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'Natural Environment
Scientists and economists recently collaborated in a study of five natural habitats converted for hurnan use and commercial profit. A tropical forest in Malaysia was razed far intensive logging, a tropi_ cal forest in Cameroon was converted to oil palm and rubber planta_ tions, a mangrove swamp in Thailand was turned over to shrimp farming, a freshwater marsh in Can_ ada was drained for agriculture, and a coral reef in the philippines was dynamited for fishing. The researchers came up with some surprising results. Had those five natural habitats been left in their wild state, their long-term economic value to the comnturrity lvould have been from 14 to 75 percent rnore than af ter conver_ sion. ln fact, an ecosystem loses, on average, half its value as a result of hunran interference, and each y961,, environmental conversion costs $250 billion. By contrast, preserving natural systems woulcl cost $45 billion. The researchers say thai "goods and services"--in the forrn of food, rvater, air, shelter, fuel, clotliing, meclicine, and stornt and flood protection-provided in return are worth ;rt least $4.4 trillion, a 1OO-tr.i-1 beneflt-cost ratio, reports

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London's newspaper The Guardian. Dr. Andrew Balmford of Cambridge University, England, who led the study, said: "The economics are ibsolutely stark. We thought that the numbers would favour conservation, but not by this much.', Sadly, even since the l-992 Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro, 11.4 percent of the earth's natural environments have been converted mainly because of ignorance of what is being lost and a desire for short-term financial gain. Ten years later at the World Surnmit on Sustainable bevo_.lopnrent held in Johannesburg, no clear solutions wr:re forthcoming to resolve the dilemma. Dr. Balmford expressed his concern, saying: "One-third of the worlrJ,s wild nature has been lost since lwas il chilri ernci first hearr{ the word 'conservation.' That,s r^;hat keeps me awal<e at night." Readers of the Bible, however, can be reassured by the Creator's promise founcl at Revelation 11;l_B There it states that he willsoon ,,bring to ruin those ruining the eartlr." The planet,s naturai ecosystems wili therr be restcred for tlie everlasiing benefit of trairkind.

'

DEOPLE

in developed lands throw a*ay mountains of titSh:''Con-

sider, for example, the annual garbage output of the United States.

It

has been said that "an equivalent weight of water could

fill

58,000

Olympic-size pools." Some years ago,

it

rvas estimated

that the resi-

dents of Nerv York Citl-alone produced enough garbage each year to

bury the city's huge Central Park under

l3

feet of

'rrefuse!-

Little wonder that the United States has been called "a warning
erample for the rest of the world" when it comes to being "a consumer
and throwan'ay society." But that country is not alone.

It

is estimated

that the garbage annually produced by the people of Germany could easily

fill a freight train

extending from the capital, Berlin, to the

coast of Africa, some 1,100 miles away. And in Britain

it

was once

estimated that the ayerage family of four discards six trees' worth of paper in a year.
'The park covers an area of
area
8.13 acres.

or about 6 percent ol the surlace

ol the borough ol Nlanhattan.

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Developing lancls ure nol irrn-tLtne to the _g!t e noted newsnragazine re por.ts: "Ti'ie really bad nen,s is thlt nrost of the plan et's 6 billion people are jr-rst beginning to lol low in the trash-filled fbotste ps of the U.S. ancl the rest of the developed wolld." Yes. like rt or' luot, nrost of Lrs today are ;lart of l tirro\\.t\\:r\
garbage society. 01'course, peoltle have ttlrvals hitJ ,hr;,.-:.:,,' throw away. But cannecl and pac!:.:g:j l-,-r-,iS and goocls are r-)rore widell'rir ail-rL-,: r,t',\ iir.r:r they were years ago, so dispc::Lb.: t'.r,-l.rtgirtg is everywhere. The qu:rntitl ci lll','. jirripers. n'lagazines, advertising lelilt:.. .,:ri othet- pliltted material has soared as r., e ;r

