RIASSUNTO
ABSTRACT
Much has been said and printed on the subject of Ecology in the past few years. Most of this information has only presented a part of the complete story and created considerable misunderstanding on the part of the public, government, industry and the academic society. This paper endeavors to give a neutral evaluation of the problems and points out that must give deep thought to the management of our sources of income, expenditures and development of our natural resources for the satisfaction of man's needs.
INTRODUCTION
Economics and ecology are both words which currently are emotionally charged. In consequence, the presumed contents of this presentation on-the basis of its title alone are extraordinarily diverse. The emotionalism and the resulting misunderstandings are the major problems in treating our subject.
The world wide publicity on the recent oil spills for example, are viewed quite differently by various groups: A segment of the public takes such incidents as clear cut evidence of the careless plunder of our resources by wealthy corporations. They see only riches flowing to the oil companies and for them pollution of their beaches and waterways. On the other hand they do not see the fuels for their automobiles, nor do the see heat for their homes, transportation of goods to their shops or power for the engines of industry that supplies products they require each day.
Governments, particularly those which are responsive to their populace see in the public outcry a loss of confidence and votes. Also, cleaning up operations place unexpected strains on their already over extended budgets. At that moment, government fails to see the direct or indirect revenues generated from exploration, production, refining and all other petroleum dependent activities
At the universities and research institutes, the academic society worries, along with the life scientists, about the damage done to plant and animal life. For the moment, the value of industry as the ultimate sources of their income taxes, research grants, and gifts ,high help support the university, lies forgotten along with utilization of their endproduct - the requirement for the student.
To industry, the spills create' public relations problems and increased costs. Explainations must be made to the public and the stock. They must expend more energy to prevent future spills and cover the expenses ,of and cleaning up operations. The benefits associated with the business activity in terms of jobs and profits are temporarily overlooked.
DEFINITION OF THE PROBLEM:
For objectivity, we turn to the dictionary as a means for determining the proper content of this presentation.