The Environment - where do you stand?
- Thread starter sleuth
- Start date
D
darkriver4362
Guest
Not really sure, a dude at work has one, I'll ask him when go back in
I'll try to find it online too.
Dymphna
Loyalty, Friendship, Love
Re: This just in...
I feel a flood of excuses coming on... "but officer, the cicada made me do it."
Otter
Nothing to see here
Hessian
Well-Known Member
Green conservative
I'd like to say I'm a Green conservative...not opposed to pulling up surveyor stakes or tinkering with bulldozers in the past.
I will avoid further confessions
What we lose is about 2 square miles of usable farmable land every day....The average home pumps 200 gallons of waste into the ground daily...Trucks hauling NYC waste have to go deep into PA or even Va to drop their load! (Or dump it off the LI coast)
I believe we will see a growing water crisis in America (the bay is screwed up like never before and it would take decades or NON-growth to reverse it...instead we are doubling every 30 years.)
Look at how much waste pours down our storm drains...ending up draining directly in the bay/rivers.--very sad.
I also am ticked at people who burn plastic/styrofoam in barrels in their yards because "we live in the country."
Anyway...the stresses on this earth are great...we have made decent strides to reduce certain pollutions and run-off in the US and Maryland, part of the world issue is the third world countries who are attacking their environment wholesale--this will impact us all. They dare NOT lecture us on pollution...we at least have partially addressed it!
I'd like to say I'm a Green conservative...not opposed to pulling up surveyor stakes or tinkering with bulldozers in the past.
I will avoid further confessions
What we lose is about 2 square miles of usable farmable land every day....The average home pumps 200 gallons of waste into the ground daily...Trucks hauling NYC waste have to go deep into PA or even Va to drop their load! (Or dump it off the LI coast)
I believe we will see a growing water crisis in America (the bay is screwed up like never before and it would take decades or NON-growth to reverse it...instead we are doubling every 30 years.)
Look at how much waste pours down our storm drains...ending up draining directly in the bay/rivers.--very sad.
I also am ticked at people who burn plastic/styrofoam in barrels in their yards because "we live in the country."
Anyway...the stresses on this earth are great...we have made decent strides to reduce certain pollutions and run-off in the US and Maryland, part of the world issue is the third world countries who are attacking their environment wholesale--this will impact us all. They dare NOT lecture us on pollution...we at least have partially addressed it!
sleuth
Livin' Like Thanksgivin'
Re: Green conservative
This is where I too see the problem as lying.
In the not so distant future, I believe we will be "manufacturing" a lot of our water, buying filtered treated water from companies and the government that has been siphoned directly from wastewater.
This is where I too see the problem as lying.
In the not so distant future, I believe we will be "manufacturing" a lot of our water, buying filtered treated water from companies and the government that has been siphoned directly from wastewater.
BuddyLee
Football addict
Re: Green conservative
And people wonder why they get cancer.
Originally posted by Hessian
I'd like to say I'm a Green conservative...not opposed to pulling up surveyor stakes or tinkering with bulldozers in the past.
I will avoid further confessions
What we lose is about 2 square miles of usable farmable land every day....The average home pumps 200 gallons of waste into the ground daily...Trucks hauling NYC waste have to go deep into PA or even Va to drop their load! (Or dump it off the LI coast)
I believe we will see a growing water crisis in America (the bay is screwed up like never before and it would take decades or NON-growth to reverse it...instead we are doubling every 30 years.)
Look at how much waste pours down our storm drains...ending up draining directly in the bay/rivers.--very sad.
I also am ticked at people who burn plastic/styrofoam in barrels in their yards because "we live in the country."
Anyway...the stresses on this earth are great...we have made decent strides to reduce certain pollutions and run-off in the US and Maryland, part of the world issue is the third world countries who are attacking their environment wholesale--this will impact us all. They dare NOT lecture us on pollution...we at least have partially addressed it!
And people wonder why they get cancer.
BuddyLee
Football addict
Re: Re: Green conservative
Fresh water is going to be more precious than gold one day.
Originally posted by sleuth
This is where I too see the problem as lying.
In the not so distant future, I believe we will be "manufacturing" a lot of our water, buying filtered treated water from companies and the government that has been siphoned directly from wastewater.
Fresh water is going to be more precious than gold one day.
BuddyLee
Football addict
Re: Re: Re: Green conservative
And people wonder why they get cancer.
Originally posted by kwillia
They do that now, Sleuth... you don't know that...
