Publisher’s Notebook: Soundlessness

BY ANNE SOBLE

So many in my generation, early environmentalists, radicalized in high school and college, and imbued with the belief that the world had to change or face disaster, were influenced by Rachel Carson’s “Silent Spring” in 1962. Those who had travelled to Cuba, blocked lunch counters and rode Freedom Buses, and believed in nature and revolution instead of corporate technology as tools of social progress, were motivated to put a spotlight on toxins in the environment. Carsonites pushed for the ban of the pesticides DDT and PCB in 1972, an early example of how to peacefully provide counterweights to vested financial interests in a environmental battle that is not all that dissimilar to today’s debate over liquified natural gas. As with the current purveyors of chemical and technological products that have deleterious consequences, opponents must challenge industry disinformation, as well as rebuke elected and appointed public officials for doing industry’s bidding.

On the West Coast, the use of DDT nearly exterminated the brown pelican, but once its use was stopped, these birds slowly, steadily, came back. Still, the latest federal scientific research (too often a contradiction in terms) appears to show that fish in South Coast waters still contain some of the highest concentrations of DDT and PCB found in the world. These levels are lower than those of decades ago, but are still unhealthy. As a result, the bald eagle is not fairing as well as the pelican. DDT levels remain high enough to weaken the shells of eggs on Santa Catalina Island. Eggs must be removed to improve their odds of hatching. The pesticides are taking longer than first thought to degrade to less toxic components. The EPA and NOAA data, admittedly four years old, shows great fluctuations in concentration, with the greatest levels located well south of Malibu. Fish in local waters are safe unless otherwise posted, so the world-renown image of anglers on the Malibu Pier is not in jeopardy. Even so, apart from recreational anglers who throw back their catch, those who fish anywhere off the South Coast should carefully heed all notices about water quality.

We keep asking why it is so difficult for society to accept that so many of the toxins that are put in the ground and the water, as well as our bodies, may be quick and cheap fixes for a need, but they can have long-term disastrous consequences.