IrBY FREE PlýESS,-WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 30,1989, PAGE 5 When 1 was growing up, our nousehold was a saving household. Bits of string ftrm the packages of groceries were added to the bail of string in the junk lrawer. Wax paper wrapping from commekcial bread was saved, smoothed out and reused to wra~p Bily's lunch. And if wehad the l3xury of abroývn bag to carry the sandwiches, two cookies and bangna -- why that brown bg was smoothed out at the end of lunch, folded and carried for the rest of the day in your right hip pocket -- to be used again the next day.~ Later, after we were ail grown up, my mother foundevnbtr ways of wrapping sandwiches. Bread manufacturers had switched to plastic wrap. She would cut the ends off plastic milk bags, turn them inside out and stretch them over the upright pegs in the dishwasher. She insisted they made ideal sandwich bags -- reuseable at that. I mention this, not to who that my mother had become conscious of pollution forty years ahead of the politicians. No, we saved things for financiai reasons. But the effect was the same. Now, if you have been somewhat alert during the past two months you have noticed that the Tories have discovered the pollution bandwagon. Now I find it passing strange that when a majority of people have reservations about the proposed federal 9 per cent Goods and Services tax -- Tory MPs are telling constituents that pollution is the big problem. Trouble is, I can't disagree with that. Pollution may be the largest single probleni the worid bas ever faced. Trouble is, everybody recognizes the problem, but no one bas the will to impose specific solutions. We are like the Dutch boy who spied the leak in the dike and ran around crying, "Leak! Leak! Leak!l" instead of putting a finger in the dike. Strangeiy, the sanie television industry which through advertising hypnotized us into buying most of the junk we think we cannot live without, has also made us aware of our problenis. TV is a great medium to protest against something (taxes, abortion, choice, war, pollution, deficits). But TV does poorly in leading people te compromise and WITH OUR FEET UP by Bill Swan Stop using stuif -solutions. So we end up with hordes of people with calcified emotions, adamant about a single position on choice, abortion, war, pollution, deficits, politicians, taxes, education ... ). But solutions require compromise, which can only corne from people who respect other people. These days we are bit by a barrage of position statements on pollution. ("We are agin it.") But that, as Iving Layton once wrote about Stalin's body lying in state, "gives off odors but no answers." And the answers can be tough. Stop me if you've heard any of these. Styrofoam. Charges gare laid Durham Regional Police have laid charges against the driver of a stolen car. Christopher TroiZzolo, 18, bas been cbarged with possession Of a stelen vehicle and impaired operation of a motor vehicle. Pelire saw a driver, who appeared to be impaired, on Dundas St. in Whitby. The sanie vehicle was spotted in Oshawa and pulled over. The car was found to have been stelen in Niagara F ails from the residence of t he owner. Sum mer is here, and it's time for our annuai "Evergreen and Shrub" bonanzal Sa clean out the trunk, dust off the trailer, Ioad up t he kids- and h ead f or B rouwe rs. Chances are you won't be able ta resist our hnme-arown trees and shrubs. Load up on Evergreens and Shrubs. and your kids wilI love Blue Rug Juniper A very fiat spreading juniper wit h our duck, geese, blue-green toliage. Perfect for your planter box or garden rockery wMere swans and animais ... foliage can cascade. 25 cm. Reg. $16.95 Now Oniy $9.99 Skyrocket" Juniper An uprlght juniper that requlres littie prunlng to maintain lts oolumnar form. Folage Is silver-blue coour. 80 cm. Reg. $42 .95 Now 0OnIy $32 .95 Hii's Yew Very dark green, medium height evergreen with sofi foliage. Grows wellIIn sun or shade. Can be sheared once or twce a year to maintain 2 to 3 feet. Can be used as a hedge. 30 cm. Reg. $32.95 Now Oniy $22.95 Weeping Forsythia A very graceful Ulowering shrub wth slightly pendulous branches. Blooms eauly in spring with bright yellow flowers Hu ndreds of flowering Hundreds of beautiflul BIRCH CLUMPS G A RD EN M UM S available for fait planting. forfal ow n tok.Three to six stems, seven t Buy early ta get the best colour selection. pricedan ONLY $4m95 Pf$125a u /ÂAJOHN BROU WER GARDEN LI iŽAAAND LANDSCAPJNG CENTRE F~ 650 Lakeridge Road South, Ajax, Ontario Li S 4S7 TELEPHONE: 686-1545 or 686-1680- OPN Maytday: am T pr Sny: Dam f0 5pm Ii 1 If we are at ail serious about solving pollution, then. we likely must stop using this stuif. Freon Refrigerators, air conditioners. We can't wait for a replacement. Ban further use now -- and we've stili gota horid roblem to deal with. Clinging pUl"ýisticwrap. Handy stËf that, and it makes lots of products pretty enouh to buy. It's got to go. Over-packing. Blister packs, double wrapping, plastics inside plastics inside a paper bag, cardboard filleir, styrofoani packing formns, disposable diapers. Wrap 'em in brown paper packages, tied up with, string. And save the string. Gasoline driven car. Mainly, because of pollution, ban them. Electric cars wiil help; more rapid transit would, even more. Restrictions of such cars in downtown areas may be mandatory. Let's plant gardens on expressways. 0f course, you can make a case for banning use of gasoline because it is a resource that is non-renewabie.' (Once we take it out of the ground, it stays out. Takes millions of years to make more.) Disposable anything. Forget this nonsense of- getting rid of a manufiacturer>s tax. Let's take a long look at those products we manufacture. Let!s start taxing theni at source for the cost of disposai. Rather than burden local taxpayers for such garbage, we can at least make sure the costs will be borne by the usera. Slap the sanie tax on ail imported goods. In short, our pollution problem stemis from aur life styles. We must dispose of less, save more. Save string. Save wrappings and reuse theni. Give up disposai diapers. If you're going to tackle any problern, it's likely best to start at the. bottoni. Mie movement to cloth diapors will show the world that once and for ail we're serlous about this thing. Right Lucas? Anything else is politicians, blowing in the wind. L