The Potomac River is the wildest river running through a metropolitan area anywhere in the world. It supplies fresh drinking and household water for more than 80% of the 4 million residents of the Washington, D.C. area.
Do ya know what gets dumped into the Potomac...
And people wonder why they get cancer.
So what? What do you think a "wastewater treatment plant" does?
I know what it does. It's still kinda gross to think about.
Well, quit thinking about it then. :shrug:
Sorry, Sleuth - just having a benevolent chuckle at your expense
J
justhangn
Guest
Re: Re: Green conservative
SO, I guess you won't be doing any space travel in the future either.
Originally posted by sleuth
This is where I too see the problem as lying.
In the not so distant future, I believe we will be "manufacturing" a lot of our water, buying filtered treated water from companies and the government that has been siphoned directly from wastewater.
SO, I guess you won't be doing any space travel in the future either.
soul4sale
New Member
the skeptical environmentalist
I think "The Day After Tomorrow" is less about global warming and more about being able to combine all the special effects shots from the recent barrage of disaster movies into one, obnoxious package. If some is good, more must be better, right?
I consider myself a skeptical environmentalist. I believe that man is the primary evolutional force on the earth at the moment, and, since we've only been that way for a few hundred years, it will take a while for the natural world to adjust. We're going to see a lot of extinctions before it all sorts out. In the meantime, it would suit us well to maintain a conservative (yes, enviromentalism is a CONSERVATIVE position) rate of consumption and pollution until we fully understand out rate of impact and our options for mitigation. I fail to see why things like SUV collection, sprawl development and "rape, ruin and run" energy drilling are practiced when they aren't terribly necessary. However, I don't see people who do these things as evil, just short sighted. At some point, we as a people are going to have to learn to manage our consuption more efficiently so we don't blow our own feet off before we get the chance to find some other orb to exploit, but I don't see the political will for it.
I think "The Day After Tomorrow" is less about global warming and more about being able to combine all the special effects shots from the recent barrage of disaster movies into one, obnoxious package. If some is good, more must be better, right?
I consider myself a skeptical environmentalist. I believe that man is the primary evolutional force on the earth at the moment, and, since we've only been that way for a few hundred years, it will take a while for the natural world to adjust. We're going to see a lot of extinctions before it all sorts out. In the meantime, it would suit us well to maintain a conservative (yes, enviromentalism is a CONSERVATIVE position) rate of consumption and pollution until we fully understand out rate of impact and our options for mitigation. I fail to see why things like SUV collection, sprawl development and "rape, ruin and run" energy drilling are practiced when they aren't terribly necessary. However, I don't see people who do these things as evil, just short sighted. At some point, we as a people are going to have to learn to manage our consuption more efficiently so we don't blow our own feet off before we get the chance to find some other orb to exploit, but I don't see the political will for it.
Originally posted by vraiblonde
So what? What do you think a "wastewater treatment plant" does?
Yup. Had a course on this kind of thing, in college. The professor was a hoot. He once showed that, every day, the average person dumps about 4-6 ounces of solid matter, and about a half-pint (or more) of liquid waste into the sewer in Baltimore. He then drew a body of water called "Lake P*ss" and a mound called "Mount Sh*t". This got created every day, and if you multiply that by the number of people living in Baltimore and compare it to the volume of water in the harbor and the Patapsco, you'd see in a hurry - it's IMPOSSIBLE to just flush it all away with fresh river and reservoir water.
Fortunately, most of the water in the sewer ISN'T raw sewage. A lot comes from sinks, washing machines, the extra 2-5 gallons of toilet water with each flush - the sewer water is about 90-95% pure. However, the 5-10% of filth, bacteria and toxins would *definitely* be enough to kill you if not make you seriously ill for weeks. But with a million people, you just CAN'T get enough clean water freely - you *need* to re-process it. Which, as Vrai pointed out, is what they've been doing for decades.
Almost every drop that you flush comes back out of your tap, sooner or later. Unpleasant, but true.
Re: the skeptical environmentalist
I'm probably near your position on this. I'm inclined to believe that many environmental groups are straining gnats and swallowing camels - being so extreme and picayune, they miss the bigger picture. They don't always offer too many palatable alternatives.
One way to protect the environment would be to make cities a more attractive place to be. And I don't just mean, crime. Every city I have ever been to has huge regions of abandoned buildings, warehouses - areas that USED to be bustling, but are now decaying. Streets that used to be well-kept, but look like trash now. Areas SO heavily taxed, businesses get the hell out of Dodge.
