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About The daily Nebraskan. ([Lincoln, Neb.) 1901-current | View Entire Issue (Dec. 8, 1972)
Question of values 4 -V- Somewhere along the line, a decision regarding) priorities will have to "be made in the bettle for . control of the environment. Now seems like an' appropriate time to make that decision. Wednesday niaht's debate between Eric Sloth of Nebraska Public Power District (NPPD) and Sierra Club representative J.A. Faqerstrom precisely pointed up the question at hand in the environment vs. technology fray-when do we stop the flow of technology to preserve and benefit the environment? Sloth claims, quite rightly, that the question is one of value judgement. If future technology is to fpllow the lines of past ecological debacles, keeping the machine as the" supposedly benevolent despot of our society, our values will be clear-improve the technological standard of living, no matter what the result. The more rational, long-range vafue is ' obvious-control technology in time to preserve society from its own destructive course. This all ties in closely with several decisions now pending on NPPD expanison and procedure. One decision, now pending before the U.S. Supreme Court, will determine whether the district has the right to degrade Nebraska's environment, currently well above national standards, to where it barely would meet federal requirements. Should the Supreme court decide the district can't lessen the quality of air and water it would mean a great victory for Nebraska ecology. And while other areas of the nation are busily attempting to salvage their already-failing environs, Nebraska will be able to keep itself out of such future straits. Halting the flow of technology at this point may cost the consumer in more than one way. Electric rates may climb as power districts-are forced to seek environmentally desirable" methods for producing vSV fee Why break up a winning team? power. Industry may have to pay more for its power, passing higher prices on to the buyer. And the individual may be forced to cut back on non-essential uses of power, due to shortages while government seeks new power sources. But one thing is clear-no matter what the cost, it's worth it. The environment must be the winner in the current earth-technology tug-of-war. If it isn't, Man will be the ultimate loser. How hard it is to care about human suffering For more than a month now the front page has talked of peace. For more than a month now the diplomats have advanced and retreated in a ritual as stately and unhurried as the mating dance of peacocks. And for m& than a month on oaae 1 1 or: 14 or 24V couldn't ween far tham. k itiora Km haan twinf tifri ahnut chef (inns nt"3V battles and bur "continuing bombing ' raids-the . heaviest of the entire war. "American B-52 bombers yesterday dropped another 1,200 tons of bombs on Communist positions ..." ' I find now that I glance at this brief daily story on page 1 1 or 14 or 24-1 glance at it and turn the page. How hard it is to conceive of the explosive fore of 1,200 tons of TNT. How hard it is to envision the blinding flash, hear the eardrum-splitting roar, feel the agony of torn flesh, smell of the stench of death. How hard it is to care. It's been 10 years now since last I cried. I remember the day well. It was the day 83 people were killed in a plane crash. It was the day my dog died. The dog was old and sick and in pain. I carried him down to the pet hospital in my arms and gave him to the young veterinarian. I patted the dog one last time on the head and told the vet to kill him and walked out with the unstoppable tears flowing down my .face. I didn't weep for those 83 people. I wept for my dog. The dog lived in my world for fifteen years. I didn't know any of those 83 people. They had never existed in my world. Therefore, the fact that they had ceased to exist affected my world hardly at all. I Qfthuf hoppe I've thought about that day often. I think that we all live in our own little worlds. I think the real world out there exists only when it touches our own. I care more about my weight than I do about the starving in India. I care more about my tax bill than about the jobless in the ghettoes. I care more about my leaking roof than the thermonuclear bomb. i Deneve mat my own little world comes tirst-not because it should, but simply because it does. That is the way of things. And because that is the way of things, I believe my first task is not to save the real world, but to save my own. . My power to erase the misery and injustices of the real world ij virtually nil. But my power to make my own little world a better place is immeasurable. I know I must care about death and suffering in the real world. I must try to care because every time I don't, I callous over a corner of my soul. Every time I don't, I make my own world a slightly less decenfe. But now that our leaders say that peace is just around the corner, how hard it is to care. So the diplomats continue their intricate maneuvering, the bombs I helped pay for continue falling, and the human beings I never knew continue dying-dying now for no good reason at all. Surely these pointless deaths now are the most tragic of this decade-old war. Yet so inured have I become in that decade to the suffering of others, so hardened to their pain, that I can now callously flip the page. I wish I could weep again. I wish I could weep, not only for what we are doing to them, but for what we have done my own little world. I wish I could weep. But how hard it has become to care. Copyright Chronlcl Publlihlng Co. 1972 . . . r&Mm ' ' V in "Wi'S l?We world f ) y&&A&3$3 :.- V MINE'! J BM.(gPlfe)l V pape4 daily nebraskan friday, december 8, 1972