What are we doing to planet earth?

[Skitterpop]

Originally Posted by toonoc

I'd like to share a revelation that I've had during my time here. It came to me when I tried to classify your species and I realized that you're not actually mammals. Every mammal on this planet instinctively develops a natural equilibrium with the surrounding environment but you humans do not. You move to an area and you multiply and multiply until every natural resource is consumed and the only way you can survive is to spread to another area. There is another organism on this planet that follows the same pattern. Do you know what it is? A virus. Human beings are a disease, a cancer of this planet. You're a plague and we are the cure.

Viral? Maybe fungal. Many moons ago on a vision quest in the mountains I had a similar revelation

We are a flesh eating bacteria to this planet.

[Mr. Sandman]

I hate litter of anykind.

There is just NO excuse to litter, trash can or not IMO. Take it with you. Yes there should be more cans and the cans need to be emptied on a regular basis but you need to not litter ever.
Trash in the water is an outright sin. I hate seeing a plastic bag in the water.

As for run off, and nitrite build up has a big impact on marine life, it is time to mandate (regardless of cost) that water front homes be on a sewer systems. If you want to play you have to pay. It is navie to think that the dump you just took is not going to find its way into the water when your septic system leaching field is feet from the waters edge. Moreover, towns should never allow street run off to go directly into the water, there needs to be some filtering system between the runoff and the sea. In a heavy rain the sh*t that comes out of those pipes is foul.

The reason that most of the east coast bay scallop population has declinded and disappeard in some areas, is directly related to water quality. One bad rainstorm and you can be screwed for years. (Bay scallops are very water quality sensitve)

Lets talk eel grass. While you may not like it on your prop it is the key element to a healthy bay, if you treat the water poorly and wipe out eel grass, the entire microcosim of creatures up the food chanin suffer.

Also, even if you don't flush your head, but take or clean a shower on board, and you are in a sensitive place(s) (like Katama Bay) a single cup of clorox bleach in the water is actually worse then a lot of people flushing poop into the water. All large boats should have "gray-water" tanks discharge them way offshore or in designated sites.

IMO the keys are:

1) don't litter at all
2) put sewer systems in on all waterfront homes
3) Stop backfilling our marshlands
4) no direct street runoff
5) re-establish eel grass in bays


If we did this I thin we would be a hell of a lot better off. But it will not be cheap.

[Mr. Sandman]

I hate litter of anykind.

There is just NO excuse to litter, trash can or not IMO. Take it with you. Yes there should be more cans and the cans need to be emptied on a regular basis but you need to not litter ever.
Trash in the water is an outright sin. I hate seeing a plastic bag in the water.

As for run off, and nitrite build up has a big impact on marine life, it is time to mandate (regardless of cost) that water front homes be on a sewer systems. If you want to play you have to pay. It is navie to think that the dump you just took is not going to find its way into the water when your septic system leaching field is feet from the waters edge. Moreover, towns should never allow street run off to go directly into the water, there needs to be some filtering system between the runoff and the sea. In a heavy rain the sh*t that comes out of those pipes is foul.

The reason that most of the east coast bay scallop population has declinded and disappeard in some areas, is directly related to water quality. One bad rainstorm and you can be screwed for years. (Bay scallops are very water quality sensitve)

Lets talk eel grass. While you may not like it on your prop it is the key element to a healthy bay, if you treat the water poorly and wipe out eel grass, the entire microcosim of creatures up the food chanin suffer.

Also, even if you don't flush your head, but take or clean a shower on board, and you are in a sensitive place(s) (like Katama Bay) a single cup of clorox bleach in the water is actually worse then a lot of people flushing poop into the water. All large boats should have "gray-water" tanks discharge them way offshore or in designated sites.

IMO the keys are:

1) don't litter at all
2) put sewer systems in on all waterfront homes
3) Stop backfilling our marshlands
4) no direct street runoff
5) re-establish eel grass in bays


If we did this I thin we would be a hell of a lot better off. But it will not be cheap.

[JohnR]

Rhode Island has initiatives to (slowly) bring along waterfront communities to the sewer system though my understanding is that they don't have the overall capacity to hook everyone up.

There are Eelgrass restoration projects happening but I don't think it was a lot and I'm not sure how successful

And unless you have connections to senior politicians or CRMC people then you will be unlikely to backfill a marsh - though I'm sure greasing the right palms and connections will get you there

[Skitterpop]

If all our food and drink have pesticides and pollutants, if you clean your sink tub or toilet with comet or any number of household cleaners, if you drive a car, on and on...... the drastic changes necessary to save this planet will not occur unless there is a miracle.

Put your head between your legs and kiss your arse goodbye

[fishsmith]

Keep cleaning up after yourself and lead by example.

