Too far in the future?

A friend and I have been "discussing" the environment on facebook the last couple days. He's a lawyer and likes to have the last word, so I decided to quit arguing since I know he'll never let me have the last word. But! That doesn't mean he's right, or even close to right. What really worried me about his posts was that he said the environment is okay, the empirical evidence that he has read doesn't make him worry. I'm not sure what he's reading. Everything I'm reading scares me to death, sometimes makes me want to hide under the covers cause I can't think of any way to fix it. Are some of us thinking too small or missing the big picture? As in, things here are great, my water comes out of the faucet when I turn the handle, the room lights up when I flip the switch, garbage isn't stacking up in my front yard, there isn't garbage in the river/lake/ocean that I swim in.......you get the idea. How can we ignore what is going on worldwide? It may not be in our backyard, but it definitely impacts us. It may not be as noticeable in our lifetime, but what about our children? Don't they deserve a world with freshwater, clean air, and no trash? People in the western United States are already fighting over water, are others in the US missing that? Do others understand what happens when they run out of water? It's got to come from somewhere, where is it going to come from? Coastal areas already have places that have had to abandoned their wells because of salt water intrusion. Where are they getting their water now? So much of what we do today depends on water. Electricity, lots of water; agriculture, even more water; manufacturing, lot of water; life in general, water........For all intents & purposes there is a finite amount of clean freshwater on the earth. The recharge needed to put water into aquifers takes too long to be considered renewable. Since water is being pulled out of aquifers faster than it is going in, soon those aquifers are going to be empty, where are they going to get their water? The "bread basket" of America depends on a large aquifer to water crop to feed millions of people; what happens to the food when the water is gone? We don't live in a bubble, what happens elsewhere impacts us and "our" environment. China is a long way away, but they are an emerging nation, using lots of electricity, which is created while burning coal. Guess where they get the coal, yeah, from here. So we dig in the ground and impact our environment so they can make stuff to send it back here. And boy do they have an air problem there, we see it, we agree, but it's over there, it doesn't impact us.....wrong. Air currents impact us, that stuff isn't staying there, it's going somewhere. Blowing out to sea. The increased crap in the ocean definitely has an impact on the pH of the ocean, the amount of mercury, which all impact us. Fish stocks are decreasing, coral reefs are dying, krill are dying, which will in turn impact whales, and those are just some of the things that come to mind. Like I said, we don't live in a bubble. And what about those that can no longer live on an island or the coast because the water has covered their home or the storms have gotten so bad they aren't safe? Where will they go? How will they get food? Some will come to the US, some will go to other large countries, either way it will strain the resources of the country even more. There are already environmental refugees around the world, they are even people in the US (Alaska) that have had to move due to impacts to their homes from climate change. It already impacts us. How do we get people to see? Without yelling "OPEN YOUR EYES!!!!!"? More people need to see or nothing will ever be fixed.  Great article in PLOS Biology about oceans and what is happening.
http://www.plosbiology.org/article/info%3Adoi%2F10.1371%2Fjournal.pbio.1001683

Who cares about the bees

I've been reading a lot about the problems caused by the neonicotinoid pesticides that are purported to kill bees and have been accused of severely impacting  the bee population. So much so, that Europe has called a moratorium on the pesticide for 2 years and more research needs to be done. In 1962 Rachel Carson wrote a book, "Silent Spring." It was about the amount of pesticides used the US and their impact on the environment. Way back in 1962 she saw a problem with the pesticide use and said in her book that if we kept going there would no longer be birds chirping in the spring. yikes!! And then they find out that DDT is what is causing the serious drop in predator bird populations. A drop large enough to put certain species on the endangered species list. uh, duh! anyway. back to my point. In the US the agriculture has such a strangle hold on regulation agencies that the pesticide that Europe has stopped using for at least two years, is not being halted in the US. "It's harmless," "There are more things impacting the bees than just that," The studies aren't complete......... and on, and on, and on. Deep pockets make the regulations. It just pisses me off! The latest study to come out of Europe has found that the pesticide not only has a negative impact on the bees, it also can kill seed eating birds, just a few, contaminates soil for up to 10 years, and....wait for it, wait for it....contaminates ground water. Imagine that. Something that you put on a seed and put in the ground contaminates ground water?! nu-uh, that won't happen. Have we not learned anything in the last 50-100 years?! All things are connected, you put it in the ground, dumbass, it will get in your water. The stupidity, actually I don't think it's stupidity, I think it's more of a head in the sand thing, or covering your ears and yelling really loud cause you don't want to hear it. You know that there are problems but because it will impact your bottom line everyone else will have to suffer. grrr. "I'm not listening, I'm not listening, I'm not listening....." Us little people with less money need to speak louder, eventually someone will have to listen.

