Bethell on Earth Summit

I was amused by Bethell’s article. Only when it’s actually stated does the basic immorality of this position become transparent. Bethell apparently thinks nothing of world environmental problems (Bhopal, etc.) caused by multinational corporations, or of the destruction of the world’s forests (caused in this country by attempts to keep up with the Canadian timber industry), or of reducing the matter of a sustainable ecology to the matter of a “cleaner environment” as if tidiness were more important than ecological balance.

Perhaps Bethell relishes the thought of explaining to his children’s children why they can’t go outside because the ozone layer’s gone and there’s a skin-cancer alert, or why the picture books are filled with extinct creatures. Solving world environmental problems is a process started by talking about them; Bethell and President Bush won’t do that.

SAMUEL DAY FASSBINDER

Claremont