News Coverage
Killing us slowly
We make war on ourselves by ignoring the environment.
Published August 16, 2004
In our freezer are trout that we are afraid to eat. Bathing our mountains is air that we are told we should not breathe. What have we done to our world and when will we stop doing it?
As an issue, the environment is far down the list of concerns that move voters in presidential elections. In a poll taken last fall by the University of New Hampshire Survey Center to determine why the state's voters favored one Democratic primary candidate over another, environmental policy tied for 16th place behind "don't know why."
This is a plea to change that. The war in Iraq is the No. 1 voter concern, followed by the dearth of good jobs and the troubling state of the economy. With the death toll for Americans in Iraq closing in on 1,000 and no clear exit plan in place, the war deserves a place at the top of the list. Yet air pollution kills some 60,000 Americans each year.
We are making war on ourselves and allowing others - Midwestern utilities, auto manufacturers, polluting industries at home and abroad - to make war on us. It is a war that will quietly continue killing and wounding millions and wreak the most damage on the young and the old. That war will not end until environmental issues become something not just to care about but also to act upon.
The trout in our freezer are a gift from a generous "filet and release"fisherman with time on his hands and plenty of skill. We've never asked, but he is, we think, from the old school which believes there is no point in harassing a fish if no one is going to eat it.
The trout are delicious but still frozen because we've already consumed more than our recommended quota of four 8-ounce portions of freshwater fish per month and far more than the one portion per month allotted young children and women of child-bearing age. The fish, you see, are contaminated with mercury, a toxic metal that can damage the brain and other organs.
On Saturday, we returned from a trip hiking and kayaking in British Columbia to learn that we should avoid one of our favorite spots on the East Coast, Cadillac Mountain in Maine's Acadia National Park. It's the spot where the sun first dawns over America. Acadia, the Monitor's Rebecca Tsaros Dickson reported, has some of the dirtiest air in America.
For the second year, the Appalachian Mountain Club has asked hikers to carry a small card and a portable camera with them when they ascend New England's peaks. The card measures ozone levels. The camera records the smog that on some days cuts panoramic views from 90 miles to 40 miles or less. We urge all peak baggers to aid in the experiment.
It's been a weird, wet summer in New Hampshire. So far, the EPA has issued three air quality warnings advising people to refrain from prolonged physical exertion while outdoors. It has issued nine such warnings for New England.
Some of the blame for the fouled air and water belongs at home, but much of the pollution originates elsewhere. It is carried to New England on the prevailing westerly winds. People can chip away at both air and water pollution by buying more fuel-efficient vehicles, recycling, conserving electricity and avoiding all consumer products containing mercury. But in the end, political action offers the only solution.
That's why we ask, and will ask again, that citizens think about the air they breathe, the water they drink and the food they eat before casting their votes in November. Yes, many matters seem more pressing than the state of the environment. But a person is just as dead whether killed by a bullet in Iraq or too many breaths of bad air at home.