OLrr highif irrclLrstriulized anri scie tttil-ic n,orlcl ha,s also creltccl rrerv krnds ol' grtr' brrge. Tlre Cje rrrun nc\\,slliillcr Die llblt cluinrs that "appt'oxinrittcll, itirie Inillion uuttts ltre 5cntplred. in the ELtropean Urrroit itrtnt-urll1,." Disposing of tlrenr is no sinrple task. Bvert
rurole pr-oblenrirtic is the clLrcstion, ll31i, llgr 1,ou srf-el1 dispose o1'nuclc-ul or chenricul rvastes/

n:rr-nt site {br storing it." A niillion bar.r'els oi.le rdii substiurces rvere said tcl be sitting in

B:Lcl, in 1991. the Unitecl States rellorteclly 1::l.l "nrorrntains ol !rq13-111-buge uncl no per-

i..nuloli.lr'\ storilge rvith an ever-preseut "dangel ol l,-''ss. tlreft und envirortnrental clatrtitge frorl rlishan,i.!ling " In 1999 alone, sonre 20,000

Safely disposing of hazardous waste presents serlous challentes

lwakel (ISSN 0005 237X) is published semimonthly

,..t..'. --.

by

iffii:lentire
T**::. I ;".",'. | .:::*-'' , -,. i ...-+;;"...,.-. I

LTHIS JOURNAL lS PUBLISHED for the enlightenment of the family. lt shows how to cope with today's problems. lt reporls
,

Watchtower Bible and Tract Society

of

l.lew York, lnc.;

Co-

25 Coiumbia Heights, Brooklyn, NY 11201-2483, and in Apartado Postal 85058, Bogota

Ir##Sf:l:iithe i l+44;:A##&!!6it j4r

news, tells about people in many lands, examines religion lsqffi-ffi,+ji;,and science. Bui it does more. lt probes beneath the surface and itt'ffi*:'..points to the real meaning behind current events, yet it always 'stays politically neutral anrl does not exalt one race above :nnlher ji,*ia**1!@,i*:'l;*:r+,ctarrc nnlilinrlhr ncr riral and dnoq nnt oyrlt nne rr.e :hnvo another. Most important, this magazine builds confidence in the Creator's promise of a peaceful and secure new world that is about to replace the present wicked, lawless system of lhings

lombia by La lglesia Cristiana de Los Testigos de Jehova,

8,

D.C.

Changes of

address

should reach us 30 days before your nrovrng

date. Give us your old and new adqiress (rf possrble, yoLri old

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?-00? Watch lower Bible and

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Printed in Coiombia

Vol B3,

llo

16

Semimonthly ENGLISH

sources in the United States prodLrccd ove 40 niilliort tons of'hazaldoLrs \\,ilste
.

Artother factor is thc wulld pollLillrtroir. which has skyro,cketed dLrring the [):lst c-ntrir]. Mot'e people, nrore garbagel And nlircir ci ii,: population is oriented tori,ard co:rsurrclisr:-t. The Wollrlwatclr Iristitrrte r'.cc,riii c.,iiciuticd: "We have used nrore goods and se n ices sir-ice 1950 tharr itr all the rest oi l.iiulrilir histo11." Granted, felv of those ii',iirg in det'eloped lands want to do av,u\ rriih lll those "goods aud services." For i:rstance. just think of horv convenient it is to go io the stor.e and pick Lrp groceries tirat ;tle alreadl' packaged lrrrd ther-r bring thenr lronte in paper or plastic irtgs sup-

plied at the store. lf people lvere suddenly deprived of sLrch rrociern packaging, they nriglit soon realize how deeplir they have conte to de1te nd on it. And to the exrent that it is more hygie nic. sLrch packaging contribLrtes, at least indirectll. to better health. Despite sLrch advantages, though, is there any need tor concen-r that today's throwaway society night have gone too far? Evidentiy there is, lor vlirious solutions thai l-rave been designed to uddress the garbage giut have barely nrade a dent in the avalanche of human refuse. What is tr,orse. the attitudes that underlie today's throri'ariav society have even more t roLrbling inr plications.

