Editorial
Comment
By Tom Dauey
A Hamlet without the Prince —
or an omelette without eggheads?
Our local baker used to bake real bread, not the
counterfeit mush which imitates the staff-of-life
while tasting like damp cotton wool. His whole wheat loaves were baked
in ovens; they were a feast to the eyes, the olfactory senses and the palate. Best of all you could savour them without sin, for his bread was good for you. One day I noticed the loaves were coming out of the ovens much dar ker than normal. They still looked delicious, hut I asked the baker if he had changed his ingredients? He answered his bread was unchanged, except that he now added a little caramel dye. Why? "To make the loaves look more natural!", he exclaimed.
I realized then that we had gone from the Age of Aquarius to the Age of the Vicarious. Culinary cosme tics were being used to fake what was already the real thing. Literally and metaphorically this was a deli cious irony; the intrinsic was being
Minister Ruth Grier listed 25 groups which she has invited to participate in the Advisory Committee for her proposed Bill. Lawyers predominated with four groups advising the Committee; in fact legal representation comprised an astonishing 16 percent of the Advisory Committee. With such generous input from this learned profession, this Bill might yet emerge as The Lawyers' Welfare Act.
Other groups included Green peace, Friends of the Earth, Pollu tion Probe, Northwatch, Energy Probe, Great Lakes United and the Federation of Ontario Naturalists, all activists to be sure,but disparate in their aims and objectives. Some combine impressive scientific exper tise with genuine altruism; a few are Luddites hiding their deep suspicion of all technology with green makeup.
Missing in action, believed igno red, are the Pollution Control Asso ciation of Ontario (PCAO) an affi
abandoned in favour of the imita
liate of the Water Pollution Control
tion.
Federation,the Air and Waste Man agement Association(AWMA)and the Ontario Section, American Water Works Association(AWWA). With a combined history total ling some 200 years, these groups comprise some of the most expert and experienced environmental talent in the country. They are conspicuous by their absence in the proposed Advisory Committee. If this is not exactly a Hamlet without a Prince, then it might be an ome lette without eggheads.
There are many other examples. Recently in Florida, a woman, on observing a magnificent sunset, tinged with the magenta hue of the sub tropics, exulted that the view was "just like Technicolor". The stampede to embrace all things Green has further blurred the distinction between perception and reality. In environmental situa tions, public perception is frequent ly distorted by certain media reports and newscasts written by scientific illiterates.
when typhoid and other lethal water borne diseases decimated popula tions in Ottawa and Toronto. Such sicknesses are now rare events on
this continent,a fact due more to the water treatment professionals who removed the sources of the diseases, rather than the medical professio nals who treated the effects.
...a few are Luddites
hiding their deep suspicion of aii technology with green makeup. One Canadian figure who fought tenaciously for better water quality was Dr. Berry, a world renowned scientist and engineer and the only person ever to be elected president of both the AWWA and the WPCF.
Seven decades ago hefoughtfor bet ter drinking water and waste treat ment against political apathy and vested interests. It is doubly ironic that Mrs. Grier's ministry has igno red the expertise available from the environmental professional associa tions he once spearheaded in Onta rio. For her ministry was created from the former Ontario Water Re sources Commission which Dr.
Berry dominated for many years as its top scientist and chief engineer. The legacy of environmental expertise from Dr. Berry and other pioneers is still available from the professional groups he led so many years ago. It is sad if Mrs. Grier is unaware oftheir existence. It will be
tragic if she did know, yet has cho sen to ignore them.
It must be stressed that these
This growing tendency to ignore the realities of life was highlighted in a press release announcing Onta
Canadian groups are not branch plant operations of the AWWA and WPCF. Canadian engineers and
rio's new Environmental Bill of
scientists have been involved in
Rights. In the release. Environment
AWWA matters for over a century
riu; TORONTO STAR
CAREERS
mlurday. Ijtipafy 26. 1991
Piige\ HI-HI2 1
In an interview, plan your spontaneity
Mrs. Grier should now seek the
advice of the true ecologists, the environmental scientists and engi neers. While they seldom take to the streets, they are quite easy to locate. They are the only people permitted under Ontario law who are licensed
to design and operate environmen tal treatmentfacilities. The lawyers on her Advisory Board will confirm this.
Environmental rehabilitation li > mid'd/icmuon. 1 uesday. Vuii re ai ihe kiichcn uble. living lo pui (he fm
islbnj louchrt on » oovenng klier )ou
10 go in lh« mail by 5. The 'iob
employmeni inl'ervicw nay away from
v-ou rc applying for was adienivca in like ihc ^o^ nl ihing vou'vc hoen .for mosi ol llic afternoon, lou vc
C3uestions AND^^SWERS 1 recenllv reniraed lo Toronto
b«n'plucking away at your tiTwi^nlcr.
and am liiing with friends .ind
vpuT.msirjiion growing. It s iinponanl
colleciinjlK.lneedajcb i!oi
10 hit the nglil note In this Idler and
k.
/
:;u SKdiie Cc ready 10 say, scry dear-
*
.*
'Ihrnii; diusluris in the pulil^'suctor
is going loolfet enough nuniey 10 pay rent car and henellls Besides my agcCil). I'm worried about nij tuck uf
will not come just from lawyers liti gating, protestors pontificating, or prelates preaching. Progress in water and air quality can only come from the scientific and technical
skills of environmental profession
Headline telling readers 'how to fake spontaneity' — another example of the
als who transmute research data
Age of the Vicarious.
into viable treatment projects. Environmental Science & Engineering, March 1991