Gore Claims Kinship with Ecologist Author Rachel Carson

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Subject:   Gore Claims Kinship with Ecologist Author Rachel Carson
Date:          Tue, 15 Aug 2000 07:31:21 -0400
From:        Stephen Tvedten <steve@getipm.com>
Organization:     Get Set Inc. (www.getipm.com)

To:     Paul Helliker <phelliker@cdpr.ca.gov>
          Director, State of California, Department of Pesticide Regulation 

Dear Mr. Helliker, I thought you might find this interesting.

Dear Mr. Helliker,  I thought you might be interested in an article entitled: Gore Claims Kinship with Ecologist Author Rachel Carson - For full text and graphics visit: http://ens.lycos.com/ens/aug2000/2000L-08-14-06.html

SPRINGDALE, Pennsylvania, August 14, 2000 (ENS) - Vice President Al Gore focused attention on his environmental record Saturday during a campaign stop at the home of conservation pioneer Rachel Carson. The visit was part of a week long tour of the nation leading up to the today’s opening of the Democratic National Convention in Los Angeles, California.

Gore visited the Rachel Carson Homestead, the birthplace and childhood home of the ecologist and author whose 1962 best seller "Silent Spring" helped launch the modern environmental movement. Carson was born in the home in 1907.

Gore said he was 14 years old when his mother gave him a copy of Carson's just published book "Silent Spring," the environmental classic that warned of the toxic effects of industrial chemicals on wildlife, ecosystems and humans. The book helped spark Gore’s interest in the environment, said Gore, vowing to continue fighting for environmental protections if he is elected President this fall.

"I have been committed to safeguarding our air and our land and the earth itself," said Gore. "I'm proud that in my first term in Congress, I held some of the first hearings on the dangers of toxic waste, and I've been making that fight ever since."

"I'm proud that even though we have far more to do, we now have the cleanest air and water in a generation," Gore continued. "We have made great strides, but I'm here today to tell you - you ain't seen nothing yet."

Gore compared himself with Carson, noting that she became "the target of a very well orchestrated, well financed attack from special interests that were profiting from pollution," after publishing her book. Gore was also criticized for the positions he took in his 1992 book, "Earth in the Balance," which warns that global warming could devastate the planet.

"When I published "Earth in the Balance" I became the subject of a lot of attacks," said Gore. "I wear those attacks as a badge of honor."

Gore has called for making the next 10 years the Environment Decade, outlining broad goals including: protecting forests, rivers and public lands, ensuring that the nation's air and water is cleaned up, encouraging smarter growth and more livable communities, investing more in conservation, renewable energy and technologies that combat pollution taking steps in the United States and around the world to reverse the rise in global warming.

Gore said he would dedicate part of an expected budget surplus to create a new National Energy Security and Environment Trust Fund that would: save energy and reduce pollution by helping power plants and industries reduce dangerous emissions, reduce the nation's dependence on unreliable foreign oil with tax breaks up to $6,000 for consumers who purchase more fuel efficient cars, trucks and homes reduce traffic and smog and improve transportation by investing in cleaner and safer buses, light rail and subway systems and high speed trains curtail brownouts by increasing the reliability of the power grid.

"Imagine the future we can build together," said Gore. "A future where smog in cities doesn't choke our kids and block the afternoon sun, a future where the water that goes from our taps into our drinking glasses is always safe and clean, and a future where our parks and open spaces are kept open and beautiful for generations to come."

After his speech, Gore participated in an environmental demonstration with 17 children from the Carnegie Science Center. The group poured dirty water through coffee filters to illustrate how filtration systems remove toxins from industrial waste water.

Gore and 15 year old volunteer Tony Salak warned that this type of filtering does not remove many chemicals. Citing another Carson book, "The Sea Around Us," Gore discussed the links between local pollution and downstream effects.

"What you are doing to prevent chemicals from getting into the water here has an impact not only on the local environment but many, many miles away," said Gore.

Saturday’s visit was the first Gore has made to the home of his childhood heroine. "A long time ago, I joined with the spirit of Rachel Carson in committing myself to a new springtime filled with the sounds of wild birds, with the sounds of children learning about and appreciating the environment," Gore said. "Now, I ask you to join with me in this campaign ... to leave future generations air that's clear, streams that are clean, neighborhoods, fields and forest free from toxic poison. Don't let anybody tell you we can't do it."

Carson was a marine biologist and author of books concerning environmental and ecological themes. She taught zoology at the University of Maryland from 1931 to 1936 and worked as an aquatic biologist at the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. Carson was awarded the National Book Award in nonfiction for her 1951 "The Sea Around Us."

"Silent Spring," questioned the use of chemical pesticides and prompted international concern for protecting the environment. It tells the story of declines in the songbird population due to the use of insecticides and pesticides across the United States.

"What happens in nature is not allowed to happen in the modern, chemical-drenched world," wrote Carson in "Silent Spring." The book's publication had a dramatic impact, sparking worldwide opposition to pesticides and a wave of domestic environmental legislation that curbed use of toxic chemicals such as DDT.

While the controversy was raging around the book, the author was dying of breast cancer that may have been caused by exposure to environmental carcinogens such as those she studied.

Well Mr. Helliker, No one knows how many people have been needlessly sickened and/or killed by your "registered" POISONS ---- but, as Bob Dylan once sang:  "The times they are a-changin.  You better start swimming or you'll sink like a stone."

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