Word: soiling
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Dates: during 1980-1989
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Lipkis' ideas about voluntarism have a certain earthy logic. "Scientists define pollution as energy waste. Sewage is pollution when you dump it in the ocean -- yet it's so loaded with nutrients that it could enrich any soil it is put into," he explains. "It's the same with humans. People have an immense amount of energy, but for the most part it isn't being used. The result is a kind of pollution: frustration, depression, rage, crime. Society needs that energy, and nobody is making the connection...
...research and education are no substitutes for concrete action. The world community must move promptly toward comprehensive treaties to protect the air, soil and water. A framework for the effort exists within the U.N., which has already taken some important initiatives. In 1972 the U.N. organized the landmark Stockholm conference, which set up the United Nations Environment Program. It was under UNEP's sponsorship that 24 countries signed the 1987 Montreal Protocol, calling for a reduction in the output of ozone-destroying chlorofluorocarbons. There have also been proposals to enhance UNEP's role as a sort of intergovernmental superagency...
...problems of agriculture are likely to be critical in the next century, as growing populations, deteriorating soil conditions and changing climates put even more pressure on a badly strained food-supply system. In parts of sub-Saharan Africa, that system has broken down periodically over the past 20 years, resulting in the familiar TV images of children with swollen bellies and relief camps filled with hungry people...
...arid Negev, an area once written off as largely uncultivable, today grow fruit, flowers and winter vegetables eagerly sought by European markets. Through a process known as "fertigation" -- dripping precise quantities of water and nutrients at the base of individual plants -- crops can be grown in almost any soil, even with brackish water...
...first trip to the U.S. (and only his second journey outside the Soviet Union) to attend the meeting. And he was startlingly frank about the situation in his country. "We have started too late," Morgun told the group. "Our air is not up to the proper mark, our soil is polluted, and our forests are affected. Drastic measures were taken in the West 15 to 20 years ago to improve the environment. Now my country must get to work on this as well...