THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, November 26, 1995 TAG: 9511260180
SECTION: FRONT PAGE: A1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: STAFF REPORT
DATELINE: VIRGINIA BEACH LENGTH: Medium: 63 lines
When local citizens pondered what to do about global pollution, they found out that it's tricky business.
It took a furry little swamp creature to drive the point home.
``All this environmental stuff really depends upon whose ox is getting gored,'' John Wallace told the group one evening as it wrestled with how U.S. foreign policy should deal with the threat of ecological catastrophe.
``I own an interest in some land in Chesapeake that's been in the family since the 1800s,'' Wallace said, ``and I may not be able to cut my trees because of the Dismal Swamp shrew.''
The shrew is a small molelike animal that has been declared a threatened species under federal wildlife law.
``You can't shoot it, harvest it, do anything else with it,'' Wallace said, ``except look at it and let it grow on your dirt.''
The shrew story helped the group see that environmental issues, no matter how global in their implications, are ultimately local.
From there, they groped toward a consensus that the best intentions for a greener planet must be tempered with an understanding of local conditions.
Just because some of the globe's most pressing environmental problems - like deforestation and loss of biodiversity - are most prevalent in the Third World, they concluded, the industrialized nations have no right to approach them with a dictatorial attitude.
That approach has been called ``environmental imperialism.''
And in any event, the biggest long-term threats to the global environment are posed by the industrialized nations, not the Third World, said geologist Ravi Sinha, a native of India. He suggested that the First World needs to get its own house in order and lead by example.
``It is the energy consumption, the energy production, that is creating all the environmental problems of a global nature,'' Sinha said. ``We need to take the lead and show the rest of the world what we have learned - that there is a better way.''
That will take a major shift in the mindset of consumption-crazy developed nations, Judy Schooley said.
``We've been sold a bill of goods,'' she said - ``that quality of life means things.''
Still, there is hope, said Myra Brown - and it lies at the local level, with ordinary citizens.
``I find it heartening, in looking at whether or not we can actually do this, to realize that locally, in Virginia Beach, we have a recycling program that is people-driven, and that has far exceeded the goal that was set by our politicians,'' she said.
``Not that recycling is going to solve all the global problems; it isn't. But it's one small step.'' ILLUSTRATION: Photos
BILL TIERNAN/The Virginian-Pilot
John Wallace, a union organizer from Chesapeake, found the Dismal
Swamp shrew cutting in on his business options.
Ravi Sinha, a native of India, says U.S. must lead the way.
by CNB