lllHAT
UU

should you do with an

unr*rnted item? "Just throw it

away" seems a simple, obyious answer. Horvever, waste disposal is not always

so simple. Throw

it

where? An Italian environmental association

estimates that a glass bottle thrown into the sea rvill take 1,000 years

to decompose. In contrast, paper tissues will decompose in only three

months. A cigarette butt pollutes the sea for up to 5 years; plastic bags,
Semimonthly Languages:
Alrikaans, Arabic, CePublication ol Awake! is part of a worldwide Bible educational ,ruork supported by volunlary donations. Unless otherwise indicated, New World Translation of lhe Holy .I ... Scriplures-With Relerences is

buano, Croatian, Czech," Darrish," Duich, English," Estonian, Finnish," French, German," Greek, Hungarian, lloko, lndonesian, llalian,' Japanese,o Koreaa,' Lalvian, l_jthuanian, Norwegian, Polish, Porluguese, Romarian, Russian, Serbian, Slovak, Slovenian, Spanish," Svrahili, Swedish," Tagalog, Ukrainian
" Au ci iaca ssel les al so avai i a b i c

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::..

Wlnesses

Would you welcome more information? Write Jehovah's ' " at the appropriate address: America, United States of:

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V/allkirl NY 12589 Auslralla: Box 280, Ingleburn, NSW 1890. Britain: The RidgeNW/ 1RN. Canada: Box 4100, Haiton llills (Georgetown), L7G 4Y4 Chlle; Casilla 267 Puente A,llo Colombia; Apariado Postal 85058, ta B D C Ecuador: Casilla 09 01 4512 Guayaquil. Jamaica: P 0. Box 103, Old Harbour, Sl. Calherine New Zealand: P0 Box 75 142, Ilanurewa. Peni; Casilla 18-1055, lina. Venezuela: Apartarlo 20 364, Caracas DF

Ontario, 'i'] :. jl Bogo ,' ,'

,'

10204.

Awake! August

22,2492

ncs are busirresses intent on filling their caslr 'fhe Slviss lveekly Die ll/eltwctclre irr legisters. grres:"Arr econolnic collzrpse n,oLrld be guaranteed il everYone \\'e re to Lrse his ftrrnitr-rle ancl his ar,tto lor lile or evelr fbr trvice as lorrg as he rrorv does." An econontic collapse is har.dly tlre alrswer, since this lvoLrlci also pLrt coltsLlllers oLrt of u,ork. What, therr, irre solle solLrtions to the gurbirge -elut'/
Throw Away, Recycle, or Reduce? Sonre indLrstnllizecl countries take the easy way oLrt b1 sinrpll, dLrntping their wlrstes in developing cor-rntries. A report indicates, for exaurple. that ''iit one notorious site in Nigeria, 3,500 tor'lnes ol toxic chenricals were found to be leaking fronr over 8,000 rLrsting and corrodirig drunrs. poisoning both soiland grounclwater." Such a nrethod olu'aste disposalseenls to be neither a rvorkable solutiolt nor an adnrirable rvay to treat others. What aboLtt Iecl'gli11o Lttttt'atlted iterls lor further use instead of jLrst throwing thenr away? Ol coLrrse, sr,rch progranrs require that consunrers separate their refuse into diff'ererrt categories, something already required by law in some localities. Officials nray ask tl-rat garbage be;o't..Led r.tlto sLrch categories as paper, carclboard. rretal, glass, and organic wastes. Glass, ir.r tirrn, ntny have to be sort,ed according to color. Recyclin-e clearly has its advantages. 'fhe book 5000 Days to Save the Planet notes that recycling alunrinunr "sAves huge anrounts of energy" and can "cLrt down on tl-ie environntental danrage caLrsed by strip'rlining baLrxite." The book elaborates: "For the s3rle anrount of paper prodLrced, recyclirrg Lrses Lrp only half as nrucl-r energ)', and a tenth of the water. . . N4any rvaste prodLrcts cnn be recovered, recycled and re-used. Even where inclLrstries cannot re-Llse their own rvastes, they can sonre' tinres recycle thenr lorothers to irse... ln ['lol' land, a wzrste e xchauge netrvorlt hus been ope l'ating srrccesslully since tlte early 1970s."
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10 to 20 years; n)'lon articles. 30 to 40 years, cans, 500 )/ears: and pol) stvrene, 1,000 years. The flou' of suclr rEfuse has increased enorn.)ously. Nolvadal's the marketplace has plenty to sell, and the adi'ertising world wants r-rs to believe that rve rreed it all. The British ltewspaper The Guardiaii says succinctly: "Advertisers help us to answer needs we nevei knew we had." lndeed, we are tenipted into buying the latest on tl-re market, lest we nriss out on sonrething new. And, of course, irr advertising terminology "new" nleans "better and superior," whereas "old" means "inlerior and outdated." Thus, we are often urged to buy sonrething nerv rather than repair sornething old. It is argued tl'iat replacing old tliings is nrore pracLi-