Getting rid of worthless baggage

I've been thinking a lot lately about the government and the environment. We're pretty much going to hell in a hand basket and it doesn't seem like there is anything we can do to stop it. Freaks me out, seriously. So I was wondering if there was some way we could vote all idiots out of office. I was thinking there should be a plan to vote ALL incumbents out in the next election. The next election roles around in just a year & half. It's for all the senators that didn't have to run with the president. Then once again we can vote all the incumbents out 2 years later. They have completely screwed everything up, from the sequestration to the environment, to healthcare. I've never been so disillusioned in my life. I just keep plodding along and get so blasted frustrated along the way. There has GOT to be something we can do. To me, all those idiots in Congress are there to fill their own needs & wants & pockets and they aren't there to do what is best for me and mine. They are looking to line their pockets from the company that is will to pay the most to get around some regulation. Something needs to be done. But what? and How? Since no one actually reads this blog, I guess this is just a question for myself. I need to come up with a better idea, but SOMETHING has got to change. Or we are doomed. 

Mississippi oil spill

I"m guessing most of you, all two of you, have heard about the barge that hit a railroad bridge in the Mississippi river and started leaking oil all over the place. I just read an article the blew my mind. They have a "plan" to remove the oil from the damaged barge to another one. WHATTTTTTTTT. A PLAN?!! What the hell are they thinking. The "plan" should have already been in place for such a thing! How many barges and ships loaded with hazardous materials travel up & down that river on a daily basis?! It's a major thoroughfare for shipping. And you don't have a hazardous spill protocol in place? What the hell kind of idiot is running that?! This just flat out pissed me off and highlights what the hell is wrong with some of your systems in the US. Meanwhile while we wait for the "plan" to be implemented more oil leaks into the river and destroys more habitat and kills more wildlife. They have already cleaned up 2300 gallons of oil but can't account for another 7000 gallons. SERIOUSLY?!! How do you not account for that? And how do you account for standing by and watching while oil leaks all over the damn place? Which is what the "plan" amounts to.  And on top of the fact that the "plan" hasn't been immediately implemented they don't know how long it will take to implement it. HUH?! good freakin grief! find a damn tanker and get it up there and get the oil off that barge! How in the hell hard is it? I know for a fact that tankers are on the ocean now that aren't even full. Or how about getting some oil tanker from land, or a rail road tanker, get that oil out of the damn water!!! okay, rant over for the moment. I'm so incredibly mad about this. unbelievable.

Eat where you live, live where you eat

A friend posted this on facebook today. Depressing. Western civilization sucks. Our greed and over indulgence is destroying the lives of others, not to mention the earth itself. After this information, I think I'll pass on the quinoa from now on. 

http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2013/jan/16/vegans-stomach-unpalatable-truth-quinoa 

This other link is about rice in Haiti. I don't know what to do about this, since we eat a lot of rice. 

http://www.foreignpolicy.com/articles/2013/01/11/Riceland%20 

My thoughts on foods is to end subsidies. I think we should end subsidies on most things, but I'm sure I have no idea the extent of their existence. No one pays the real price for anything anymore. I think if subsidies were gone the prices of everything would sky rocket and we would end up in another great depression. For solutions to this issue, I have no answers. Community gardens & pot gardens & backyard agriculture are a good thing. People need to get involved. Which is just one more reason I love my little plot of dirt in my backyard. While small, I feel like my little garden is contributing to the decrease in all the crap created by super-farms. Ever little bit helps!

Did you know?

Did you know you can opt out of the yellow pages?! I was so excited to learn this. While the yellow pages doesn't use any virgin wood to create their books, it still uses a large amount of water & energy to create them. The statistics say that 70% of the people that receive them don't even use them. That would be me. Here is the website to opt out of the yellow pages.
https://www.yellowpagesoptout.com/

Heads in the Sand?

I read an article earlier about North Carolina legislators that have voted on and passed a bill in the state senate the prohibits state officials from considering rapid sea level rise when creating rules for housing developments and infrastructure within the 20 counties that have coastline. Uh, huh.... really? And what does this prove? Wouldn't they rather be safe than sorry? And these idiots are completely ignoring all the scientists that have stated that the sea leve WILL rise and it will be more than 8 inches by 2100. They have 13 expert scientists looking at the SAME data, coming to the SAME conclusions and the politicians are going to ignore them? Does anyone know how hard it is to get 13 experts to unanimously agree on something like that? Do these politicians think if they ignore it and pass laws against preparation that sea level rise won't happen? Seriously, I'm shaking my head at the ignorance and unwillingness to listen to experts with an open mind. The only thing the scientists didn't agree on was the level of the rise. They felt it would be somewhere between 15 and 55 inches, so they picked 39 inches as the benchmark. Somewhere in the middle is better than the top or the bottom. unbelievable, it's just head shaking unbelievable. I guess when you decide to become a politician you sign over your rights to your damn brain! good grief