Page 21 of  101

Pollution of seas, air, water, lakes, rivers is not limited to a few secluded areas of the planet. The destruction of woods which produce oxygen is not a sporadic event occurring only in Europe. Industrial elimination of agricultural fauna and flora, due to the constant use of powerful insecticides and artificial fertilizers, destroys the harmony of nature and pollutes fresh water stratums. This is not a phenomenon limited to some civilized countries (21:1)

Urbanization and expansion of big cities all over the world provoke ecological and human disasters. It is not news that the most important cities - the megalopolises - are in deep trouble. Statistics say the percentage of the entire world population residing in these large urban areas today is increasing; in conformity with what has been said, cities are spreading in a disorderly fashion for hundreds of square kilometers and have millions of residents. Consequently the city bureaucracy increases excessively imposing high costs which are no longer sustainable. These kinds of cities, having already exceeded the productive capacity of local alimentary potentials, are extremely vulnerable and, even more, are about to collapse as soon as problems arise such as in public transportation or in supplying that which they depend on.. Where do the food supplies of New York, Sao Paolo or Tokyo come from? Certainly not from the surrounding agricultural areas. In fact as a consequence of disordered urban and suburban development, about ten millions of hectares of potentially high productive soil to produce food, were covered with cement, plastic and steel. It follows that in these cities life has become unbearable. By now serious forms of maladjustment, loneliness, fear and abandonment have become part of us and cause, together with pollution and emerging diseases (especially pulmonary and cardiac diseases) difficulties, hostility and selfishness. There are countless cases of people suffering from schizophrenia and personality disorders who are seeking help from psychiatric institutions. This is not a phenomenon limited to this or that country. Besides, in large cities, grass roots opinions and participation on the part of the individual have no outlet for expression. Urban life tends to disintegrate effective individual participation regarding political or social choices. In small communities, on the contrary, it is still possible to contact local authorities responsible for solving problems. Of course the resources given to cities successively reappear in form of waste. Dumps, where urban waste is deposited, are about to overflow. New ones could be built, but given the constant expansion of metropolitan areas with ever growing population density, they would spring up where other thousands of people live. Our shared desire is that our own waste be eliminated far away from our own homes. In the face of this problem, city authorities can choose between two options: burning the waste thus polluting the environment even more or transporting it to controlled dumps in deserted areas at considerable cost eventually recovering the money through increasing taxes which is surely unwelcome and contested. All this without even considering the harmful influence solid, liquid and gaseous waste has on health. Man is part of the natural ecosystem and when some imbalance occurs, he pays the consequences. In recent years, means of transportation have progressively improved all over the world, creating new possibilities for faster and more comfortable movement. Those who travel realize that the above mentioned problems are the same the world over. (21:2)

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