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12-Orono Weeklv Times, Wednesdlay. lune 6, 1990, SAGA members attend by Niva Rowan Over 200 developers, citizens, academics, bureaucrats and politi- cians, and represcntatives from various environmental. groups at- tended an ail day Seminar on the Oak Ridges, Moraine at. York University iast Friday. Entitled "OUT 0F CONTROL?": DEVELOPMENT ON THE OAK RIlGES MORAINE, and spon- sored by the Department of En- vironmcntal Studies at York University, participants were expos- cd to some very high level speakers, including Ron Kanter, MPP (St. Andrew/St. Patrick), who was Keynote speaker, and is chairing the Greater Toronto Area Greenlands Strategy, John Livingstone, weIl- known naturalist, author and Iec- turer, and Gardner Church, Deputy Minister for the Greater Toronto Area (GTA). Included on the panel "The -Polities of Development on the O.R.M." was SAGA's Chairperson, Kathy Guselle, who spoke most eloquently of the frustrations experienced by average citîzens whenl confr onted by the political process in trying to cope with developers. These citizens use their own time and money, and have no legal or professional assistance in dealing with the com- plex. planning processes involved. "What we have today is planning by developers," she said. This sentiment was expressed repcatedly throughout the day by various speakers who pleaded to save the precious landform which supplies the waters for ail the major watersheds in Southern Ontario. What pleased the four members at- tending from SAGA's Committee, Elva Reid, Niva and Julian Rowan, and Katby Guselle, was the mention over and over again of the impor- tance of saving and protecting the Ganaraska headwatcrs, and water- shed from any development now, while it is stili untouched. Dr. Soreen, is electronlo 'art drawing table' fly John Eberie A Vancouver high-tech company has developcd and will soon begin manufacturing the world's largcst flat computer display sceen - an electronic drafting ,'board for architects, engneers and graphic designers. Invented by Charles Haynes, the president of Plasma Computer Products (PCP), tie half-inch thick screen consists of anc layer of 'plasma' - an electrically-charged gaseous material - sandwiched bctwecn two layers of glass. Haynes says the device offers several advmntages over traditional cathode ray screcns. For anc thing, he notes, thc fiat, tiltable screen is better suited for artistic purposes tha are conventional curved monitors. The user can draw sketches and scribbles directly on the screen, usmng a pen-shaped pointer device that converts vîsual data into a form computers cmn understand. 'The light from plasma is a lot steadier, than thc light from a fiickering cathode ray tube," he adds. "And because there is no cathode radiation passing trough thc screen and hitting you, there are therefore no health concera.". But the most significant advmntage is size. PCP's plasma screens, which dwarf cathode ray monitors, measure up ta 150 centimetres square. Haynes says screcns as large as picture windows could easily be built. These unusual dimensions mcmn computer users have more clbow room te make intricate drawings. They cmn also view a lot more information at a time because, unlike cathode ray monitors, a plasma screcn's resolution docs not decrease when thc arca of thc screen increases. "Our scrccn is so large and its resolution is so high that you cmn use it te display a fuil-size, detailed city map,'" says Haynes, who expects fire and police departments will fmnd uses for plasma screcns ini dispatching. Othcr potential applications include desktep publishing: two full-sizc ncwspaper pages cmn be -viewed simultmneously - with room te spare. Fiat plasma screcns may also become popular as dcsktops themselves, he prcdicts. "Whcn you go te work, you could fiick on Uic screcn mnd up would came' m elcctronic calendar, note pad, address book and business card index." However, it will be several years before such plasma screens are affordable. Current prototypes cost $75,000. Haynes says Uic first mass- produced scrcens may sel for around $10,000. The plasma screen was developed wîth help ftrm scientific research tax credits. It was showcased at Uic Canada Pavilion duing Expo '86. (Canadian Science News) 104ki egstret aI bow anile,..aro I N Philip Byer, of the Ministry of the Environment, said it well when he was reviewing the now, famous Report 38 on development in the Ganaraska Watershed, with its 14' recommendations to protect the Ganaraska and the Oak Ridges Moraine. Most present planning processes are not adequate to do this, he said, and most submissions to the Report expressed dissatisfac- tion with the present planning pro- cess. What is ensuing because of this lack of intelligent planning is runaway development, or, as John Livingstone put it, a "holocaust". Sustainable development wilI end up being nothing less than "the total domestication of the planet". His final passionate plea was to leave the Moraine natural, a hilly rolling arca which recharges our headwaters from the Niagara escarpment to Trenton, and on which stands the Ganaraska Forest and Ganaraska headwaters. We are fortunate in Durham to still have so much of the Moraine relatively untouched, an area which could serve as a greenbelt for Toronto's expansion east. It was tragic to note that not one political representative from the Town of Newcastle was present at this historic meeting, and only two from the Region of Durham were able to make it - Gerri Lynn O'Connor, Mayor of Uxbridge, who spoke on the same panel as Kathy Guscîle, and Howard Hall, Mayor of Scugog. Ail other major municipalities in and arounci the greater Toronto area were well represented with politicians and planners, flot to mention developers. It is hoped that something con- crete and lasting for ail future generations will come from this im- portant environmental seminar on the Oak Ridges Moraine.