[speaker001:] all right Betty uh what do you think about air pollution what all you know about it
[speaker002:] well I guess I've uh just I've listened a lot to the media and I've tried to read some things on it and I've tried to take some steps to uh understand it and figure out where I am in the whole mess
[speaker001:] uh-huh
[speaker002:] um apparently it's getting worse I mean I can tell that just by driving in Dallas you have the low flying flying gray cloud on certain days but
[speaker001:] right
[speaker002:] you know it really gets to you in terms of being able to breathe and and and things like that so we know that if you do the same thing to like your plants and you don't let them breathe they kind of die on you
[speaker001:] uh-huh
[speaker002:] um and so you know looking at the different areas that um cause air pollution um I guess we have industry for one um that has to be I guess a little bit more aware of you know the output and uh harmful chemicals and things that they use um what do you think about that
[speaker001:] well I think it's very true uh they're a lot of companies that don't have much regard for the environment they're primary goal is to produce a product as cheaply as they can and uh
[speaker002:] oh right
[speaker001:] you know some environmental standards like a filters on smokestacks et cetera are quite expensive and they just don't want to sink the money into it unless someone clamps down on them makes them do it and dumping chemicals et cetera and all that you know they're just looking for the easy way out which you know I guess they're very shortsighted and they only look at what interests them and so I guess
[speaker002:] yeah
[speaker001:] sort of you got you got to blame them but you understand what they're why they don't do it you just have to educate these people to what they're actually doing show them like this is what your plant is doing and we as consumers have to be prepared to pay a higher cost for the product which probably stops a lot of people from getting involved in the environmental issues you know they besides sinking their own time into it is that when we police these companies you know they say well look we're having to pay two million to put this filter device on it you're going to pay an extra thirty cents at the store for uh whatever and we're like oh no you know that's a so but and recycling I'm big on recycling and uh
[speaker002:] yeah oh good yeah
[speaker001:] but you know a lot of people aren't I mean people I know that are just you know they're good people and they know I go you don't recycle that uh no like well just stick it in a different bag you know like aluminum cans like if I if I give you a bag and you stick the cans in there will you give them to me oh yeah I'll do so you know I'll
[speaker002:] right
[speaker001:] I'm going to work on doing that a little bit more to people that you know they just aren't they're just not either not aware or they just don't think about it
[speaker002:] well that's true I think you know we we had such I mean I'm I'm close to forty and I can remember the good old days when we didn't have to worry about all this stuff and life was pretty you know um complacent in these areas and uh I think you're right though that we not only pay the price in money we're going to pay the price in our health and our future you know in the future of whatever's going to happen here
[speaker001:] uh-huh
[speaker002:] and you know it takes a few people you know on the alert to uh um really make a change and make a difference in the way people think and you're right about the education it's just got to be little by little by little until people become aware but I think we've got sort of a snowball effect going on now and I think that you know in terms of air pollution we're um pinpointing certain you know industries in our own communities that are you know blatantly um abusing the airspace
[speaker001:] uh-huh
[speaker002:] and I think we're beginning to make them aware that um you know it's not just the a financial bottom line that they have to look at it's you know um it has a a bigger impact on the on the whole environment and the whole area and gosh I I don't know you know health seems to get in in the act too you know your your health and your lungs and and all this I mean this comes down to smokers
[speaker001:] right
[speaker002:] and I don't know what to do about smokers because you know that's sort of an infringement of they're rights see you can go overboard too you can be real radical about this and I'm not for that I'm for persuading people by the use of education and by demonstration and by um you know your example of how things go um and you know I know there's some real radicals out there and and that that'll tend to turn you off anytime and think that they're you know full of baloney and they're not you know on the right planet sometimes
[speaker001:] yeah
[speaker002:] but you know what I mean about that
[speaker001:] yeah
