THE PERVERSIONS OF

Among the hundreds of writers on the environmental crisis in the past few years, Barry Commoner stands out from the rest. Although his conclusions remain on the pathetic level of liberal protest, his andiysis snows ă keen awareness of the relation between the problems he raises and the nature of capitalism.

In "The Closing Circle', he completely destroys the argument that the rise in the level of pollution in the last three decades is the consequence of 'affluence'. On the contrary, he shows that it resulted from the particular types of technology developed in an economy driven by the thirst for profit, without consideration of any other effects.

Commoner was himself involved in the development of DDT for use by the US Navy during the war. Later, this powerful insecticide was employed all over the world, prouucuon rising nandantina ninina in 1070 *r 170,000 tons.

but inis June, te us government banned its use almost completely, amidst a flurry of scientific controversy. The effect of the massive quantities of DDT over several years was not just to eliminate certain kinds of insects.

The pesticide works by destroying the nervous system of the insect. However, in the process, the predators who feed on the particular pest accumulate high concentrations of the chemical. Consequently, larger and larger amounts are required to compensate for the disappearance of the insect's natural enemies. Meanwhile, the new strains of the pest developed by mutation tend to be resistant to DDT When the quantities of the stuff pouring into the soil, rivers and atmosphere, and thence into the ocean reach high enough levels, marine life is affected. It has also been found that the shells of birds' eggs are weakened. All of this is reflected in the concentrations of DDT found in humans.

The story of nitrate fertilizers is more complex but similar. As their use increased, pushed by eager chemical firms, the soil in many agricultural rigions in the US began to change. At first, the result of using inorganic nitrate fertilizy is to increase the amount oi "trogen content and so increa e the yield of crops.

Normally, nitrogen is 'fixed' are removed boo quicky, ops bacteria cannot multiply fast enough to provide enough nitrate. Inorganic fertilizers more than compensate for this, but at the same time stop the activity of the bacteria. So more i and more inorganic nitrates are demanded.

As Commoner says: 'To the salesman, nitrogen fertilizer is the 'perfect' product—it wipes out the competition as it is used › What has gone wrong with ThAce products modern organic chemistry? Do we have to accept the contention of the environmentalists that each attempt to overcome the limits placed by nature in the path of man's development must inevitably come to grief?

Commoner shows how

disastrous 'side effects' of postwar technology are all related to the perversion of science by the drive for profit or war.

But, both in "The Closing Circle' and in his earlier book 'Science and Survival', he raises an even more important point. He demonstrates how the method which underlies the training and experience of every scientist leads him to consider technical problems in a one-sided fashion.

In every held of science, the scientist is taught to consider one key relationship: that of cause and effect. Each problem is thought about on its own, and the answer sought after is a finite chain of causes and effects which ultimately joins two phenomena. All changes in the obect under investigation which do not lie on this chain must be disregarded.

But the real world is not like this at all. The effects of any action transformation infinite, reacting back on initial 'cause' from many different directions.

Conceptually breaking up a complex totality into separate parts, and then tracing single threads of casual connection model-building, Pieces - this between these this built up modern science and technology. But it is now responsible for the acute crisis ranging in every branch of science and for the disasters which attend their application on a large scale.

CONTINUED TOMORROW John Crawford op: Carry Commoner, one of the few writers on the environment connection between environmental problems and the nature of c result of an economy driven by thirst for profit, with out considerati SEAN HUDSON al crisis who is beginning to seo the apitalism. Above: Industrial pollution ion of any other effects.