6 - Sund-=, fuly 23, 1989 ~ North Shore News

The environmental time
bomb we'd rather forget

THE ENVIRONMENT HAD TOP BILLING at the recent _ into the ozone?

economic summit in Paris. But despite much picus hand-

The Paris summiteers looked the
other way and concentrated on

wringing, little visible progress towards the ultimate protec- —_ odest proposals for cleaning up

tion of Mother Earth emerged.
Due, one suspects, to the scary clean way that’s now vital?
implications of a singie statistic. What happens when the eritire
The “Big 7’ — ithe U.S., Japan, Amazon rain forest has disap-
West Germany, Italy, Britain, peared in the bid to rebuild
France and Canada — were

reminded by the World Resources second African famity owns an old

Institute that their 61 per cent of leaded-gas jalopy? When China
the world’s wealth was achieved by _ plugs in 3C0 million refrigerators
producing 41 per cent of the
world’s carbon dioxide emissions,
the gas from coal-burning plants
responsible for acid rain and the
deadly ‘‘greenhouse’’ threat to the
climate.

It’s a pretty safe bet that all
other Big 7 contributions to
destroying the planet — from
automobile exhausts and spray-
cans blowing holes in the ozone to
ocean pollution and indestructible
nuclear garbage — are in the same
or an even higher percentage
bracket.

But there’s a still more frighten-
ing environmental time bomb tick-
ing.

The combined population of the
Big 7 is about 625 miilion out of a
total 5.2 billion world population.
In short, less than 12 per cent of
the earth’s inhabitants have al-
ready produced up to half of its
yotentially lethal pollution in order
to achieve their envied living
standards. And we're going to
have to spend many extra billions
from here on simply to maintain
those standards without further
environmental destruction.

Where, then, does that leave us
all as the poorer and developing
nations strive to attain comparable
living standards — although

oO . an

still spewing chiorofluorocarbons

their own act. They obviously had
no ready answers to the awesome
environmental problems eventually
threatened by the globe’s other 4.5
billion people in their quest for a

Brazil’s sick economy? When every _ better material life.

“Boa as we say, not as we've
done’’ cuts no ice with countries
still struggling to provide their citi-
zens with toilets and electric light

on the cheap.
TAILPIECES: If you're planning
on school after school, serving up
burgers is one route to go — like
North Shore MeDonald’s crew
members Frederic Schafer, Saan-
nou Shobridge and Michelic Pradel

Photo submitted

BACK TO SCHOOL VIA THE GOLDEN ARCHES...McDonald’s scholarship winners (centre) Frederic

chronically short of the money and Schafer, Lonsdale restaurant; Shannon Shobridge, Marine Drive restaurant; Michelle Pradel, Lynn Valley res-

skills to do so even in the dirty way tsurant. Flanking them (left)

WE did, let alone the much costlier executive vice-president Ron Msz:aux.

Teen guidelines

EST VANCOUVER’S unwelcome reputa-

tion as a-haven for wild parties might well

be removed by the local youth advisory
committee and youth parties task force and their
recently produced and timely ‘‘How te have a party
and not get grounded ’til you’re 60°’ brochure.

The publication, together with the more detailed
Youth Parties Guidelines, brings a refreshing attitude
to the problem. And while it shows an awareness of
the realities of youth drinking and partying, it also in-
troduces a partnership of responsibility between youth
and their parents, as weil as the community.

Parents are naive to think they can leave town and
expect their teenagers to resist the temptation to have
friends over.

Far better for adults to encourage their children to
have parties while they are around to remain in the
background and help out if needed.

By discussing party ground rules with adults, as set
out in the brochure, and looking ahead to such prob-
lems as unwelcome or drunken guests, young peogie
will see the benefits of planning.

The result should be a gathering that is memorable
rather than one the host, guesis and the neighborhood
would rather forget.

West Vancouver should be congratulated for ad-
dressing the situation and by locking beyond it to the

recognition that affluence brings its own peculiar

pressures to bear on young people, apart from the
problems of broken hemes and invitation to substance
abuse that plague them in every community.

THE MOUZE....

Y i
Tes \ |! I
i ii

ul

envelope.

unsolicited material including manuscripts and pictures 8
vetuch should be accompanied by a stamped, addressed

“ior operations manager Dave Schafer — no relation to Frederic! — and (right)

THE SOUNDS OF CONGDG...
TE BEAIER..

who’ve just received $400 scholar-
ships from the firm towards their
post-secondary education... Back
from the annual board meeting of
the Canadian Dental Hygienists
Association in Ottawa is North
Van's Pat Robertson, 2 national
director and past prez of the B.C.
branch who teaches denta! hygiene
at Vancouver Community College
.-. If you love cats and would like
to lend a hand once a week or so
to feed, water and brush some 30
of them awaiting new homes,
North Van pet lady Doris Orr,
president for 25 years of the DO-
NATE Society, would be delighted
to hear from you at 987-9015 ...
Happy 75th birthday tomorrow,
July 24, to West Van’s wandering
voy, Raiph (“‘Hunk’’) Henderson.
A well-known athlete in his
younger days — which included a
stint with the Edmonton Eskimos
— Ralph lived in West Van from
1952 ta 1979, when he took off for
three and a half years in Hawaii,
followed by six and a half in
California. He’s been back living
in West Van since the spring and
doesn’t get around too easily
nowadays, but if anyone wants to
know what he’s been up t¢ all this
time, he’s as close as the phone
book ... Also tomorrow, a 52nd
anniversary salute to Bob and
Doris Walker of North Van ... And
birthday greetings that same day to
North Van’s Veena Khosla.

eee
WRIGHT OR WRONG — Con-
fucius say: ‘‘Who say I say all
those things they say I say?”’

Vicodin fs Gag. Ihe
THE TAYPANER...

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