Why can't they make more "national Mall" like areas - regions where cars aren't permitted, and lots of public transportation? Why can't they reward developers MORE for relocating into crappy, decrepit areas? Why don't we rebuild what we have?
Make the cities attractive enough, and let the land outside the city just BE. Make the areas outside the city co-exist with nature, instead of plowing it under.
Ok, I'm just makin' it up as I go along.
I'm probably near your position on this. I'm inclined to believe that many environmental groups are straining gnats and swallowing camels - being so extreme and picayune, they miss the bigger picture. They don't always offer too many palatable alternatives.
One way to protect the environment would be to make cities a more attractive place to be. And I don't just mean, crime. Every city I have ever been to has huge regions of abandoned buildings, warehouses - areas that USED to be bustling, but are now decaying. Streets that used to be well-kept, but look like trash now. Areas SO heavily taxed, businesses get the hell out of Dodge.
Why can't they make more "national Mall" like areas - regions where cars aren't permitted, and lots of public transportation? Why can't they reward developers MORE for relocating into crappy, decrepit areas? Why don't we rebuild what we have?
Make the cities attractive enough, and let the land outside the city just BE. Make the areas outside the city co-exist with nature, instead of plowing it under.
Ok, I'm just makin' it up as I go along.
SurfaceTension
New Member
Global warming has been going on for millinea...10k years ago the Chesapeake Bay was but a trickle of the Susquehanna River. The problem lies in those that think the world began when they were born and must remain constant through their life. It just doesn't work that way. Newsflash: mountains crumble to the sea.
Many enviro's act as self-appointed gods in order to "protect" what is now rather than accepting what is next. Sea levels will rise in the next decade, just as the sun will rise tomorrow. It's a natural thing. Deal with it.
This is not to say that we should wrecklessly destroy our surroundings, but instead come to terms with and embrace things that we can not, or should not, stand in the way of.
I once heard of a study performed in Fairfax due to high fecal counts in local streams. A horrid problem caused by man's unbriddled development and assault on the environment? Nope, a DNA study found that the cause was racoons. It seems that those darn things poop in the woods and stream banks without treating their waste!
I have to laugh every year when some wayward whale/sea lion/otter ends up in the Bay....Enviro groups spend thousands getting him back to where he "belongs" when, just maybe, it's nature's way of preserving the species by gradually accepting new habititat. The "kindness" they lend could very well prevent the development of a better-adapted creature, the next evolutionary step. But hey, their heart's in the right place, right?
Many enviro's act as self-appointed gods in order to "protect" what is now rather than accepting what is next. Sea levels will rise in the next decade, just as the sun will rise tomorrow. It's a natural thing. Deal with it.
This is not to say that we should wrecklessly destroy our surroundings, but instead come to terms with and embrace things that we can not, or should not, stand in the way of.
I once heard of a study performed in Fairfax due to high fecal counts in local streams. A horrid problem caused by man's unbriddled development and assault on the environment? Nope, a DNA study found that the cause was racoons. It seems that those darn things poop in the woods and stream banks without treating their waste!
I have to laugh every year when some wayward whale/sea lion/otter ends up in the Bay....Enviro groups spend thousands getting him back to where he "belongs" when, just maybe, it's nature's way of preserving the species by gradually accepting new habititat. The "kindness" they lend could very well prevent the development of a better-adapted creature, the next evolutionary step. But hey, their heart's in the right place, right?
Hessian
Well-Known Member
Scenario:
As weather conditions fluctuate and damage intensifies...Christians will spend more time thumbing through Revelations and looking for ties to the Vials & the trumpets and the Horsemen of the Apocalypse.
This will naturally amuse (at first) and then irritate the Natural sciences folks who say this is all part of a major cycle or due to pollution. since this generation puts more faith in science than a 2000 year old book...they will naturally come to ridicule Christians too. (Some Christians also have made bad predictions which come back to humiliate them!)
And now for something completely different:
Try something interesting: Find the name of 6 missing islands of the Chesapeake bay!!! They've all vanished in the past 100 years or so...
As weather conditions fluctuate and damage intensifies...Christians will spend more time thumbing through Revelations and looking for ties to the Vials & the trumpets and the Horsemen of the Apocalypse.
This will naturally amuse (at first) and then irritate the Natural sciences folks who say this is all part of a major cycle or due to pollution. since this generation puts more faith in science than a 2000 year old book...they will naturally come to ridicule Christians too. (Some Christians also have made bad predictions which come back to humiliate them!)
And now for something completely different:
Try something interesting: Find the name of 6 missing islands of the Chesapeake bay!!! They've all vanished in the past 100 years or so...