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cal aud econornical than repairing therl. At times, that is true. Ofterr, however, throrving away the old and replacing it with the nerv is
expensive and unnecessary.

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Many products today are designed to be thrown away. Ti-rey may be difficult to repair to keep -a point Gerntan in mind wherr making purchases. A consunter nragazine noted: "The life span of individual products continues to get sliorter. What was 'in' yesterday is 'oui' today and frequently lands ir-r tl're rubbish. Thus, valuabie raw merterials daily end up as
worthless garbagel"

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Does all tiris unrestrained br,rying really berrefit the consunrer/ Irr reality, the beneficiaAwake! August 22,2OO2

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However, those ri,tn tius I -, ":l ,J,, c ii\\,ir), front a throwaway ecoltont,," ',.,oilld hat,e to be willing to use the glrjjs ritey pLrr-chase lor as long as possibl:. liiiu-,,,,, iilg thertr arvay only wlten tlrel' lrre b:'.,:,:t j re plir. Itenrs that
rlre Llnwanted'LtLtt stiii us.,ble ntr_rst be passecl or-] to otlters *h,_i i,,ill Lrse thent. The Darntstilclt olice of rhe Ge rilirn Oko IrrstitLrt (lnstitLrte lor Applie.l Ecolog) ) figLrr-es thut a liouse-

Rather than searching lor-ways to ciispose of' reluse, otl'Ier aLltltorities ar.e placing ntor-e enl phasis upolt preverrtir.rg waste in tlte it rsr ltlace The alorententioned book ri,arns thirt "ilction is Lrrgently needed" if ntankind is "to llo\e away frorl er throwaway econoll\ ic,r'ir, i-l f JS a conserver society that ntitiirlize s r...iste s alt,j redLrces its cclnsr-rntption of re sc:1i-Jes.
.

a Ihrowaway ntentality. Let us exantine that attiturde-and a lew of tlte extlemes to which it
can lead. The Dangers of a Throwaway Mentality

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hold itdhe ring consisteutly to the principle "Use irrsteiti oi u-c)ltSLlll-)e" il,ould produce Lrp to 75 pe rce nr less garbage tlian the average household
BLrt ri'ill enoLlgh hoLrseholds acihere to such principle s'l lt seenrs Lrrrlikely. Mankirrd's garbage probient is nterely a sylllltonr of larger issue s. Irr toclay's throri,lrrvay socie ty, nrore and nrore people have licloptecl \\/hllt \ve nright call

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Do chang;in( fads compel yau to throw away good clothes and buy new ones?

