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National Educational radio presents the following program in cooperation with a group w o the Westinghouse Broadcasting Company. In the beginning there was hope and there was unlimited. A man who was busy building and did not know this and even the rich brown of industrialization. Urbanization and suburbanization conspired to dangerous point when the waste of civilization could no longer be Earth Sun limited resources suddenly appeared alarmingly limited.
And one day man took stock of his damaged world and said with great sorrow What have I done. The Westinghouse brought 10 parts. Then Randi are with him. I'm John Daly and over the past weeks we have spoken with legislators doctors
businessmen engineers and a number of irate citizens. In this series through their words we will discuss how the pollution problem developed how it affects our lives and most important how we will finally control it. A beginning and some progress had been made to check the ominous pollution of air and water before the present administration. But not until President Johnson fashioned his program for a great society in 1964 was the gauntlet thrown down. We have always prided ourselves on being not only America that's strong and America free but America the Beautiful today that beauty is in danger the water we drank the food we eat the air that we breathe threatened with pollution.
Our parks are overcrowded icy shores overburden Greenfield and dense forests are disappearing. A few years ago we were greatly concerned about the ugly American. We must act to prevent a Great America once the battle is lost. Once our natural splendor is destroyed it can never be recaptured. And once man can no longer walk with beauty I wonder. Make sure your spirit will weather here from the waist high level and the sturgeons of being wiped down divided gonna swim. It's got a lawn about playing online as they try to give you the latest.
The manner in which you are Molly the irrepressible Tom finding black in a doc's up to the North American continent is filling up fast. Every year our precious air and water and land have to support more and more people. As the demand grows ever and want to pollution create separate but not unrelated problems. Speaking about the extent of our polluted waters is Michigan Representative John Dingell one of the leaders in the federal want to pollution control legislation. We're in major water shortages in almost every part of our country. Used to be that water shortages were peculiar to the west and then the problem of pollution was peculiar to the industrial east now you have pollution all over. You're finding that for example in Ohio River that one quarter every floor at low water goes by since now and through a mind flush toilet kitchen sink
factory. Jobs go out for a breath of air. You will be ready for it maybe I am missing the point. Don't answer the monoxide away you can work on this $2 day and pollution of the earth's atmosphere is a sobering fact of our time. Thomas F. Williams Office of Legislative and Public Affairs U.S. Public Health Services Division of air pollution. Explains just how widespread dirty air is in America in the eastern part of the United States. A So roughly from Boston all the way down to Naufal Virginia you have I will have if you don't already a solid metropolitan strip. That's serious. The
development the urban development is almost turning into a continuous big city with a lot of different things. This is serious. The you know the air supply is is limited and that wouldn't varies from day to day and month to month on the whole there was a finite amount of air available. So this is certainly a CE area where the problem is already serious and places and will become more serious as development and will go on. You have a similar grouping of communities under the Great Lakes. You have a whole string of big cities. This is serious now or. Let's see you have air pollution in the Far West in California as a prime problem
of that state. With the growth there is so tremendous that it may one day be difficult to distinguish one city's problem from another. Even in the in areas of the country where you don't normally think that there should be such a thing as a pollution we see problems arising. Denver Colorado has a growing problem. There are problems in Arizona there are problems in Missoula Montana there's a there are problems all over Texas. Their pollution problems along the Mississippi River Valley air pollution problems up to the upper Ohio River Valley in the area of Steubenville Wheeling West Virginia around there you have a very serious air pollution. I think that any place where we have urban areas with a population of 100000 or more you have something that you must be thinking about doing with regard
to air pollution. And I'm sad that SAP says in addition that there are many small communities in almost every state which are fumigated. And I know of no other word that describes it so well. Periodically if not constantly by a source or two sources of air pollution which still feel that it's the 19th century or the third century or some century and that they have a perfect right to use the air in any way they please. There are many places in the country where a source of air pollution is either within a small town in fuels or owns a pound lock stock and barrel and sometimes die. It's on the outskirts of the town and thumbs its nose down and using the as it pleases. There are many places like this. So this is not a problem that affects only big cities such as New York and Chicago. It affects people all over the place. The subtle continuing pollution of our environment is not an isolated event
