ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Monday, September 9, 1996 TAG: 9609090098
SECTION: EDITORIAL PAGE: A-6 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: LIN NEILL
ANYONE WHO claims even a mild interest in the future of the Roanoke Valley must have taken to heart both of the Aug. 26 editorials in The Roanoke Times. If you missed them, you must retrieve them from the newspaper-recycle bag or go to the library and read them. Both point out essential reforms in our thinking about economic growth.
The first, ``A region takes charge of its future,'' tells how all of the municipalities that make up the metropolis of Vancouver, Canada, have agreed on a plan of ``concentrated growth'' in order to preserve their beautiful mountains, forests and farmland. If the leaders of 20 local governments have realized the urgency of their need to manage growth, we can hope that our region's leaders will have the vision to do likewise.
The second editorial on summer haze, ``It's not just the humidity,'' reports some findings in the newly published Southern Appalachian Assessment. Nobody will be surprised to learn that visibility has deteriorated significantly since the 1940s.
Most of us cannot even remember a really clear day on the Blue Ridge Parkway. But I remember most vividly my first hike to Sharp Top, one of the twin Peaks of Otter. It was in October 1946, before the parkway had been completed to that point.
The autumn color against the bluest sky imaginable was stunning beyond belief. The feeling was ``Pinch me so I'll know it's real!'' There have been no Octobers like that for decades.
The problem, of course, is pollution in all seasons. The sulfur dioxide from the burning of fossil fuels in the valleys below is augmented by the flow of dirty air from Southern and Midwestern states hundreds of miles away.
The first positive step we can take as individuals is to voice our support for amendments to strengthen the Clean Air Act.
The Roanoke Times' editorials failed to mention that at this moment there are eight bills in the House of Representatives that would allow not less but more pollution into the air: more smog, acid rain and ozone.
The worst of it is not the haze but the damage, much of it irremediable, to our forests and streams.
All of us should be fully aware by now that the haze over our mountains is not just a scenic problem. It is a sad reminder of severe damage that already has been done.
Sadder still is the fact that technology exists to reduce harmful emissions, but we lack the will. The fighting spirit so necessary to survival is wasted on partisan, double-dealing legislation in Congress, and character assassination everywhere.
Conscientious citizens - Democrats, Republicans and independents - ought to heed President Clinton's message at the Democratic National Convention to leave off blaming and look for solutions.
Lin Neill is program chairman of the Roanoke River Group of the Sierra Club.
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