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and dislikes lla!, constantly leel compelled to replace good clothes, furniture, and other itenrs rvith ner,; ones. However, the throu,an,ay rrentality may ex_ tend to ntore than just things. A Gerrnarr project devoted to tlte Lrtilization of discarded household goods receutly noted: ,,The way we treat the living room sliite, which no longer suits us and is thrown aivay after five years to be replaced by a new one, is being copied in the way we treat huntans. The question is l-row long our society car"r tolerate this." The report explains: 'As soon as a persotr is unable to perlorm at top efficierrcy, he is replaced. Afterall, there are plenty of workers available!,' Irr his book Earth in the Balance, former U.S. Vice Plesident Al Gore asked ti-re pertinent qLlestion: "lf we have come to see the things we Ltse as disposable, have we sirriilarly translornted the way we think about our fellow humarr beings? . . . Have we, in the process, lost an appreciation for the uniqueness of
each one?"

food and orltel' resollrces. Those who are selfcerrtered and governed by_lqdgand trivial likes

rond niinor wastefulr.)ess. It can make people unappreciative and thoughtless, so that they casually $aste large anrounts of untouchecl

.{ throwaway ntentality can easily go be-

People wiio lose appreciatior.i and respect lor others rvill probably find it easier-and less blanrewortliy-to cast off friends or

ntarriage rrates. Comntenting on this way of thinking, the German newspaper wc brry rrew clotlrcs, every lorrr yerrs a new cAr, and every ten yeats a new liv_ ing roonr sLrite; every year we look for a new vacation spot; rve change hontes, occLtpatiorrs, bLrsinesses-so why not our ntarriltge rlate?"
A.wake! August

Sliddeutsche Zeitung argues: ,,Twice a vear

22,2002

The unborn should be

cherished, not thrown away

Some people today seell \\illillg to thro\r, away almost anything once it becontes burdensonre. In one European countr\,, lor exan-rple, an estimated 100,000 cars and 96,000 clogs were abandoned dLrring 1999 by their ownet-s. An anilnal activist tliere says tliat her fellow citizer-rs "don't consider owning a pet a Iongterm comntitment. They'll bLry a pLlppy in September, abandon it [a year later wl-ien they go on vacation] in August." Worse still, the throwaway melttality extends to humarr lile itself.

A Lack of Respect for Life Malty today seelt.t to tliink that their own lile has little real valLre. Horv so? For exantltle, a ELrropean ntagazine recently noted that the re adiness ol young people to take risks has in creirsed in recent ye ars. 'T'his crtn be seen in their increased willingness to pariicipate in extrenre sports. For the sake of a lew rlornents of thrills. they lrre u,illing to risk throwing awa1, lile itselll Profit lrLrngly businessntelt eager.ly take advantage of this trend. A Cerrtran politiciart noted tl"rat prontoters of extrente sports "often corrsider nraking ltloney ntore irnportant tltan hunran health and life." And uhat abclirt throrving away unborrr hLr-

ntan life? The World Health Organizaiion estirnates tliur "rroi'ldrvide sonte 75 rtrillion children conceived annually:tre not actualIy wanted bv artrone. For ntany wotltelt abor'tiorr is the onll,solution." Even after birth, in,

lants are in darrger. Accorciing to the Br-azilian newspaper O Estodo de S. Paula "cases of babies abandoned on the streets are olt the increase." Is tltis also trLre iit r oLrr locality'/ All aroLrrrd us in todar"s n,orlcl, we see evidence that hLrntan Iile is olten vietved as cheap, Life is too precious to risk rvorthless, sonrethirrg to be throrvn aivay althrowinf, it away for the most casually. We see this trend in tlre vio, sake of thrills lence of popular entertainnteltt, with "heroes" slaughtering scores ol "barl gLlys" irr a sirrgle filrl or T'V proglirnt. We see it ilt tlie oltgo, ing rvaves of violent crinie srveeping the ear.th, with thieves killirrg their victinrs over a bit of petty change--or lbr rro reasolt at all. Arrd we see it in the news ir.r the sickerring reports of terrorist acts, ethnic clearrsings, and outright genocides, all involving the hard-hearted, wholesale sla Lrgliter of huntans-pr-eciours lives thrown away Iike garbage. We nray rrot be able to avoid living in a throwaway society, but rve can avoid adopting a throlvaway nterrtalit),. The ltext article will discuss what can Itelp irs to cope with today,s throwaway society as ivell as tlte urndesirable attitudes that conte r.vith it.

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