What Environmental Issues Are Important To You?

[dgridley]

With Earth Day this week (Wed., April 22), it makes sense to talk a bit about which environmental issues are most important to you and what you feel can or should be done to solve those problems.

Citizens, what legacy will we be leaving for future generations?

Parents, what problems will your children face environmentally?

Select the one issue from the poll you feel must be addressed immediately, then feel free to also discuss any other issues that concern you regarding the environment.

[dgridley]

Clean water, oceans and fisheries, and waste management all go hand in hand for me..

The center of the North Pacific Gyre is a relatively stationary region of the Pacific Ocean (the area it occupies is often referred to as the horse latitudes). The circular rotation around it draws waste material in and has led to the accumulation of flotsam and other debris. While historically this debris has biodegraded, the gyre is now accumulating vast quantities of plastic and marine debris. Rather than biodegrading, plastic photodegrades, disintegrating in the ocean into smaller and smaller pieces. These pieces, still polymers, eventually become individual molecules, which are still not easily digested.[1] Some plastics photodegrade into other pollutants.

The gyre is discussed in Alan Weisman's The World Without Us as an example of the near-indestructibility of discarded plastic.

YouTube - North Pacific Gyre

YouTube - North Pacific Gyre

and

YouTube - the plastic vortex AKA great eastern garbage patch

YouTube - the plastic vortex AKA great eastern garbage patch

Check out the Junk raft:

YouTube - Junk Sets Sail For Hawaii on 15,000 Plastic Bottles

YouTube - Junk Sets Sail For Hawaii on 15,000 Plastic Bottles

[Latina]

I wanted to choose more than one.
Since that isn't allowed, i went with Energy.

[dgridley]

Yeah, just figured we'd pick the most important and it'd give incentive to discuss the rest in your post.

Safe, green, renewable sources of energy are important as well.. I think designing electric cars is a waste of time tho (they've had electric cars for 100 years) until they first develop a battery that charges quickly and has an acceptable range. I wouldn't pay $1000's of dollars for a vehicle with a 25-35 mile range.

Originally Posted by Latina

I wanted to choose more than one.
Since that isn't allowed, i went with Energy.

[pk]

Wow, this is a tough one to answer. They are all very important issues. I want to click all.

Take the first one for example: Climate Change (Global Warming/Cooling). Reading on this topic alone one needs to really realize the importance of taking action and continue to work on this ASAP. We are in a serious area here.

When you consider our Arctic is called our 'refrigerator for the earth', since it regulates the cooling of the earth with the sea ice. By this it means the sea ice cools the planet by reflecting the sun's radiation back into space. No ice, no cooling effect. The waters will all become warmer by reflecting the sun's rays and under sea life will become a different environment, our air and climate world wide will become warmer, thus our earth will rapidly change.
With the fact that new research states that our summers in the Arctic can be relatively ice free in as few as 3 decades we need to take stock now and concentrate on what can be done, we need to be in emergency mode.

[pk]

I do need to add however you will have those that do not believe the urgency of the reports we read on global warming. And when facts are given such as the fact that even though the sea ice has been noticeably melting in the summers the winter sea ice shows very little change at all in the last 29 years of satellite observation. So what is that? Is this as serious as it is being reported?

So then we move onto energy...my next choice to pick.

[Blue Baboon]

I had to laugh at video number 2 where he was talking about how bad plastics are and then later in the video I see he is wearing Crocs. Hmmm plastic shoes.

[MrKhay]

Toxic Waste. Folks don't seem to know what to do with it, Bury it, and you risk having it leech into the ground water. Burn it, and the air gets messed up.

I have the solution. Load it all into a rocket and fire it into the Sun. Same can be done with nuclear waste, so let's get those nuclear (clean) power plants going.

[Latina]

Originally Posted by Blue Baboon

I had to laugh at video number 2 where he was talking about how bad plastics are and then later in the video I see he is wearing Crocs. Hmmm plastic shoes.

Actual crocs are made of pccr, which is some sort of “proprietary” blend Crocs makes out of a petroleum-derived foam... not saying that's any better lol & the only reason i know this is that i did some research after the foot issue drove me to wearing the ugly things, Though i dont wear actual crocs, mine are called funky feet, made of rubber, much better feel to them, but still as ugly. some knockoff brands will use some kind of rubber or plastic... ... ok im off topic lol


I'm with PK, cant pick just one to name most important to me, they are all very important

[Blue Baboon]

Originally Posted by MrKhay

Toxic Waste. Folks don't seem to know what to do with it, Bury it, and you risk having it leech into the ground water. Burn it, and the air gets messed up.

I have the solution. Load it all into a rocket and fire it into the Sun. Same can be done with nuclear waste, so let's get those nuclear (clean) power plants going.

How much would that cost? Sometimes the solutions are more expensive and not worth it.

[Judy]

I picked water because it is a basic and without decent water nothing else will live.

At the present time our water supplies are full of chemicals and toxins. I always wondered why anyone would flush drugs down a toilet knowing they will be coming right back out of our faucets. And pharmaceutical companies that dump chemicals into our waters. Drug chemicals alter human cell structure! They consist of molecules that attach themselves to human cells and cause all kinds of havoc.

I just finished almost 3 years full time detoxing people of drugs and chemicals - every one of these people didn't think these things stay in your cells - didn't we always hear this stuff is out of you in 2 weeks or something like that? Drink tea or lots of water, right? That is what your liver is for. Not so. Drugs and chemicals are encysted by the body to protect it. If there is too much, they block the liver and kidneys and you end up with disease. Most of the stuff is trapped in your fat cells forever unless you do a specific procedure to rid yourself of them.

That is how I know about this subject. I've watched it come out of people. Some are horrified when it happens, and cry with happiness when it is all out and they feel like a new person, years younger in looks too. Our water is a culprit at this time. Air is another. Food (msg), drinks (fake sugars), water (flouride:by-product of aluminum industry), pesticides - you name it.

[dgridley]

Great replies, all.. keep them coming!

[kmfarm]

I chose energy for this reason:

It's going to make or break us financially depending on goverment action. Swinging wildly to "green" energies and cap and trade policies will really hurt out checkbooks. A sensible "all of the above" energy policy should be developed with economics in mind.

There's nothing wrong green energies as long as it is market driven and not government mandated. California has had windmills for decades. Did it make an impact?

[Twoaday]

I picked land use and Ill tell you why. Because how we develop our land directly impacts all of the above items. When we sprawl (low density - freeway based access development), we increase CO2 emissions, we use more energy, we destroy habitats, and well you get the picture.