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Greed, Denial and Bad Water

August 17, 2012
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Supreme Court Decision Likely to Change Clean Water Act Enforcement

August 2011 · As the Clean Water Act approaches its 40th birthday, supporters say it is under assault by Congress. One West Virginia representative is on the front line of a battle to change the landmark act.

The US House passed a bill last year (and two Senators recently introduced a companion) that would gut key provisions of the Clean Water Act. For four decades, the law has guaranteed that America’s water meets nationwide, minimum standards, no matter what state we live in. The new water bill would upend that system by limiting the federal government’s ability to step in when state water quality standards are not strong enough to protect public health.

That means dirty industries could go state shopping to find the place with the weakest standards to release their pollution. The bill is largely aimed at making it easier for coal companies to dump their mine waste into rivers and streams in Appalachia, and weakening standards for polluters that have helped turn many Florida rivers slimy green with algae. But residents of West Virginia, Kentucky and Florida deserve water that is just as clean as water in the rest of the nation.

In 2007, I posted The Trash We Drink Changes Us, Water Wars Imminent, expressing my concerns about the consequences of trashing water that is necessary to sustain life, that means all life as humans know and understand it.  However, human understanding comes to an abrupt stop when it comes to realizing that water is a FINITE resource that should be protected.  Humans on planet Earth are on a suicide mission to poke holes in the only life raft they have; groundwater, aquifers and pipeline delivery systems. If you think the toxic soup that you drink, cook with or eat in processed foods does not change your internal chemistry, you are sadly mistaken. What you ingest changes your chromosomes and DNA.  Your water may look clear and sparkling.  But, all of the microorganisms like bacteria and viruses , and the myriad of contaminants, that water treatment facilities cannot eliminate, are currently at work in your body and hard to detect.  Toxicology Science cataloging the additives and/or contaminants is challenged to keep up, because new configurations and combinations appear daily.  Not only classifying these cocktails is overwhelming, but discovering the effects on those who consume them.  People have soiled everything they need to live on this planet.  Because the human lifespan is so short, the lessons of long term exploitation of limited resources has been lost on decision-makers, leaders of industry and countries.

My observations in 2007:  What human concerns should focus on is the MIX. Combine any 2 or 3 components listed and the permutations are endless for toxic cocktails. Chemical pollutants quietly degrade, change properties, morph, mutate and become dangerous. For the past 150 years, when Americans ruined one source of water, they just moved along to the next available water source. The toll on potable water has finally caught up to humans – so many years of inadequate attention to future water conditions has created a state of emergency. Diagnose your water here.

What will humans do after their basic DNA and genetic code has permanently altered? Ever wonder why general human intelligence is dropping so profoundly and appears to be sliding backwards into the dark ages of superstition? Falling intellect combined with more lethal weaponry, increased reliance on computer decisions, limited awareness about ecosystems and biosphere, has created it’s own ecological Armageddon. Contaminants are changing human DNA, immune systems and mental capacity to recognize the consequences of their actions. These symptoms are creeping throughout the human race. Awareness and action are necessary to find solutions and reverse the damage if it’s not too late. The earth recycles itself with the help from occasional extraterrestrial interference. We are demanding a lot from this planet to clean up after itself and it’s parasites, too. There will be water wars if the trend is not stopped … cities are starting to reel from water problems and solutions are expensive. People are already loosing patience. The water they took for granted for so long is disappearing.

With the great meltdown in our future, what exotic toxins will we be floating in?  Is there a life raft capable of holding the world population?  Was Katrina a glimpse of what’s to come?

The words of UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, on the “Day of Seven Billion” , October 31, 2011, were drowned out by the economic crisis in the Eurozone.  “Think about our children. Think about the future, with vision and foresight.” Ban’s message, was lost in the noise. What an optimistic guy, poor Ban Ki-moon, wanted the world’s leaders to focus on the sustainability of human life, as an ingredient of economics. 

Greed has a personality! 

Anyone who will do anything to gather more than they need, embodies greed.  Anyone who is convinced they deserve extraordinary rewards for making something more profitable, embodies greed.  Greedy personalities include those individuals, organizations and industries who want to control the flow of all the money and resources,  without responsibility or accountability to anyone else. Let someone else deal with it.  Greedy personalities will purchase armies of lawyers to defend their “profit margin” and the “corporate image” they need to sell more product. 

