Bulletin Special Supplement Nov 1974

warned that should the current state continue, air pollution w i ll reduce 50 per cent of the sunlight reaching the earth by 1985, only eleven years f r om 1974. Should this occur, it wo u ld gravely endanger not only h uman health but also agricultural crops and forests by wh i ch we live. L et us t u rn to water pollution. I ndu s t r i al civilization won admiration because it brought the substitution of mechanical labor for labor by men and draft animals. But the difference in the sources of energy of these two kinds of labor generated serious problems. H uman and animal labor derives its energy f r om foods of organic matter. So long as we do not use the flush toilet wh i ch symbolizes the modern age, eating and elimination t u rn food into fertilizer ， returnin g organic matter to nature, and the generation of energy for human and animal labor produces no environmental pollution. But now mechanical movements substitute for h uman and animal labor, and the development of cybernetics has given rise to the computer and automation of machines, freeing man f r om mental labor. But machines wh i ch wo rk for men in both physical and mental labor derives its energy f r om non-biodegradable mineral sources: petroleum, coal, and uranium i n the case of nuclear energy. I n addition, the residues f r om the generation of the overwhelming quantities of energy required for mass production far exceeds the capability of the environment to absorb . This makes environmental pollution uncontrollable. Th u s, men cannot rest in comfor t by watching machines wo rk for them for the energy that activates the machines has brought totally unsuspected problems. Take for example, electricity, wh i ch constitutes a leading f o rm of energy for r u n n i ng the machines. T he generation of electricit y by using fossil fuel or u r a n i um expels enormous amounts of hot water into neighboring rivers and lakes and raises the water temperature. Ma n y varieties of fish w i ll die if water temperature is raised by one to two degrees Fahrenheit. T he water temperature i n the Hu d s on River in N ew Yo rk City has been raised three degrees in recen t years. We use electricity for far mor e than substitution for physical and mental production labor. We use it for coolin g and heating of our houses and for lighting wh i ch turns night into day in our great cities. A l l these consume enormous amounts of electric energy. T h e Un i t ed States w i ll need 25 0 additional gigantic generating plants to keep up w i t h the steadily growing demands for electricity for the coming ten years. A forecast has warned that if the trend continues, by the year 2,000, only 26 years f r om now, the surplus heat f r om generating electrical energy w i l l raise all the surface water in the Un i t ed States by twenty degrees Fahrenheit. I f ma ny kinds of fish w i ll die when water temperature is raised by only one t o two degrees Fahrenheit, it wo u ld not be difficult to imagine the damaging consequence when water temperature is raised by twenty degrees Fahrenheit. We often use the quantity of electricity consumption as an index to the progress of civilization, but the price of this progress can already be seen in the raising of water temperature alone. But, so far as water is concerned, thermo pollution is augmented by many forms of industrial pollution. Chemical industries, and many forms of mining, particularly iron and coal, throw out billions of tons of toxic waste water, pouring it into surrounding rivers, lakes and coastal waters, poisoning the fish, and killing crops if the water is spilled onto crop land . 一10一