Cure for acid rain
takes mutual effort
The United States and Canada share a common border;
they also share a common problem — acid rain. There has
beon much talk and little action in regard to acid rain, and
much of the talk has been coming from the United States
while most of the action has been coining from Canada.
The tragic; irony of this story is that most of Canada's
acid rain originates in the United States. Unwillingly.
Canada imports roughly 50 percent of its acid rain from the
United States. In Canada’s worst-hit areas, the average runs
near 75 percent.
Most of the exported acid rain is a product of the smoke
stack industries along the Ohio Valley, where approximately
3.2 tons of suffer dioxide and nitrogen oxide waft across the
border.
The Canadians have initiated an ambitious program to
combat the problem, pledging to reduce their own toxic
emissions by 50 percent in the next 10 years. Similarly, they
have asked the United States to follow their lead and join in
a pact that would place mandatory cuts on toxic emissions
— emissions that eventually flow across the border.
It is estimated that acid rain, if left unchecked, will
eliminate $20 billion in annual economic activity in (Canada,
and would spell biological death for many of that country's
streams, rivers, lakes and forests.
Hut the Reagan administration has been dragging its feet
w ith this issue and has snuhlred the Canadian acid rain pact.
The President has refused to enter this pact, claiming
that it would throw the U.S. smoke-stack industries into
economic peril. Instead. Reagan has backed a five-year. $5
billion plan to research more efficient ways of burning coal.
This is fine ami well; however, it does nothing in the in
terim. The Keegan administration would lx; doing itsef, the
nation and Canada a great favor by joining this pact. The
longer the administration drugs its feet, the more acid rain
will continue to erode and destroy precious natural
resources on both sides of the border.
Wine-cooler bottle bill
would help alleviate clutter
laist month, the Oregon Senate passed a hill that would
require a 5-cent deposit on all wine coolers sold in the state.
This was a good move hy the Senate and one that should
help reduce roadside litter.
The hill easily passed the Senate, and with good reason.
Sen |am* (lease. I) Portland, sponsor of Senate Hill 508. pro
duced evidence that wine coolers represent less than 1 per
cent of the Ixmr and soft-drinks sold.
However, a survey of highway litter found that empty
wine cooler containers account for a disproportionate share
of roadside ruhhish — up to eight times their market share.
Opposition of tiie hill came from distributors, who
claimed that required deposits would cost them undue ex
penditures.
As it turned out, distributors won an amendment that
would permit them territorial rights to distribute their
coolers in certain areas.
The wine-cooler bill will move to the House where it is
expected to pass with ease. The bill, if it becomes law.
would coniform to existing state statutes governing other
bottled beverages and would help clean the state's
highways.
Q&zzl. IS THAT THE.
THM4KS I GST FtP PETUB\Jli^
'iOUR Salute ?} ^
Letters
Illogical
Recent letters to the Ktnerald
have proven without a doubt
that women are Itetter than men.
and lesbians are best overall
|ohn Knglish and others have
stated and implied in their let
ters that because homosexuals
an; more likely to net AIDS,
they are more "guilty” than the
n;st of the population.
If we follow this line of
reasoning, it is easy to see that
lesbians, to whom AIDS is vir
tually unknown, an; morally
and biologically superior The
same applies to women in
general, who as AIDS victims
an; outnumbered by men 15 to
1.
If incidence of AIDS within
population is indicative of
guilt, then women an; superior
to men. Obviously this is an il
logical argument, yet it is one to
which many homophobics
adhen; passionately.
While it is true that pro
miscuity is a factor in
disseminating AIDS, it is time
to face the fact that AIDS is in
no way a punishment for im
moral behavior.
Conceding the homophobic
view of homosexuality, it is still
Oregon Daily
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Michelle Brence
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incurred to assume that AIDS is
in any vvay linked with being
guy. That most American AIDS
victims an- gay men is. perhaps,
no mure than coincidence when
one considers that in Africa,
where the AIDS epidemic is a
far greater threat than in the
United States, AIDS is over
whelmingly a heterosexual
disease.
People feel compelled to
judge good and evil; the AIDS
virus is unaware of whether it is
striking the most "innocent"
newborn infant or the most
'guilty” promiscuous
homosexual man.
Only when fohn English.
Eloyd Hearn, Dun Ooulet. and
others like them grow up and
realize that AIDS is not a
biological At i I la the Hun
descending to scourge the guil
ty. will we be able to face this
disease in a mature and rational
manner.
Kristen McBride
Kathy laiursen
Eugene
Checking up
In case you missed "Toll-Free
Spy" (ODE. April 29). that let
ter called on the carpet our new
free spy number. 1-800-CALL
SPY. This is in continuation.
The housekeeper who turned
in the new neighbors' gardener
subsequently passed muster
with an Avon Lady agent and
received an inconsequential
form letter thanking her for her
concern and assuring her of the
gardener's intentions.
The gardener who had
previously worked for
"Rockwell” upon further in
vestigation turned out to have
worked for the funk rock group,
not the arms manufacturer.
The closing of this case was
then considered, whereupon a
last-minute background check
of the housekeeper's employer,
the ex-ambassador to brazil,
revealed neither scandal nor ap
prehension. . although there
was one curious parking
violation:
It seetns he’d violated one of
Kin's numerous human parking
meters. Reparations to the vic
tim amounted to 50.000 cen
tavos, or roughly, two
hamburgers.
Unscathed, the ambassador
served another 12 years without
incident tiefure retiring to his
south hills home with a clear
conscience and a buttinsky
housekeeper.
The gardener, however,
didn’t get off so lucky. Because
of attempting to guard the
wrong flowers against snails, he
was let go.
“But it's the nutrients." he
insisted. "It's for the
nutrients." And this he said
with a stern look, like it was a
belief, or at least something
he'd been read.
Tim |aquea
Undeclared
Letters Policy
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taining fair comment on topics of interest to the
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Letters to the editor must be limited to 250
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The Emerald reserves the right to edit any letter for
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into the Emerald office. Suite 300. EMU.