[Congressional Record Volume 142, Number 77 (Thursday, May 30, 1996)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E973-E974]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




  STATEMENT BY KARA VON BEHREN, SARA REEVE, ALISON GINGRAS, AND ANNA 
              LASZEWSKI REGARDING RISKS TO THE ENVIRONMENT

                                 ______


                          HON. BERNARD SANDERS

                               of vermont

                    in the house of representatives

                         Thursday, May 30, 1996

  Mr. SANDERS. Mr. Speaker, for the benefit of my colleagues I would 
like to have printed in the Record this statement by high school 
students from Peoples Academy in Vermont, who were speaking at my 
recent town meeting on issues facing young people:

       Kara: Being an American literature class, we have focused 
     on writers throughout America's history, and we've focused on 
     a lot of them. We've pulled some quotes, so as I go along, 
     Ali's just going to say some of them.
       They include Krevocur's ``What Is an American'' (as 
     Krevokur said, ``We are nothing but what we derive from the 
     air we breathe, the climate we inhabit, and the nature of our 
     employment'')-Jefferson's Declaration of Independence; 
     Kerouac's ``On the

[[Page E974]]

     Road'' as well as many other Beat writers; Maya Angelou's 
     ``On the Pulse of Morning;'' Kingsolver's ``Animal Dreams,'' 
     and many of her essays, short stories and poem; Robert 
     Prescott Allen's ``Spirit in Nature'' (``People now consume, 
     control or destroy almost 40% of the plant energy of the 
     land, and 25% of all plant energy, the ultimate source of 
     food for all animals, and almost all organisms.''); some of 
     Thoreau's works and excerpts from them; Scott Russell 
     Sander's ``Speaking the Word from Nature'' (``Where our 
     theories of nature have become wiser, our experience of 
     nature has become shallower.'')
       And due to this event, as well as our own interests, we 
     have looked at many environmental pieces about the EPA, Earth 
     Day and other similar activities; budget cuts and specific 
     Acts.
       We've looked for connection to environmental issues; we 
     haven't had to look very far. In a country founded by people 
     who relied on the land, the environment plays a major role in 
     our history and literature. It is up to us to make sure 
     education about the environment gets out, and that's the only 
     way we can insure that the environment will play a major role 
     in the future.
       Okay, we made murals which are over there, on the wall. 
     Feel free to go look at them. . . 
       Yes, do go look at them; we worked hard. They're just 
     pictures--one's a pool table and one's a tree--but we put all 
     the quotes from our own work and from all the writers that 
     we've read that pertain to protecting the environment and 
     what we're doing to destroy it. And so, they're all there and 
     please, do go look at them.
       As part of some of these writing assignments and readings, 
     the environment has been a topic of concern. The new budget 
     plans call for cuts in just about every area. The question 
     becomes, ``how much are willing to sacrifice from each of 
     these departments?''
       Our world has been misused for so long now that it is 
     costing immense sums of money to try to clean it up. Can we 
     really afford not to clean the land up, though? We are 
     causing the inevitable destruction of ourselves, by 
     destroying the natural world. The Housing Appropriations Bill 
     would cut EPA's funding by 34%, prohibiting funding for EPA's 
     Wetlands, Sewer Overflow, Polluted Runoff and other programs. 
     The bill also cuts the State's Revolving Fund by $365 
     million. The State Revolving Fund provides for loans to 
     cities and counties for sewage treatment plants and other 
     clean water facilities. This means that, without funding, 
     communities and cities, like our own, would probably not 
     receive assistance in addressing public health issues 
     concerning clean water that we need.
       One of the most serious shortcomings recognized by the 
     Administration are the threats to the Clean Water Act. By 
     cutting the last $725 million in the Drinking Water State 
     Revolving Fund, the House eliminates the President's proposed 
     $1.8 billion investment for safe drinking water. The proposed 
     bill would sacrifice America's wetland resources by stopping 
     the President's program that would prohibit the destruction 
     of them. The new bill would support a multi-billion dollar 
     fishing and shell-fishing industry (signal) within those 
     wetlands instead. These cuts can hurt only us.
       When the Clean Water Act was established, there were many 
     goals it had set to make on our lakes and rivers. . . . So 
     far, we have yet to meet any of these goals. We are still 
     trying to complete some of them were set to meet in the 
     eighties. With these proposed budget cuts, the Clean Water 
     Act will never comes to live up to its potential, and our 
     lakes and rivers will never be as clean as was hoped. We are 
     making great progress in this area, as well as others, but 
     with these cuts in funding, we will have to put these 
     programs on hold, while the pollution and contamination 
     continues to occur. Without the funding, there will be no way 
     to stop the destruction that we, as a nation, have put so 
     much time and effort into. We implore you to consider these 
     things when you throw anything away. Become inspired to write 
     a letter or to do something good and right. Without the 
     environment intact we are nothing, and as a Cree saying says, 
     ``If you destroy the land, you destroy the animals; if you 
     destroy the animals, you destroy the people.'' Thank you.

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