[speaker002:] think it's education like you said that really needs to and it starts with you
[speaker001:] yeah
[speaker002:] like you said just tell them to you know
[speaker001:] they're
[speaker002:] what why you're doing why you're collecting cans and why you're collecting glass and why you're recycling the stuff and gosh
[speaker001:] it just seems though um I guess we could talk about smoking because it is a form of air pollution and uh oh my my father passed away at the age of fifty of a coronary artery disease and he had smoked
[speaker002:] oh
[speaker001:] you know pretty heavily since he went in the Army at like age eighteen and you know I've been fairly well educated on that subject and and I feel that uh you know that was a primary factor that caused his premature death
[speaker002:] yeah
[speaker001:] so I'm sort of on a band wagon to say about the smoking the adverse affects of smoking and I just wonder you know all the time when I was a little kid breathing the smoke secondhand smoke which people say is just as bad or even worse worse
[speaker002:] just as yeah
[speaker001:] than what the smoker gets through the filter you know what affect that had on me for a coronary artery disease when I was younger but you know I I don't think I'm what you would call a a radical but it just seems that people that smoke you just don't they just don't listen
[speaker002:] well get it's yeah it's hard it's really hard and they have to maybe sort of like like hit bottom like they either have to die or they have to be you know totally incapacitated before they change their mind and you know
[speaker001:] right
[speaker002:] bless their hearts you can't do anything that will impact them or or you you can't find a way really that it's it's it's almost like you know you can talk about alcoholism too I mean you know in this hidden in this manner sometimes I think that it's just a person has to change their mind
[speaker001:] yeah
[speaker002:] and uh it's tough but um you know it it I don't allow people to smoke in my house and I I hope they respect that and you know I I send them outside
[speaker001:] uh-huh yeah
[speaker002:] sort of thing and and they respect that or else they just don't come back they don't smoke in my car
[speaker001:] yeah
[speaker002:] and you know and it's not getting to be a big deal anymore I you know they they seem to uh understand or at least have a little bit of respect for your wishes and and they don't just necessarily light up and and uh you know not expect to get some flack these days
[speaker001:] yeah yeah so I guess the education has sunk in a little bit as to not you know as to respect another another person's clean air in that respect
[speaker002:] yeah
[speaker001:] but um I had an uncle that had quadruple bypass surgery and was near death many times and he's know you know they've told him for years to quit smoking and he still smokes you know
[speaker002:] well yeah
[speaker001:] you know some people are just but he's he's good and then he came to visit and he would run outside to smoke instead of smoking in the house so you know I have to say well I guess if you're going to do it do it out there and don't
[speaker002:] uh-huh use your own lungs don't borrow mine to take part in your air
[speaker001:] right that's cool
[speaker002:] yeah well things are getting I mean like I said I don't know why I know how old I am and I know that I never had to worry about the stuff I thought you k now the grass is green the sky was blue and the ocean was a pretty light blue you know and and I'm finding out that that's not always the case anymore and that you know the damage has been done
[speaker001:] um-hum
[speaker002:] and you know we're left with a mess in a lot of ways you know caused by um starting with the air pollution and and that's just one of the factors that goes into you know trying to get this place cleaned up but
[speaker001:] yeah if you notice uh I'm from Indiana and we really gauge the weather the winters by how much snow we get
[speaker002:] oh Gary Indiana huh which one oh really
[speaker001:] so uh it's when I was growing up you always could expect some snowfall twenty four even up to we had thirty eight inches of snow one time but the last few years we've barely gotten any snow at all
[speaker002:] really
[speaker001:] yeah it's you know maybe there'll be six inches on the ground at one time and it'll blow for a while and then it'll all melt away it's just like they kept talking about this you know the global warming the greenhouse effect and all that well I can just see it because
[speaker002:] yeah
[speaker001:] you know school would get canceled probably a week week and a half each year
[speaker002:] oh I remember yeah oh I'm from Chicago
[speaker001:] pardon
[speaker002:] grew I grew up in Chicago so yeah you know we had a lot of snow up there
[speaker001:] yeah you had a lot of snow and and you always had to scoop it and it was it was fun to play in but you know last few years
[speaker002:] oh absolutely