Just about all of us want to control more than we need, but don’t, because that would be irresponsible.   I am very interested in food, water and shelter just like most humans on this planet.  I see the consequences of squandering all three of those basic requirements to live.  Most of that squandering is beyond my personal reach to change, but not all.  I can take charge of  most things within my personal reach.  I can act responsibly, without an audience to compliment me.  I can encourage and assist anyone who is interested in acting responsibly.

Any of the links below will show you who is throwing more money (than I will ever see), to buy politicians that will favor them when they get elected.  Those politicians will insure the wishes of the greedy will come true.  Your power is your vote.  Your voice is your vote.  Your responsible action is your vote.  Win or lose, you have added your voice to the choir for responsible behavior.

(Reuters) – Hundreds of Republican donors, including some party kingmakers, are hedging their bets by donating to more than one presidential candidate, reflecting the instability of the field looking to unseat President Barack Obama in 2012.    The Koch Brothers: Why the Billionaire Siblings Are Spending a Fortune in Support of a Conservative Political Agenda.

Nowhere in my research was there any mention of  addressing the consequences of global overpopulation or addressing the consequences of unabated pollution of air, soil and water.

Texans want to address the causes of their dwindling resources, but the “greedy” special interests pay Texas politicians to look the other way.  Nowhere do we see serious accountability or serious planning for  future climate changes, except more public spending on F1 racetracks and campaigns to raise Texas speed limits over 80 miles per hour. Is that decision responsible?  Who really profits when cars are driven at gas wasting speeds?  The consequences of collisions at 80 miles per hour are multiplied.  The petroleum industry profits, emergency health care profits, clean up teams profit, repair teams profit and politicians profit when these industries reward their actions…

Changes in my own back yard are the result of weather extremes.  I am fortunate enough to live in a forest on a hill, but, almost half of my trees were lost to drought.  Some of my neighbors lost all their trees, homes and property to wildfires, as a result of drought and political stupidity.  Everything I can do to save and heal my remaining forest is being done.  My forest brings me shade and oxygen, for that I am grateful.  The symbiotic relationship I have with my forest ecosystem is lifesaving and sustaining.  If everyone would be more aware of their own ecological footprint, humans might slow the inevitable loss of life giving air, water and food.   

Population and Water Resources,   POPULATION DISTRIBUTION, URBANIZATION, INTERNAL MIGRATION AND DEVELOPMENT: AN INTERNATIONAL PERSPECTIVE, ,  Population and Food,  UN to Policymakers: Prepare Now For More Extreme Weather   A future on Earth of more extreme weather and rising seas will require better planning for natural disasters to save lives and limit deepening economic losses, the United Nations said on Wednesday in a major report on the effects of climate change,  Swinging from one weather extreme to another seems to have become routine across the Northern Hemisphere.

Is it really time to cull the human species? If it is, then we are on course.  By denying climate change as junk science means no serious preparation will be made.  The only preparation being made is by those wealthy enough to set up alternative compounds with self sustaining contraptions.  If you can afford a ‘safe room’, then you can prepare for the unknown disaster.  In the 1960s, even poor people dug fallout shelters

American culture still encourages consumer borrowing and demand for cheaper products.  China has met the affordable products challenge for us, so far;  even though America’s favorite pastime is to demonize China.  Well, the hypocrisy of all that is outsourcing pollution.  We as a nation are totally disconnected from reality and are behaving like clueless, self important teenagers, that have been poorly educated about how the world works, but, ignore their responsibilities to sustain life. 

This is how China treats it’s water in order to satisfy world demand and China profit.  Chinese citizens are catching on and don’t like it.  This is an example of America’s future.  Americans talk a good game, set up study groups, and hide the devastation better, and Americans are slow to catch on.  So, like the Asians, Indians, Africans and Europeans, America will pay the piper … with interest. 

Thank you to The Atlantic Cities for the pictures .    

Gluttony is a way of life for anyone with a credit card and a job, in America.  The power of mass produced consumables, moved us away from a culture of permanence, into a culture of disposable.  The economy and environment can no longer withstand the cost of disposal and replacement.  Billions of tons of  waste material cannot just be flushed.  Flushable waste is no longer supportable, because it has changed the earth’s groundwater and has filled us with toxic cocktails that are changing us every day.  The Nature Of Our Beast Is Greed – The ‘Oversight Crisis’ begins with no oversight at all.