like an epidemic or a tidal wave. It's a part of everyday life not only in North America but in Europe and Asia and to some extent the other continents. One of the most astute analysts of the problem is Sen. Edmund S. Muskie of Maine who heads the Senate Subcommittee on air and water pollution per privatise came here and found what seemed an I live an urban inexhaustible supply. His riches forests. Minerals and so on for so much of our history on this continent. These resources were unlimited The amount of water on this earth fresh water on this earth has not been since Adam. And it's not going to be will increase. And less than one percent of the total rot of supply on earth is fresh water. The rest is salt water of brackish water. It's a closed system to use and we've got the same amount of
Arda would dread rushing to him and his generation which serves us today which was the Americans a thousand us from today. And obviously we're going to increase demand not only in terms of numbers but in terms of the sophistication and complexity of our society. The per capita consumption if you will. The same suppliers grow they have a tremendously job to do and it will perform this job only if it is used over and over again the same thing is true of the atmosphere we have here in the atmosphere. She is about the same as that of the squid on an ample figure of speech that is used quite frequently to describe it and have a finite amount of it and we are increasing the amount of person that we are going to read every every
day and it will definitely. The three things that make drive possible and rock are in fixed supply. They cannot be improved. They cannot be around so that the riders are and more effective use of them must be met throughout a surprise for our requirements and the requirements of always recall a rapid run perhaps. Easy answer to the pollution problem is to point a finger at industry as the villain. Says Daniel cannon policy executive of the National Association of Manufacturers industrial environment department. It's not that simple to analyze it from a pure economic standpoint. The fact is that the assimilative capacity of our nation's dreams and you might also say of our air currents have been a great
economic asset to our nation and has made it possible to create the high standard of living that we have and create the degree of the employment that we have in this country. Although one thoughts in Italy there have been aspects of manufacturing that have created problems. Actually the entire populace has benefited from the best realisation of the country. Part of the problem was using. We didn't know how to handle these problems a lot of research has been done in recent years it's made it possible for us to come up with some answers to control these problems at some reasonable price. How much pollution does industry actually call deputy commissioner of the federal water pollution control administration gives the
proportionate figures nationally for water pollution. Minister powers and asked him simply because we haven't been able to get good and. I have asked. Other polluters However Mr. Sadr which is probably bread and polluting our streams today. And then there's the matter and of course sources of natural pollution. So for example in the Southwest manmade source of pollution. It is industrial.
You know Ray of course is an ass and mind and some money air pollution is caused mainly by various industrial mechanical processes. However one of the major air pollution control problems is simply the difficulty in identifying polluters. The Public Health Service is Thomas F. Williams has the percentages available on a new can rival those who are considering the pollutants carbon monoxide Separ dioxide particulates matter and oxides of nitrogen along with hydrocarbons. We estimate that about 85 million tons come from transportation sources. By far the great majority of this in the form of carbon monoxide from manufacturing about twenty two million tons most of which is separate dioxide and parking for that matter from electric power generation about 15 million tons most of which are software
dioxide in a pretty good portion of which is particulate matter and oxides of nitrogen. About a million tons from space heating Separ dioxide carbon monoxide and articulate matter oxides of nitrogen and hydrocarbons and about three million pounds from the burning of refuse. And this consists of hydrocarbons particulates matter and software dioxide moving 5 million tons for transportation. I must emphasize is somewhat deceptive because the great greatest amount of that is in the form in tonnage at least in the form of carbon monoxide which while it's while a serious pollutant turns to remove itself from the environment more quickly than some of these other pollutants the rich industries are the worst air pollution offenders according to Mr. Williams where almost all industries contribute to air pollution.
