"We're Poisoning the Earth Every Day"

OHSWEKEN - Would you poison your own mother? TO poison one's mother is probably the worst thing anyone could do. We wouldn't think of doing such a thing. Or would we?

Our society is in the process of poisoning Mother Earth every day, summer and winter. Not just the big factories and corporations over which we have no control. I am talking about ordinary people at the local level. Here are some examples.

I recently read about a farmer who was suing a local municipality for putting salt on the road. Some of it had splashed his fields and ruined some of his crops. This salt, which we put on the roads when it is icy, gets into the ditches and streams. It poisons and kills fish and other water creatures. We could use some other substances which are less harmful to the environment but that would cost more money. How much are we willing to pay to protect the earth? Not much, it appears.

In Hamilton, some Canada Geese died after eating grass in a cemetery. The grass had been sprayed with a chemical to kill weeds. It killed more than weeds. Now this poison will be washed into ditches and streams to kill more fish and wildlife. It may end up on our tables.

I have seen pictures of fish, taken from chemically poisoned rivers, with ugly, cancerous sores on them. Scientists have discovered that chemical poisons are also stored in their tissues. Cancer-causing chemicals are also stored in the tissues of such fish-eating species as polar bears - and humans.

Why do you think so many more people die of cancer now than 50 or 100 years ago? We, as a society are poisoning the air, the water and Mother Earth herself. And, in the process, we are poisoning ourselves.

If we poison the earth from which our food comes are we not literally poisoning ourselves? Our society is spreading and spraying chemical poisons of all kinds. We don't want to give up aerosol sprays, even though they are destroying the ozone layer which protects us from skin cancer. We add to the pollution by using leaded gas because it costs slightly less than unleaded. Meanwhile the big companies pour all kinds of chemicals into the Great Lakes. No less than 362 have been identified at last count by the Great Lakes Water Quality Board.

In nature, humans are just another species Will we go the way of the dinosaurs? According to the scientists, they lasted for 100 million years. How long have we been here? Twenty thousand years? We have a long way to go to equal the length of time the dinosaurs lasted. Maybe we're not as smart. If we can't get along with nature, we're certainly not as smart as we think we are. If we destroy our environment, maybe we don't deserve to survive.

To survive, all we need is fresh air, pure water and clean soil. Is that too much to ask for?