Hypnotizing foreign populations into lusting after the ‘sweet life’ enjoyed by Americans, has lured some of them into the same unsustainable mind set.  Americans flaunt their lifestyle but deny the effects. The ‘Streets of Gold, Land of Plenty’ image was a fairy tale.  The reality of an earth with dwindling resources was never considered.

Everyone has an opinion, either they think they understand what is happening, or they admit they haven’t a clue.  People are focused on their own survival,  and miss the big picture?  Cause and effect, at the personal level, creates mental distress and  sometimes fatalism.  People can feel betrayed by the only system they know.  Today, in America, the social support system is broken and not sympathetic.  America’s resources are running on empty.  If individual attitudes are allowed to dissolve into  total despair, they will do anything to survive.  Some have already lost their mental stability and devolved into  murder-suicide.  This is NOT where we want millions of people to go.

It does not have to be global catastrophe where the human population embraces extinction at its own hand.   Realignment of public behavior is never easy or without casualties.  More humans today occupy the finite space, Planet Earth has to offer, since it was born.  Litigation will be used by wealthy investors to corner drinkable water. That will put a monetary price on every drop of water we drink. There will be wars over water in our lifetime.

Ask your pharmacist what happens when you mix medications, then ask your chemist what happens when you mix toxins … then drink it!

Consider some of these water facts from the Examiner:

Climate Change Comes to the Clean Water Act: Now What?

 Robin Kundis Craig    University of Utah S.J. Quinney College of Law – 2010

Washington & Lee Journal of Energy, Climate & Environment, Vol. 1, No. 1, p. 7, 2010
FSU College of Law, Public Law Research Paper No. 363

Abstract:
In January 2009, the EPA agreed to respond to the Center for Biological Diversity’s (CBD’s) petition requesting it to modify its marine pH water quality criteria to reflect ocean acidification. Ocean acidification, however, is a by-product of increasing concentrations of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. Thus, climate change has come to the Clean Water Act – and in May 2009, the CBD filed suit in the U.S. District Court for the District of Washington to bring this point home.

The question, of course, is what the Clean Water Act can actually contribute to efforts to deal with climate change. After reviewing the Act’s basic provisions (Part I) and the various kinds of impacts that climate change is likely to have on water quality in the United States (Part II), this Article systematically evaluates the contributions that the Clean Water Act can (Part III) and cannot (Part IV) make to efforts to respond to climate change. It argues that the EPA and the states could use the Act to: (1) make valuable contributions to the nation’s efforts to gather information about actual climate change impacts on water resources and to promote more effective modeling of future impacts; (2) generate expert recommendations about potential responses to those impacts; and (3) encourage and require states and the EPA to implement water quality standards, permitting requirements, best management practices, and other measures to blunt the worst water quality impacts from climate change, increase protections for particularly sensitive areas, and increase the resilience of aquatic species, aquatic ecosystems, and the socio-ecological systems dependent upon them. However, the Article also argues that the Obama Administration and Congress could implement several changes to the Act and its regulations that would increase the its effectiveness as a climate change adaptation tool. Finally, the Article concludes that even though the total maximum daily load (TMDL) provisions could be interpreted to reach greenhouse gas emissions, such an interpretation would lead to costly and ultimately ineffective efforts to make the Clean Water Act a climate change mitigation tool – a role for which the Act is not at all suited.

Number of Pages in PDF File: 36

Keywords: climate change, adaptation, Clean Water Act, ocean acidification, mitigation, TMDL, total maximum daily load, water quality standards, NPDES, Section 404

Here is a list of articles I have posted over the past 5 years, to alert politicians and citizens to the unsustainable condition of drinkable water resources impacting you and me and all humans on this planet:

The first step toward sustainability is to change your own wasteful actions.  The second step is to elect responsible leaders who will actually address responsible corrective actions for the age of dwindling resources we find ourselves in.  If you have children, this will be especially important.  Vote! Vote responsibly!

from → 2012 Presidential Election, Accountability, Clash of Economies, climate crisis, consequences, consumerism, critical resources, Drinking Water, economics, Economics of Climate, Water, Water Crisis