You have such a large industry segments says metallurgical both the steel and those which make other metals than steel. You have petrochemicals as a large category of living in this tree. A paper and pulp mills power plants while not exactly an industry constitute a large important source of air pollution in most places. Refining refineries fertilizer producing chemical manufacture involved with fertilizer pollution I think source. There are others but I think these are the largest categories. There are also certain industries that contribute heavily to our water pollution problem. Again a horrible. Number that produced large amounts of pollution. These would be the pulp and paper in the history. Of the textile industry and the steel industry
banking industry processing industry. Would be amongst the largest problems in air and water pollution are aggravated by many conflicts of interest including conflicts in the federal government itself its military bases for example have been criticized for dumping untreated wastes into rivers and lakes. Colonel Alvin F. Myers chairman of the Defense Department's pollution control committee explained about the wrong approach to allow five or six years it has been very hard to say we'll build a new disposal plan of x y with military bodies. A lot of times you run in the situation where the community people one might not even think it was was such a great idea that they want to dance as one of a million thousand dollars was supposed mikes they would rather say that you know and plans for a new medical school in this community as an example.
Again Daniel can at the end run aspect out of pollution control problems as a people problem and as our population has increased and has increasing we settled in urban areas and rural areas. These problems have been accentuated in a way you might even say in the accentuation of these problems has been to some extent the result of our agricultural policies which. Read in recent years to the vast exodus from the forms to the cities. And this is contributed to increased density of population in a vast multiplication of these problems. This has been a slow development over the history of our country and I think to some extent it's understandable that it took a long time
for us to wake up to just how complicated and intense some of these problems are and are going to be in the last analysis. It's the people who have to pay the piper and find a solution. In the same way. Air pollution will never be controlled without public support. Again Tom Williams of the Federal Air Pollution Control Program wrote I think there are many reasons why we have a problem if you will take a look at it historically. Which is not to apologize for it but to but to try to put it into some kind of perspective. I think it is understandable why we have been fairly tardy and we have been late in really rising to the challenge of the air pollution problem. To illustrate it in very simple terms it is not easy for many people to get sufficiently excited about a problem which causes most of its harm in fairly
subtle and insidious ways. Now this is not to say that if you're a resident of New York city of some other large metropolitan area you can't very well see that you have a problem that is disgustingly at times evident through all kinds of means you can smell it you can see it you can feel the dirt on your skin. However on the hurdle the contemporary air pollution problem. It was more serious than people know. Let me go back a bit to get put this into perspective. Remember recall that there were very serious smoke pollution problems in some Midwestern eastern cities way back in the 1930s. They were very serious in the 40s and some of them were not under control until the 50s. Pittsburgh is an outstanding example of a city that's had a very serious more problem St. Louis clean even than they have been others. Now in those days. The problem was so appalling that you could barely distinguish the moon from midnight on some winter days. Most of the concern with controlling air
pollution it came about at that time was centered more on dirty shirts than on dirty lungs. There was not much real scientific understanding of the of the long term adverse health effects of air pollution. The problem had to become intolerable as a nuisance before an defective action was really taken against it. I know I come from the St. Louis Missouri area and in the late 1930s there you could literally walk into a building on a winter day because the smoke pollution was so dense. Now with this in the background there are many people who serve to understand why we are concerned. About air pollution in many of these places St. Louis which for example has we think a very serious air pollution problem does not have as visible a problem most of the time as it had some years ago so some of the older residents have really had to learn some
facts about the scientific importance of air pollution to really consider that that action must be taken. That's one factor that has retarded efforts to control air pollution. People have to learn that rock you cannot see can hurt you and that they're out that the effects of air pollution spread and they're more serious and then come immediately to mind. For example in that regard air pollution causes hundreds of millions of dollars worth of agricultural damage each year in this country but most people don't realize that. And the average housewife who goes to the store and buys a can of spinach does not is not aware of the fact normally that a fraction of a cent perhaps of that kind of spinach might have been it might have made a fraction of a cent higher in price because the air pollution effect of this bill is crop somewhere. People get accustomed to their environments very easily and in the last 10 to 15 years there are some cities in which you could 10 years ago or 15 years
ago see the mountains from your apartment house window where you can no longer Some of them but you become you become a custom of this kind of things. The problem is insidious and and the people who would not fail to support the purchase. Let's say of the most modern and effective firefighting equipment for their communities many find it difficult to be concerned about increasing their air pollution control programs. Because we are accustomed traditionally of thinking as of fires as something awful to be avoided we are not generally as well aware of the fact that that a problem that my cars aspire to using is over a long period of time. Also demand can demand action I think this is a very important factor it's not it's not traditionally the kind of problem that people have become excited about though they're getting excited about it now I'm happy to say. Ah progress and prosperity as a nation have been blamed for many miseries.
