This is one of those cases where I must rush to assure the reader up front that this is not a parody. From the Salisbury Post comes a story about Russian visitors to Catawba College?s Center for the Environment and what transpired:
The group crowded a table made of compressed sunflower seeds and sat on chairs made of recycled two-liter soda bottles. And, with the help of an interpreter, participants discovered that environmental problems are similar from country to country.
The biggest issues in America are population growth, lack of planning and consumption, said senior environmental studies student Jay Johnson, who dropped in for a brief question-and-answer session.
[Center Director John] Wear added that, during the last 20 years in the 13-county Charlotte region, more than 21 percent of the open land has been lost to development. In 30 years, the area could lose 342,000 more acres to 1.8 million new residents, he said.
Another problem is air pollution, fueled by high ozone levels and the loss of trees.
Yes, just too many people and not enough trees. And then comes this penetrating insight:
Goals for both countries should be to make people aware of environmental problems and start fixing them, participants said.
Glad they clarified that, as I wasn?t sure.
