Page 59 - TheGoldBug1969-70

NUMBER 2 the gold bug monday february 16 1970 Pollution: Growing concern for country By Tim Smith ards as far as waste emmtsston, Some of the periods The despoliation of the envtoronment Is the topic of the allowed would be as long as fIve years in some cases. hour. Ecology is targeted as the next big Issue for the In the last two years the county has closed five open political activists, both Left and Right, as Vietnam be- burning dumps. "Even Western Maryland COllege has gins to fade away. Both major oouttcat parties have registered," says Mr. Cheney. In recent years WMC pledged to make it priority. has swttched from 011 to natural gas which is much Most of us are from urban areas so we know how bad cleaner. the greatest source of air pollution Is the Of course, pollution Is in the cities. Closer to home, how Is It in automobile. Within Carroll county the levels of air Carroll county? The answer: not bad-c yet, Carroll pollution sun fall withIn the legal limits, The reason County is making efforts to curb the problems. They have for this is two-fol d; Carroll County has a relatively the advantage that the problem has yet to reach serious small pcpulatfun , also it has no large commuter high- proportions. ways, We do no escape unscathed though. Everyone The Federal government requires each state to set at WMC Is famillar with the sickeningly-sweet stench standards for pollution levels of air and water. So far that rolls over the campus every time the wind blows Carroll County has levels below those set by the standards; from the North. This Is produced by a wood pulp mill that is, they are withIn the acceptable limits. In Pennsylvania. This points out the necesstty of strong Federal laws pertaining to air pollution. Water Pollution At present the general levels of water pollution In The Long Run Carroll County are below the standards set by the State. n Is the responstbtttty of the Environmental Health Of- Scientist have been predlctlng the effects of pot- fice, of the Publfc Health Department to police these lution for years, but only recently has anyone begun to standard. According to Mr. Leo Cheney, Chief San- heed them. We are now beginning to reauze that we can itarian, there are some streams in the county that fall do damage to our planet. Currentest1mateslndlcate that to meet these standards. These are contamlnatedeUher we can do irreparable damage to aour planet. Current by domestic sewage (human waste) or Industrial sewage years before pollution destroys life on Earth. Public enemy number 1: A smokestack against which includes farm wastes. Those who are polluting Consider one aspect Of the problem: DDT, Every- a hazy sky photo by Anderton these streams have been given deadlines by which they one who has had freshman biology will remember the must update their treatment ractnues, or cease pro- food Chain. What does DDT do to the food chain? The ductng contaminants. The county Is presently seeing a farmer sprays his crops with DDT, or the government large Increase in the domesttc treatment plants. Pre- sprays a marsh to kill mosquitos. Fish eat the Insects sently, a new plant for Westmlnste Is under construct; k1lled by the pesticide. Eacb lnseot contatns omy a small Ion, one has been contracted for Hampstead, a new plant amount of DDT, but the fish eats an awful lot of Insects. Again, each fish contains Bigger In this issue .... Is beginning operation in Manchester, In Mt, Airy. Si- only a small amount of DDT, but the big fish eats an aw- fish eat the little fish. and the plans have for new tacnmes been completed multaneously, the state Water Resources Division has fullot of little fish. been evaluating Industrial waste treatment in CarroU DDT disrupts the entire food chain. Soil Is poisoned, County. birds and small animals are poisoned and mother's milk The Envlnronment al Health Office Is presently doing contains concentrations of DDT thai would cause cows milk a survey of all the streams In the Liberty Lake water- to be declared unfit for human consumption. DDT Is es- pectany It eventually ends up in the ocean. long-lasting. stir crazy males shed, which Includes half the County. The problem is DDT has been found In the tissues of penguin's living on of nitrates concentrations in the streams. and phosphates These are not espectauy harmful in themselves (they the edge of the anarcnc ice cap, could cause death to Infants In extremely high dosages), DDT has received a lot ofpublkity and has been banned WMC men lay their lives on the line in tough, hard the problem is that they are nutrients. In a lake, they In several states (Including Maryland) but It Is only one of hitting dorm games. Broken bones, concussions, can cause algae growth, This can clog the water, and a large group of pesticides that all share mane of Its pro- taken lightly as they see new senations. use up all the oxygen In the water, klUlng all the fish. perties, As Mr. Cheney said, a farmer may spray his page 9 Algae butldup has effectively killed Lake Erie, crops several times in a season and use a different pest- Mr. Cheney did not say what had caused the con- Icide each tlme. centrations of nitrates and phosphates but phosphates us- Besides the disruption of the biosphere (which may des- troy humanity along with the restoftheltfe on earth) pol. ually result from detergents. Nitrates from fertilizers lutton may have tremendous physical effects on the Earth's EXIST comes alive ing of wastes. Even after you have treated waste what crust. It depends onwhlchwayltgoes. One theory has It This shows the difficulty of dispos- and human waste. do you do wilh it? If you dump it In the water you kill that thelncreaseddustlntheatmospherewlllcause a low- your lakes with algae. You can dump It out at sea like ering of the amount of sunlight reachIng the Earth's sur- Over one hundred students have registered in Exist New York, or let the rivers carry It out to sea. The face. This would cause a second ice age. On the other courses, WMC's experiment in organizing a Free Uni- problem with thfs Is that by doing this we have been hand the increased amount of CO 2 In the atmosphere versity. Students are enthusiastic at working outside sending our topsoU out to sea. (caused by cornbustton and decreased amount of vegeta- the regular academic curriculum. There may be a solution for this, Experiments have tion) would Increase the temperature of the atmosphere. page 5 shown that If treated wastes are cnanneued through sev- Result: the Icecaps melt. The level of the. oceans would and most of the worlds coastal areas would be cov- eral man-made lakes, Algae would bulld up In the first rise, with water. It gets better. Antarctica Is covered ered lake, but by the third lake the water would be clean with an icecap which Is several miles deep In places, If an interview: enough to swim In and fish. Thus nature Is used to that melted, the Earth's balance would be altered enough A bonus Is gained since the lakes wastes. dispose of could be used for recreation purposes. Also, the al- that the planet might begin to wobble er r atfcly, This would cause a period of vulcanism that would bury what- Dean Holloway gae could be used for fertilizer. has consid- ever was left of civilization. Mr. Cheney said the Health Department ered using such a system of ponds to save LIberty Lake from Lake Erie's fate. These are only tenattve plans Carroll County however. So far Carroll County has been spared the worst affects The new Dean of Faculty makes his debut in the Air Pollution of pollutlon--at least the more visible ones. However, as GOLD BUG this week with a thorough going inter Its population grows,lt wlUfacemore and more problems, Since Federal view. This is the first in a continuing series of inter- effect, the Health Air Qualtiy standards have come Into So far the people In Carroll County have proved favorable Department approx- has registered views with campus leaders. Imately 90% of the industrial firms In the county. Cur- to anti-pollution measures, as have the people of the coun- page 3 renuy, these firms are being evaluated by the Maryland try. However mere support Is not enough. As Mr. Cheney Air Quality DIVision. Agreements will set time per- says, "Nobody wants a contaminated environment. When toes in which the companies must come up to stand- it affects their pocketbook there is some resistance."