However as Dr. Allan Hirsch program planner for the federal water pollution control administration points out. Affluence is both a reward and a responsibility. Concern for pollution control the affluence of society pollution reflects the affluence of more water than any other country in the world per capita. We have more gadgets. We put more garbage much more than any other people in the world and as a consequence we get more pollutants into the water. Course we have heavy industrialization in this country and this too needs to pollute and so on the one hand affluence has led to that on the other hand it's led to a desire for recreation for many things which the public
awareness of in essence then we all had a hand in contaminating our precious supplies of air and water as the demands of our exploding population far outstrip the application of our technology legislation and I willingness to group w the Westinghouse Broadcasting Company has presented the pollution. Explosion a 10 part study of the increasing pollution of America's air and water. The series was produced by Robert Franklin written and recorded by Stephanie Shelton executive producer William J Calle and. Here again John Daly. I'll be back in the next program to explore the reasons for our sudden concern with pollution and to take a shop look at some aspects of the problem that are right on every American doorstep. The ending on network past presented this program in cooperation with a group w o the Westinghouse
Broadcasting Company. This is the national educational radio network.
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Series
Pollution explosion
Episode Number
1
Producing Organization
Westinghouse Broadcasting Company
Group W Productions
Contributing Organization
University of Maryland (College Park, Maryland)
AAPB ID
cpb-aacip/500-qf8jjr4x
If you have more information about this item than what is given here, or if you have concerns about this record, we want to know! Contact us, indicating the AAPB ID (cpb-aacip/500-qf8jjr4x).
Description
Episode Description
This program presents a variety of speeches, music clips, and commentary to analyze the pollution problem in the United States.
Series Description
A discussion of environment-related issues.
Date
1967-11-14
Topics
Environment
Media type
Sound
Duration
00:27:40
Credits
Host: Daly, John Charles, 1914-1991
Producing Organization: Westinghouse Broadcasting Company
Producing Organization: Group W Productions
Speaker: Johnson, Lyndon B. (Lyndon Baines), 1908-1973
AAPB Contributor Holdings
University of Maryland
Identifier: 68-8-1 (National Association of Educational Broadcasters)
Format: 1/4 inch audio tape
Duration: 00:27:27
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Citations
Chicago: “Pollution explosion; 1,” 1967-11-14, University of Maryland, American Archive of Public Broadcasting (GBH and the Library of Congress), Boston, MA and Washington, DC, accessed March 28, 2024, http://americanarchive.org/catalog/cpb-aacip-500-qf8jjr4x.
MLA: “Pollution explosion; 1.” 1967-11-14. University of Maryland, American Archive of Public Broadcasting (GBH and the Library of Congress), Boston, MA and Washington, DC. Web. March 28, 2024. <http://americanarchive.org/catalog/cpb-aacip-500-qf8jjr4x>.
APA: Pollution explosion; 1. Boston, MA: University of Maryland, American Archive of Public Broadcasting (GBH and the Library of Congress), Boston, MA and Washington, DC. Retrieved from http://americanarchive.org/catalog/cpb-aacip-500-qf8jjr4x