Bos HUNTER ¢ Eco-Logic © ONE OF the reasons Ottawa is dragging its heels on the great issue of environmental clean-up is quite simply the belief held by a lot of Tory MPs and ministers that when the economic crunch comes, the public’s current infatuation with ecology will vanish, to be replaced by hard-nosed self interest. The political instincts of the Mulroneyites are not to be laughed at, obviously. To have wrested a majority out of the last election, despite the fact that a majority of Canadians opposed the free trade deal, means these folks know quite a bit about how to play the game. Nevertheless, I remain convinced that these Tory instincts are grounded in a previous age. They do not allow for the fact that each day, the awfui state of the planet becomes more apparent to everyone, from kids to grand- parents. The media are in for a rich JSeast of disaster and confrontation on the eco-fronts in the 1990s.”’ The composite picture of en- vironmental destruction which built up steadily during the 1980s isn’t about to change. Au con- traire, it is bound to grow more lurid, more frightening. For all the complaints of Socreds and The Fraser Institute alike that the media are biased when it comes to environmental stories, the ancient journalistic adage that bad news is great news remains as firmly entrenched as ever. With fleets of supertankers com- ing apart on the high seas, aging nuclear reactors starting to short- fuse everywhere, global temperatures rising, deserts spreading, forests burning and the ozone layer decaying, it is quite stupid of the Tories — or anybody — to think that the massive public re-education about humanity’s impact on the eco-system is some- how going to go into reverse. [t’s not as easy to unlearn what you've learned as these policy- makers seem to think. The truth is the truth, and it is etched in our brains by every newscast, every headline, every report from another oil spill or burning PCB plant. . ‘The media are in for a rich feast of disaster and confrontation on the eco-fronts in the 1990s. That’s all there is to it. And the more people see and read of what is happening ‘‘out there,’’ as well as in their own backyards, the more they are going to clamor for remedial legislative action. At bottom, of course, what the Tories are counting on is the jobs-versus-ecology syndrome to come to the rescue of their mar- ketplace ideology. itis not that the marketplace theory of coping with environmen- tal degradation is inherently wrong. Plainly, centralized in- terventionist approaches can go terribly wrong, and there is a solid case to be made for private prop- erty rights, properly enforced by appropriate legislation, being a bulwark against ecological crimes. What the Tories are missing, however, is the most fascinating aspect of environmentalism to have emerged in the last few years, namely that aitention to ecology creates more jobs than it dest-oys. In fact, lam reminded of all the job-loss doom-crying that went on when computers started hitting the workplace en masse. People were going to be con- signed to the scrap heap while computers took over. As you may have noticed, nothing like that happened. Computers have created more jobs than ever (a mixed blessing, | admit). A case in point, in terms of - ecology, is the plastics, packaging and food industries, which were forced to begin complying with tough new regulations banning the use of chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs) in aerosol cans and polystyrene foam meat trays, egg cartons and fast-food containers. Outfits like Lily Cups Ltd. simply switched to using different chemicals, and no jobs were lost at all. Herein lies a clue to the broad picture of environmentalism in the immediate future: repairing the damage to the eco-system, cleaning up and inventing new environmen- tally-sound industrial processes is turning into the biggest growth in- dustry of them all. As environmentalism becomes institutionalized, new industries are being conjured out of the air at every turn. Ecology and economics, too long considered to be natural enemies, in fact spring from the common Greek word ekos, meaning management of the home. The intrinsic harmony of these two sciences, the dismal and the sublime, is becoming increas- ingly more apparent. We're not talking about fringe alternative energy stuff. The big corporations are into it in a big way. Inco Ltd. has invested $120 mil- lion at its Sudbury facilities in the past decade to reduce sulphur dioxide emissions, and is planning to spend another $494 million in the next six years. Ontario Hydro has pledged $440 million to instal? scrubbers at its coal-fired generating stations. E.B. Eddy is spending $100 mil- lion to improve its bleaching methods at pulp mills. Between them, the Big Four On- tario acid rain polluters are gearing up to spend $f billion to clean up their acts. In all, more than 100,000 jobs in Canada are now directly involved in pollution control technology. That represents one per cent of the workforce — ironically, about the same percentage as are now in- volved in the military. Surely, this is a watershed! NURSING. HOME GARE:. CARING EXPERIENCED STAFF | * RNs & LPNs * Aides & Homemakers * Live-ins 24 HOURS A DAY DRAKE MEDQOX 987-0861 HEALTH SERVICES” Drivers guilty RECENT CONVICTIONS in North Shore courts have resulted in fines and penalties for drinking and driving related offences: NORTH VANCOUVER: Gene Hershel Enright, 27, 4006 Cam- bridge St, Burnaby (over .08, $425 fine); Perry Bernhard Banka, 23, 7270 Gilley Ave., Burnaby (breathalyser refusal, 14 days jail, $500 fine); Kenneth Wilfred Mor- rison, 28, 123 East 6th St., North Vancouver (impaired, 21 days jail). WEST VANCOUVER: Frederick Clough Dakin, 39, 6475 Fox St., West Vancouver (over .08, $700 fine, one-year driving suspension); Laurie Anne Wooley, 29, 396 East 3rd Ave., Vancouver (impaired, $700 fine, one-year driving suspen- FATON'S We are. Canada’s department store CORRECTION The EATON’S March 28th flyer (shown below) was inserted in Wednesday's North Shore News in error, a week early by our printing plant. CHOU © ON EXCLUSIVE! © THROUGHOUT THIS BOOK - THE MARK OF AN EATO! LOOK FOR THIS SYMBOL The event starts Wednesday, March 28, 1990. We regret any inconvenience this may cause. Please retain your flyer and shop Wednesday, March 28, 1990.