Doesn't like Acorn's attitude toward the environment

That was a lovely opinion piece printed in the Aug. 30 edition of the T.O. Acorn- - spoken like a true blue, head-in-the-sand dinosaur of an era gone by.

Making light of the "two double A's" that you tossed into the trash can, or "the spray paint can . . . discarded back in '99," or reveling in your audacity because you drive an SUV and set your home air conditioner to 68 when it's 100 outside- - you rebel you! - - might sound pretty harmless and funny to someone from the "pollution generation" such as yourself.

The reality is that, yes, every paint can filled with CFCs and benzene that we throw away and every couple of lead acid doubleA batteries we discard have a nasty way of accumulating, especially when such wasteful behavior is endorsed by those who can't see beyond their own brief existence on this earth.

Folks like newspaper editors who use their position of influence to further their shortsighted agendas will encourage like behavior from others who might be on the fence about whether or not to give a darn about their future and the future of those who come after. The same thinking has lead to great environmental disasters in our time, such as Love Canal in the '70s ("Eh, what's a little more toxic soup in this landfill going to hurt?") or the collapse of the New England fishing industry 20 years ago ("It's my God-given right to fish these waters 'til they're empty- the fish will come back- oops, where'd all the fish go?").

But, hey, this is Thousand Oaks, and it can't happen here. Oh look, they just built a new office park and medical building on a toxic waste dump filled with trichloroethylene and hexavalent chromium in Newbury Park; nobody'll notice (oops, you didn't hear it from me). It is this kind of thinking that results in the closure of our local beaches every time it rains because the water is so filthy that it poses a significant health risk. It's also the reason why whole communities are banning smoking in any outdoor area, including the beach.

Remember, it's not your fault that these laws are getting passed. Somebody else is surely to blame. Yes, it might be inconvenient to think about how our actions today could leave a lasting impact on the world tomorrow. But your laziness today could well give birth to the very "garbage police" you are so afraid of tomorrow. Kevin Redner Newbury Park