Friday, January 30, 1998
CALPIRG meeting informs possible recruits of issues
ENVIRONMENT: Quality of air, water, situation
of hungry take spotlight
By Barbara Ortutay
Daily Bruin Contributor
A lot of people talk about helping the environment. At least one
group hopes to do more than that.
Over 70 students looking to get involved with UCLA’s chapter of
the California Student Public Interest Research Group (CALPIRG)
attended its general interest meeting on Thursday.
There the students learned of the organization’s plans for the
near future.
This quarter, CALPIRG is working on establishing a campus-wide
recycling program, such as the ones already in existence at other
UCs like Berkeley and Santa Barbara.
According to Dimitri Nichols, project coordinator for the
recycling campaign, recycling of cans, bottles and plastic in the
dorms and apartments is long overdue.
"You go to other schools and they have bins that say glass, cans
and plastic. It’s all very simple," he said.
CALPIRG’s other programs will focus on combating hunger and
homelessness, protecting endangered species, protecting
California’s waters and beaches, and fighting the use of dangerous
pesticides.
After a general introduction, speaker Tom Subak spoke about the
environmental problems and solutions facing California and
specifically Los Angeles.
These problems include health-threatening air and water
pollution. According to studies cited by Subak, Los Angeles and its
surrounding area has the worst air pollution in the United
States.
In fact, the L.A. area is second only to Mexico City in having
the worst air quality in the entirety of North and South
America.
"If you have ever been to Mexico City, that shouldn’t be a
comfort," he said.
Subak also commented on the typical L.A. weather forecasts that
include air quality reports.
"It’s troubling when the weatherman on TV is telling me that the
air in Los Angeles is going to be unbreathable for the next few
days," Subak said.
"You would think we’d be running for the oxygen canisters, but
at this point we are used to it," he added.
Proposed solutions for the air pollution problems include
CALPIRG’s campaign to get tougher emission standards for cars sold
by the year 2000.
This resolution passed as a mandatory law a couple of years ago.
Gov. Pete Wilson, however, made it voluntary, and therefore much
more difficult to enforce.
Like air, water in Southern California is also facing a
pollution crisis.
Subak was alarmed by facts regarding the polluted state of Santa
Monica Bay.
"Dead dolphins caught there are buried as toxic waste – their
tissues contain more toxins than marine mammals found anywhere else
in the world," he said.
"The bay is basically a hazardous waste pool, yet there are
people swimming there all summer," he added.
CALPIRG’s efforts to clean up Santa Monica Bay include beach
cleanups and, this quarter, lobbying for tougher legislation to
stop water pollution.
Environmental issues, however, are not the only concern of
CALPIRG. Participants in the Hunger Project work to eliminate
hunger and homelessness.
In addition to working with Project Angelfood, a program that
prepares and delivers food to homebound AIDS patients, CALPIRG is
planning to participate in this spring’s Hunger Cleanup, a national
community service work-a-thon.
Summing up CALPIRG’s mission today, Subak quoted Ralph Nader
(who started the first PIRG organization in 1972): "There are more
problems in this world than we should tolerate, and more solutions
than we utilize."