decade or even less. Bleak forecasts. Yet, most people who seem to warn us about potential ecological disasters are called "liberal alarmists" by those who stand to profit from ecological scarring of land and sea areas, even our air. Furthermore, the current administration's ecological policies are far from adequate. The fact is that striking a proper balance between "environmental health and well-being" and the needs of corporations, both groups need to be aware of problem areas, and work to erase or alleviate them. Corporate environmental leadership should have a commitment to pollution prevention and control, good citizenship, and fiscally and ecologically responsible resource management. Their environmental staff should be trained in prevention and control technology, business, environmental law, risk assessment and public relations.

Environmental citizen groups are motivated by their mission to preserve ecological quality and balance so that the planet and all of its living matter can survive and thrive. These citizens are united by a common interest in the environment; they may focus on a single issue" (Katchian 1993 60). The ecological balance may be better served by private and business efforts, rather than governments (which politicize ever dollar spent). We need to expand "the interface between business and the environment as part of the complex cyclical relationship between the natural and man-made worlds" (Rosen 1997 26). Perhaps one of the problems with alerting people to ecological disaster is that so few HUMNANS seem to be affected, compared with animal species and vegetation. Su0pposedly, since the beginning of the Earth, there have been five major upheavals causing 3excinction. "The consensus among biologists is that we now are moving toward another mass extinction that could rival the past big five. This one is unique, however, in that it is largely caused by the activities of a single species. It is the sole mass extinction that humans will witness firsthand--and not just as innocent bystanders" (Larsen 2004 51).

One can only look at the cries of the logging industry, as an example, when it was forced to halt logging in one area of Northern California and Southern Oregon because it endangered the Spotted Owl. The argument was whether jobs for workers was an issue less important than some dumb bird. People, for the most part, don't care about animal life (unless it affects their eating habits) or plant life (unless it causes allergies). Ecology is a subject taught in schools and then soon forgotten in the quest for good careers and starting families. Whenever ecological problems interfere with the pocketbook, the warnings of science goes unheeded. This is especially true for groups opposing eco-legislation: Some groups are formed purely to oppose a particular piece of legislation such as the Clean Air Working Group which was formed to fight the Clean Air Act of 1990 by coal companies that invested millions of dollars in the campaign. The Coalition for Vehicle Choice was established in 1991 by the Motor Vehicle Manufacturers of America with a $500,000 grant to fight standards for fuel consumption in new cars (Beder 21). Money speaks louder than ecological concerns. Chances are, this fact will continue to destroy the world we live in, piece by piece, species after species.

WORKS CITED:

Beder, S. : 'Ecological Double Agents', Australian Science, Vol. 19, no 1, February 1998, pp19-22

Katchian S. C.: (1993) "Environmental Leadership in a Public Health Agency" Journal of Environmental Health, v. 55, n.5. March, 1993, p. 60.

Larsen, J, "The sixth great extinction" USA Today(Magazine) Nov, 2004. v.133, i. 2714, p.51

Rosen, C. M.: INDUSTRIAL ECOLOGY AND THE GREENING OF BUSINESS HISTORY" Business and Economic History 1997 26(1) pp. 123-137.