You don't have to drive or hike much in Arkansas to know that we have little use, collectively, for aesthetics. Look at the Big Gulp cups, cigarette butts and food wrappers that litter our roadways.
Larger issues are more difficult to gauge.
Poison in the air and water can be invisible, but deadly. For the Arkansas Times' special look at the environment in Arkansas this week, I sought a few opinions from people I trust. One old friend, an idealist and political liberal with a long career in state and private environmental regulation, has no doubt that the environment is cleaner than it was 20 years ago. Now a lawyer for some of the world's largest polluters, he claims no heightened corporate conscience on such matters. His clients simply can't risk the financial exposure of gross negligence.