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6 -- PORT PERRY STAR -- Tuesday, April 24, 1990 The Port Perry Star 235 QUEEN STREET - PORT PERRY, ONTARIO PHONE 985-7383 FAX 985-3708 The Port Perry Star is authorized as second dass mail by the Post Office Department, Ottawa, for cash payment of postage. Second Class Mail Registration Number 0265 Subscription Rate: In Canada $20.00 per year Elsewhere $60.00 per year. Single Copy 50¢ EDITORIAL Publisher - J. Peter Hvidsten Editor - John B. McClelland News/Features - Julia Ashton News/Features - Kelly Story PRODUCTION Annabell Harrison Trudy Empringham Darlene Hlozan BUSINESS OFFICE Office Manager - Gayle Stapley Accounting - Judy Ashby Billing Department - Louise Hope ADVERTISING Advertising Co-ordinator - Valerie Ellis Advertising Sales Representative - Anna Gouldburn ow (@ Member of the Canadian Community Newspaper Association Ontario Community Newspaper Association Published every Tuesday by the Port Perry Star Co. Lid. Port Perry, Ontario Retail Sales - Kathy Dudley, Linda Ruhl, Tracy O'Neil A A ST Sg Editorial Comment EARTH DAY Make no mistake about it, Earth Day was something spe- cial on Sunday, April 22. People all over Canada, and in many parts of the world, celebrated Earth Day in a variety of fashions. They planted small trees (hopefully to grow into large ones) they left their cars at home; they held marches, made speeches, flew kites, took quiet strolls through the parks. And it was all in celebration of this planet earth, or should we say what is left of this planet earth. Though Earth Day this year seemed to get a lot of public (and media attention) it's been around for 20 years. But in 1990, there is a new sense of urgency. Many envi- ronmental experts are sounding the warning that if the human beings who inhabit this planet don't make some very large strides towards cleaning up in this decade, it may be too late. The next ten years are critical to the future of all of us. And while celebrations like Earth Day are neat enough, and people go home with a good feeling in their hearts, all the . speeches, bike rides, bake sales and honourable intentions won't do much in themselves to cleaning up this polluted plan- et. The chain saws are still ripping through the rain forests of South America; factories and power plants from the Ohio Val- ley to Central Siberia still pump millions of tons of sulphur di- oxides into the air; scientists have discovered a hole in the ozone layer above the top of the world and are watching anx- iously as it moves south; countless cities and towns dump un- treated sewage into the most handy body of water; layers of filthy air hang over most major cities of the world, the result of burning gasoline in cars and trucks. Canadians, by the way, are the largest per capita consu- mers of fossil fuels in the world (we love our cars) and we gen- erate more garbage per capita than any other peoples in the world, thanks in large part to excessive packaging around just about everything we consume from groceries to stereos. Several thousand lakes in Canada have been rendered sterile from acid rain. Scientists are finding pollution in the most un-likely places: the polar ice cap, the Antarctic, in the depths of the oceans, the deserts, the rain forests and the jun- gles. Words like ozone depletion and greenhouse effect have become common-place in our language. Political change in Eastern Europe over the last two years has freed millions of humans. But with it has come the realiza- tion that in the industrialized areas of what used to be the Iron Curtain, virtually no environmental controls exist. Air pollution readings in areas of Siberia are among the highest in the world. Damage to this fragile planet knows no ideological or po- litical boundaries. The human race has done its level best to kill itself with its own garbage. And even the most optimistic observers agree that time is fast running out. The planet just can't take any more environmental abuse. Stopping the d ge and attempting to correct the damage already done will require an enormous effort in virtually every corner of the globe. Here in Canada, celebrations like Earth Day at least do one thing: heighten awareness. And that's good. But alone, all the heightened awareness in the world won't clean up the Great Lakes, won't stop the massacre in the rain forests (or in Temagami) won't provide clean drinking water to a village in Central Africa, won't stop another super tanker from running aground on the Alaska coast, and won't stop manufacturers of all kinds from continuing to over-package their goods in plas- tics and resins. What is needed is a concerted political effort in every cor- ner of the planet to make the environment the number one priority. The sums of money are mind-boggling, though a frac- tion of what the world spends on arms each year would go a long way. Earth Days and public awareness are fine, but with- out the political will to change, this old planet continues to just mark time. 'a / How ABOUY THE GisanrcSenool Jox ! ... AN' ON JOP OF THAT, 2 Pe all meres we GST! ANOTHER MILESTONE My sixteen year old daughter Sherri Lee passed her driving test last week and is now the proud owner of a [orange drivers license. As e any 16 year old, she was extremely excited and could hardly wait to head out on her own. | suggested she borrow her mother's car to come down and visit us later that evening veh she did), but afterwards thought maybe I'd been a little unfair offering someone else's car up for the first solo drive. At any rate, after driving back and forth to her gymnastic lessons in Pickering four times each week for the past few months, | was not concerned with her ability to navigate the four blocks to our house. She arrived safely at our doorstep a short time later, wearing a grin from ear to ear, with a set of keys in her hand. It reminded me of a day, a long time ago, when | passed my driving test and became the proud holder of that precious piece of paper which gave me the right to drive. Unfortunately in those days my parents didn't even own a car, but | made short work of that, convincing them | could save them a lot of taxi money if they bought a car. You see, no one else in the family had a drivers permit so when they purchased their first car, a 1964 Chevrolet Biscayne, | was appointed chauffeur, driving them to meetings and assign- ments around the area. | wasn't concerned the car my parents had purchased was not a top of the line Impala, with a powerful 327 hp engine and lots of extra chrome. It was automatic, had a 6 cylinder motor, four tires and an AM radio. What more could a teenager want? But back to my driving test. | remember clearly getting behind the wheel for my test with an aging gentleman at my side, Mr. Arnold Tip- per. As recollection has it, at the time | figured im to be in his 60's, but now that | am in m mid forties and creeping up on that age, | thin he may have been a lot younger. Isn't it strange how, as we get older, people who used to seem ancient, now seem to have regained some of their lost youth? Regardless of his age, Mr. Tipper operated a small gas station on the main street of Ux- bridge (where Ron Noble Insurance is located today). but he was also the man teenagers dreaded most, not because he was an unpleas- ant character, but because it was he who had the final say whether or not you passed your driving test. Yes, it was Mr. Tipper who looked at you across the counter, over the top of his horned rimmed glasses, and made you sweat little beads of perspiration until he said "you passed young fella." All the stories | ever heard about Mr. Tipper prior to my driving test indicated he was not a tough examiner. But that didn't lessen the fear or stress (we didn't even know that stress existed in those days) that had built up in my body those short hours before my appointment for the most important thing in my young life. But all my fears were for naught. Mr. Tipper proved to be a darnright easy examiner and any ears | had as a teenager were og dashed when we arrived back at his garage less than five minutes after leaving. His basic test, after answering a few questions, was driving around one block and returning to the garage to do the paperwork. . It was pretty hard to fail a driving exam by Mr. Tipper so most teenagers had no problem getting their license on their first attempt. Now back to the present. It's Friday about noon as | write this column, my daughter will be picking up my van in about four hours and heading out on her first long solo drive to Pickering. We've travelled the route to- gether close to one hundred times over the past eight months, so she knows It well. But am | worried about her driving alone? Wall, maybe just a little, but I've learned to deal with it since my older daughter Jannine began driving a couple of years ago. Like every mother or father of a licensed teenager, | guess it's just something we all have to accept, but that doesn't mean we won't be concerned every time they sit behind the wheel of a car. There are more than just a few crazy drivers out there on the highway today, and | can only hope she never meets one of them. Sg gE BN | =