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. ' Hietorically, thc concepts that have brought us to "pollution * 1970" are complex and ancient.. Some ecologically-oriented sociolo- gists and theologians of ecology be!ievc that the world would today be a cleaner place it Baal and other nature gods of the pre-Judeo- Christian era had triumphed o v e r Jehovah. The fundamental tcach- ings oi Genesis that man, created in God's )image, should have "dominion" over the rest .of creation has tendrd to legitimatize m a n ' s total exploitation of h i s environment. Modern Christian thought is mote communitjr directed. Iu the 13th century, St. F r a n - cis of .Assisi challenged the idea of man's limitless rule over nature and m o s t contemporary theologians of. ecology bclieve that man's "dominion" o v e r creation m u s t be tempcrcd b y responsibility and that the raping of natural r e s o u r c e s fop' personal gain is csscnlially sinful, Rising concern about thc environmental crisis is swecping the nation's campuses with a n intensity that may be on its way to eclipsing student discontent o v e r the w a r in Vietnam. istration seems to be on the right t r a c k both in President Nixon's Vietnamization p r o g r a m s and in his recent pronounccment that "the 1970's absolutely must be the y e a r s when America pays its dcht to the past by reclaiming the purity of its a i r , its water and oiir living environment. It is literally now or ncvcr. ' I Thc Presi- dent on New Year's Day signed the National Environmental Policy Act but has deferred additional comment for his State of the Union m e s s a g e scheduled for l a t c r this month. certainly necessary, i s a money commitment and c*mmissioning of study groups to place the pollution solution in responsible per- spective. The adrnin- . Yet to be heard, but. The young people, principally the collcgc kids, a r e moving and Federal Governrncnt officials (Senator Muskie, Wisconsin's Scnator Nclson and others) seem in concert with them. It would appear now appropriate for the administration to pitch in with what it pitchcs b e s t - namely money, organization, p i d a n c c , and ptiblic stimulation. ' Credit courses in cnvirnnmcntal studies arc forming i n m o r e than a fcw collcgcs and action organizations such . as llic E c o l ~ g y Aclion Council at UCLA and tlic Ccntcr for Environ- mental Qua1it.y at Michigan Slate arc off and winging. Glatlwin I I i l l .' . bc I wfiting rcccntly in the Ncw, York Timcs slates l ' . . , dc*tcrioraf.ion o f thc nation's quality of life is a perva'sivc, here-and-now, l o n g - e r m .. -.e.. * 0.' . - .. problem that students of*all political shadings can sink their teeth . . . - and energies into, And they are doing it." M a n y repo-rtcdly arc . . . . - 2 l - - -. . .. . , .