Why all the fuss about our environment?
— Chas B. Hunt

Russell Baker has pointed out that this is the age of dissent. There is dissent if we outlaw filthy speech. There is dissent if we outlaw marijuana, communism, or extramarital sex. There is dissent against restrictions on ordering machine guns or bazookas by mail. And an overwhelming majority of Americans expressed dissent against George McGovern and voted for Nixon and Agnew. Nixon now has been pardoned, and there even is dissent about that. It seems time someone besides managers of copper smelters, strip mines, and refineries expressed dissent about all the fuss being made about our environment.

 

After all, this is a nation of free men who resent using litter barrels if they find them repulsive (Fig. 1). Some don't trust such geophysical equipment; others object to creeping socialism because the city might get funds from selling advertising space on the receptacles (New York City's take from such advertising is about three quarters of a million dollars yearly). The scenic overlook where 1-10 crosses the west rim of Mesilla Valley is a near classic example, with a parking area having numerous litter barrels, but the litter is not in them; it is on the ground. Ah Freedom! Freedom not only to dissent from arbitrary bureaucratic regulations, but freedom to deface disagreeably too.