This thread made me think of George Carlins (edited) skit below -

&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&

We're so self-important. So self-important. Everybody's going to save something now. "Save the trees, save the bees, save the whales, save those snails." And the greatest arrogance of all: save the planet. What? Are these f* people kidding me? Save the planet, we don't even know how to take care of ourselves yet. We haven't learned how to care for one another, we're gonna save the f*g planet?

I'm getting tired of that chit. Tired of that chit. I'm tired of f*ing Earth Day, I'm tired of these self-righteous environmentalists, these white, bourgeois liberals who think the only thing wrong with this country is there aren't enough bicycle paths. People trying to make the world save for their Volvos. Besides, environmentalists don't give a chit about the planet. They don't care about the planet. Not in the abstract they don't. Not in the abstract they don't. You know what they're interested in? A clean place to live. Their own habitat. They're worried that some day in the future, they might be personally inconvenienced. Narrow, unenlightened self-interest doesn't impress me.

Besides, there is nothing wrong with the planet. Nothing wrong with the planet. The planet is fine. The PEOPLE are f*ed. Difference. Difference. The planet is fine. Compared to the people, the planet is doing great. Been here four and a half billion years. Did you ever think about the arithmetic? The planet has been here four and a half billion years. We've been here, what, a hundred thousand? Maybe two hundred thousand? And we've only been engaged in heavy industry for a little over two hundred years. Two hundred years versus four and a half billion. And we have the CONCEIT to think that somehow we're a threat? That somehow we're gonna put in jeopardy this beautiful little blue-green ball that's just a-floatin' around the sun?

The planet has been through a lot worse than us. Been through all kinds of things worse than us. Been through earthquakes, volcanoes, plate tectonics, continental drift, solar flares, sun spots, magnetic storms, the magnetic reversal of the poles...hundreds of thousands of years of bombardment by comets and asteroids and meteors, worlwide floods, tidal waves, worldwide fires, erosion, cosmic rays, recurring ice ages...And we think some plastic bags, and some aluminum cans are going to make a difference? The planet...the planet...the planet isn't going anywhere. WE ARE!

We're going away. Pack your chit, folks. We're going away. And we won't leave much of a trace, either. Thank God for that. Maybe a little styrofoam. Maybe. A little styrofoam. The planet'll be here and we'll be long gone. Just another failed mutation. Just another closed-end biological mistake. An evolutionary cul-de-sac. The planet'll shake us off like a bad case of fleas. A surface nuisance.

You wanna know how the planet's doing? Ask those people at Pompeii, who are frozen into position from volcanic ash, how the planet's doing. You wanna know if the planet's all right, ask those people in Mexico City or Armenia or a hundred other places buried under thousands of tons of earthquake rubble, if they feel like a threat to the planet this week. Or how about those people in Kilowaia, Hawaii, who built their homes right next to an active volcano, and then wonder why they have lava in the living room.

The planet will be here for a long, long, LONG time after we're gone, and it will heal itself, it will cleanse itself, 'cause that's what it does. It's a self-correcting system. The air and the water will recover, the earth will be renewed, and if it's true that plastic is not degradable, well, the planet will simply incorporate plastic into a new pardigm: the earth plus plastic. The earth doesn't share our prejudice towards plastic. Plastic came out of the earth. The earth probably sees plastic as just another one of its children. Could be the only reason the earth allowed us to be spawned from it in the first place. It wanted plastic for itself. Didn't know how to make it. Needed us. Could be the answer to our age-old egocentric philosophical question, "Why are we here?" Plastic...ahole.

So, the plastic is here, our job is done, we can be phased out now. And I think that's begun. Don't you think that's already started? I think, to be fair, the planet sees us as a mild threat. Something to be dealt with. And the planet can defend itself in an organized, collective way, the way a beehive or an ant colony can. A collective defense mechanism. The planet will think of something. What would you do if you were the planet? How would you defend yourself against this troublesome, pesky species? Let's see... Viruses. Viruses might be good. They seem vulnerable to viruses. And, uh...viruses are tricky, always mutating and forming new strains whenever a vaccine is developed. Perhaps, this first virus could be one that compromises the immune system of these creatures. Perhaps a human immunodeficiency virus, making them vulnerable to all sorts of other diseases and infections that might come along. And maybe it could be spread sexually, making them a little reluctant to engage in the act of reproduction.

Well, that's a poetic note. And it's a start. And I can dream, can't I? See I don't worry about the little things: bees, trees, whales, snails. I think we're part of a greater wisdom than we will ever understand. A higher order. Call it what you want. Know what I call it? The Big Electron. The Big Electron...whoooa. Whoooa. Whoooa. It doesn't punish, it doesn't reward, it doesn't judge at all. It just is. And so are we. For a little while.