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- LETTERS, Page 4ENDANGERED EARTH
-
- Wow! Your description of what we are doing to the
- environment (PLANET OF THE YEAR, Jan. 2) could do more for the
- earth than any person ever named Man or Woman of the Year. It
- should awaken people like me who have not been particularly
- sympathetic to ecological concerns.
-
- John B. Schuyler Jr. Prescott, Ariz.
-
- The contents of this cover story are an excellent example
- of the solid-waste problem in this country.
-
- David C.P. Wyman Englewood, Colo.
-
- Communist and capitalist alike, men are plunderers. Can
- anyone tell me why gasoline, a nonrenewable, polluting liquid,
- costs only about $1 per gal. in the U.S. while both milk and
- beer, which are renewable, are more expensive? If the free
- market won't price products and services according to their
- replaceability, then there's a need for taxation to help
- restrict demand. I say increase the taxes on gas by $1, with 50
- cents going to public transit and 50 cents to the budget
- deficit. The watchwords for the 1990s should be the five Cs:
- contentment, compassion, conservation, coexistence and common
- interest.
-
- John E. Glenn Buffalo Grove, Ill.
-
- In my office hangs a dusty, old EPA poster inscribed: "The
- 1970s must be the years when America pays its debts to the past
- by reclaiming the purity of its air, its water and our living
- environment. It is literally now or never. -- Richard Nixon."
- And here we are at the end of the '80s, slipping closer to
- never.
-
- James Hamel Clark Nashville
-
- Congratulations on your foresight and hindsight in
- selecting the earth as Planet of the Year. I hope this
- distinction will help raise the consciousness of the world's
- inhabitants, so that they take the steps and make the sacrifices
- necessary to ensure the prosperous existence of the earth and
- its population.
-
- Sandra Willeboordse Dusseldorf, West Germany
-
- If a human being were to live forever, he would undoubtedly
- take great pains to secure a viable world. Otherwise he would
- be confronted with rancorous offspring holding him responsible
- for his negligence. Though immortality does not exist in our
- fragile world and individuals live for only decades, we must
- dedicate ourselves to the world we will leave behind.
-
- Rob van der Hurk Eindhoven, the Netherlands
-
- Will someone tell me what is so horrific about the gradual
- extinction of humanity or, for that matter, the death of one
- little planet?
-
- Frederick Ernst Jaffrey, N.H.
-
- Why not add oxygen to the list of natural resources -- oil,
- gas, coal, salt, sand, gold and water, for example -- that we
- are willing to pay for? If we were forced to buy the oxygen that
- is exhaled by the world's forests, particularly the tragically
- disappearing rain forests of South America, might we not more
- fully appreciate the value of living trees?
-
- Linda Campbell Franklin Charlottesville, Va.
-
- In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. In
- the 20th century, man acted to destroy the planet. Let it be
- written that in the 21st century man worked to heal his world.
-
- Janice Sue Moglen Reston, Va.
-
- Planet of the Year? Cop-out of the year! You should be
- ashamed.
-
- Leo W. Stockham Albuquerque
-
- I used to believe that only some extraterrestrial threat
- could compel the feuding nations of the world to cooperate and
- work for peace. Now the menace of the possible destruction of
- our natural environment could achieve the same thing.
-
- Georg Schwarzmann Hirschaid, West Germany
-