We'd love to hear from you! Send comments about our articles, ideas
you would like to share with your fellow designers and anything
else on your mind to editor@ecotecture.com.
Letter to the editor
July 2003:
Due to your statements I will no longer be subscribing to your
e-zine. I do care for the environment and the imapcts man has
on it. I am sorry you feel that you must include, "the US invasion
of Iraq lives up to its Horror Show billing," with us and the
other Anti-war ideals with no basis of the reason for the war;
Saddam who open burns his oil supplies and releases unknown chemicals
into the air is alot better than the US? No country is perfect
but some have to take an agressive role to defend issues of world
signifigance in relation to human rights and ECOLOGY. While holding
up your protest signs remember how many trees it [sic] took to
make it.....My opinion of the war is different from yours an I
do not wish to debate that so, as we "agree to disagree", I wish
to no longer recieve any mailings from you. Personal opinion has
no basis in Journalism and should relate interpretations of fact
[sic], not opinions. You wrote....
"DEAR SUBSCRIBER,
Even as the US invasion of Iraq lives up to its Horror Show billing,
those who want peace, justice and a better planet for all must
remain focused on the progressive work to which they have dedicated
their lives. ECOTECTURE's mission is to "empower our readers to
solve environmental problems." Although the immediate environmental
problem confronting the entire biosphere is war-and everyone should
be doing what he or she can to end this war-solutions to the root
causes of war must also be advanced."
As I am sending this to you I am sending copies to my fellow
students who recieve your magazine urging them to unsubscribe
Andrew P., student University of Houston College of Architecture
. . .
Dear Mr. P.,
I'm sorry that you do not feel that further dialogue on the issue
of America's policies could be fruitful. I hope it is clear that
I do not think that Saddham Hussein has had anything but a negative
impact on human rights and the environment. This is true of about
half the world's "leaders." Should we invade every country with
different form of government?
I am surprised that you do not see a connection between the gas-guzzling
lifestyle that America officially promotes–Congress, for
example, has recently voted to do away with most mileage restrictions
for vehicles and the Bush Administration is suing the State of
California to force it to remove its air pollution standards–and
our constant involvement in the Middle Eastern oil states. You
may not realize the US brought Hussein to power, Rumsfeld aided
and abetted him until a few years ago and Dick Cheney did millions
of dollars worth of business with him until about three years
ago.
Concerning journalism, there is no rule that one has to report
only "facts." It is a fact that Saddham Hussein was a brutal dictator.
It is also a fact that almost all of the Iraqis, combatant and
non-combatant, that America killed during this war had nothing
to do with Hussein's political machinery and, if US sources are
to be believed, were so brainwashed that they had no idea that
they were part of an evil regime. They were merely acting under
orders, defending their homeland or trying to stay out of the
way. They were killed because they were victims of Saddham Hussein.
(One of the more famous quotes from the Vietnamese war, which
you may be to young to have heard, was from an American combatant
who explained to his superiors that "we had to destroy the village
in order to protect it from Communists."
One could report either set of "facts" about Iraq, and a great
many more for that matter. As the Publisher and Editor of my own
journal, I had to decide whether to include politics or just report
on issues of ecological design. I do not and cannot see that the
two are unrelated. I knew that my stance, the expression of which
is limited, for the most part, to my editorial page, would cost
me some readers. I decided to take that risk so I could follow
my conscience.
Thank you for writing. I hope you find sources of information
about ecological design that are sufficiently free of direct political
statements or associated, more subtle, political implications
for you to be able to make use of their information. Whatever
you do, please keep working to improve the environment.
Philip S. Wenz, Editor/Publisher
ECOTECTURE®: The Online Journal of Ecological Design
www.ecotecture.com
editor@ecotecture.com
