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I editorial po Pollution, A Dirty Word Pollution, a dirty word. There was a time not too many years ago when pollution of the natural environment was on just about everybody's minds. It was a time when national opinion polls routinely ranked pollution and fear for the environment as the number one concern on people's minds. Lately, however, pollution has slipped from our national consciousness, replaced it seems by things like a sinking dollar, double digit inflation, un- employment, shortages of oil, and a guy in Quebec named Rene Levesque. It is not that pollution has ceased to be anything less of a problem, although some advances have been made in cleaning up the environment. Rather, it is just not front page news anymore. A clear example of just where pollution stands on our list of priorities in 1979 is the fact that it is not even being mentioned as an issue in the federal election campaign. . However, two completely unrelated events took place last week, which should at least give us cause to start thinking about pollution again, and possibly to start doing something about it. The first was the leak last Wednesday at a large nuclear power plant in Pennsylvania which unleash- ed lethal quantities of radioactivity. Low levels of radiation were immediately detected in the atmosphere as far away as 25 kilometres, and young children and pregnant women were evacuated from the area surrounding the crippled reactor. By the beginning of this week, President Jimmy Carter had made a tour of the area, and officials still trying to determine what to do with a large "bubble'" of hydrogen gas in the reactor's cooling system. Nuclear officials called it one of the worst nuclear accidents on record, a chilling thought. They added that there did not appear to be any immediate dangers to people living nearby. What is also chilling and alarming is that this kind of nuclear accident was not supposed to happen,, could never happen, because of the built-in safe- guards. But it did happen, and the affects may start turning up in future generations. ~~ Canadian officials tell us that the CANDU reactors operating in this country are safe, that the risks of accident are almost nil. But that's what they used to say about the reactor on Three Mile Island. Who do we believe? Maybe the risks of a nuclear accident are almost nil, but consider this. When one does occur the potential harm is catastrophic in proportion. ge z i { i AL Lami Qa] The nuclear industry has for the most part done a good job telling Canadians about the benefits and the safeguards. and most of us believed it. Just like the people around Three Mile Island believed it when they were told the same thing. One can't help but wonder what they believe now. The second incident took place in Port Perry last week when the Ratepayers Association agreed to take a close look at the Nonquon River, and monitor the discharge from the sewage lagoons that are opened info the river every spring and fail. The lagoon system is a good one for treating human sewage, if it operates properly and is not over-loaded. Some residents who have lived along the Nonquon River claim that the water quality.has not been the same since the lagoons went into operation seven years ago. This summer the capacity of the lagoon system will double to six cells. Close analysis of the data may very well prove that the Port Perry sewage lagoons have nothing to dc with any deterioration of the water quality of the But at least there is a group of people enough to take a close look at the situation. If nothing else, it shows that people still want to gel involved when it comes to the environment, and they are thinking about their children rather than carping about high taxes or pot-holes in the road. - sm WHO CARES? Does anyone in this country even care any more whether the federal election occurs in April, May or June? Does anyone even care any more whether there is a federal election, in which we might exchange a right-wing reform party for a right-wing party, either winner being at the mercy, in a vote, of a right-wing left-wing party? Day after day of listening to the news, and watching the d&ws, and reading the news, has created in me, at least, the greatest sense of apathy I've ever experienced in my life. And I have a hunch that millions of Canadians agree with me. Does anyone care any more what Margaret Trudeau, a rather silly woman with verbal dysentery, among other ail- ments, has yet to reveal? Not me. Does anyone care any more how many Christian Arabs in Beirut killed how many Muslim Arabs in Beirut? Not me. Does anyone care that Prince Charles was seen jogging on a beach in Australia, that Pierre Berton has written another book, that TAY ley Canadian writers and artists and theatres and publishers all claim they need more of our tax bucks to survive? not me. Only they. A colleague of mine describes an organi- . zation at the university he attended. It was called the Apathy Club. It put out notices like these: "The Apathy Club will not hold its usual meeting this month.' Or, "true to its convitions, the Apathy Club failed to elect a new president, when no one ran for the office, and no one showed up to vote for those who did not run." I have a feeling that Canada is turning into one vast Apathy Club. Oh, we're not yet quite completely lifeless. You can see this by reading the Letters-to-the Editor columns, where all the cranks, quacks, and bigots are given a chance to sound off. But when all the news is bad news - unemployment, falling dollar, violence, threat of wars - we are inclined to tune out and to tune in to some sort of escapist entertaiment. This apathy is reflected in all sorts of phases of our society. It's considered a big deal if there is a 60 percent turnout for an election. Outside the larger cities, where there is a constant hype from the sports writers, sports are dying out. Small towns and cities that used to pack their arenas and baseball grandstands to watch the home boys fight off those infidels from the next town, draw only handfuls of spectators these days. Well, what's the cause of all this apathy, you might ask. I believe it is the result of modern communication systems, which are supposed to bring the world closer together, and are, instead, making individuals harder and more self-centred, as they find them- selves drowning in a flood of world-wide miseries which they feel helpless to alleviate. Does anyone really care about the killing of baby seals except those directly involved: the Newfie hunters trying to supplement a meagre living; the protestors who enjoy the publicity they get; and a number of old ladies of both sexes who compose ferocious letters to the editor condemning the hunt, while downing a few slices of spring lamb and mint jelly? Not me. My sympathies are completely on the side of the sealers. It's hard, dirty work they do, and they don't do it because they are sadists, any more than the killers in a slaughter-house enjoy knocking sweet little calves over the head, so that you can have your veal and your calf-skin gloves. When it is proved to me that the harp seal is an endangered species, I'll join the protes- tors. 'Not before. Where were all these silly twits when it was not baby seals that were being slaugh- tered, but baby brothers, and uncles and cousins and fathers, during the Great War? I don't remember too many letters to the editors in those days. The same sort of people who write protesting letters today about the seals, are probably the spiritual descendents of those nasty old women ( of both sexes) who went around pinning white feathers on guys in civilian clothes during W.W.II, always accompanied by the snarl, "Don't you know there's a war on?" This to guys in uniforms. Ah, dear, it's an age wien some people seek to swell out of their little selves, to engorge themselves, on publicity. If it were not for the ubiquitous media, ever seeking to touch the lowest of emotions, there would be no problems about the seal hunt. The Newfies would run a few protestors off the edge of an ice flow, and that would be that. How did 1 get away over here in Newfoundland, if I'm so apathetic? Well, maybe I'm not. And that's a good sign. Apathy leads to constipation. Constipation leads to hemmorhoids. And the next thing you know, my daughter will be saying to her kids, "Don't worry, boys. We never seem to have a cent. But Grandad has piles." The Argyle Syndicate Ltd.