From the Huffington Post
If the current actions contributing to a multifaceted degradation of the world's oceans aren't curbed, a mass extinction unlike anything human history has ever seen is coming, an expert panel of scientists warns in an alarming new report.
The preliminary report from the International Programme on the State of the Ocean (IPSO) is the result of the first-ever interdisciplinary international workshop examining the combined impact of all of the stressors currently affecting the oceans, including pollution, warming, acidification, overfishing and hypoxia.
“The findings are shocking," Dr. Alex Rogers, IPSO's scientific director, said in a statement released by the group. "This is a very serious situation demanding unequivocal action at every level. We are looking at consequences for humankind that will impact in our lifetime, and worse, our children's and generations beyond that."
It will take more than feel good deeds to save the ocean. It will take deeds that do real good. What is shocking is how many self proclaimed environmentalists aren't willing take on or even speak about routes of action that will result in positive outcomes for the state of the world's natural resources. Bummer. Now, enjoy the wine and cheese.
maybe a good time to repost this comment from 'Jack', from an earlier post:
ReplyDeleteSave the Ocean!
Great Message! Things you can do.
Drive less, don't pollute, don't put anything except rainwater in storm drains, use less plastic, don't use single use plastic bags, don't support gill net fishing products, support not overfishing the ocean, support the ban on offshore oil drilling off the CA coast, outlaw the use of bunker fuel by ships.....
Just a small start. The basic concept is lessen your footprint the most you can while on this earth. Everything comes from the oceans, everything flows back to the ocean. The ocean like sunlight is life.
June 09, 2011 6:45
I will add, vote for representatives at a local, state and federal level who are serious about healing the planet.
more, folks
"Just a small start." An admission that would not do the trick.
ReplyDeleteSchmitty, How much would be enough to save the ocean?
Every litter bit helps, LB.
ReplyDeleteGreat Leucadia Blog. Since you seem to have a handle on What it would take to Save our Ocean, Please enlighten us?
ReplyDeleteWhat things should we do, or should we just say fuck it and not worrry about it and let our earth continue to degrade? Maybe we should encourage the collapse, so that the new can restart that much sooner?
Ewew, I love that word.
ReplyDeleteCollapse: How Societies Choose to Fail and Succeed. That's a title of a great book by Jered Diamond, who's career started as an ecologist (which is not equal to an environmentalist). I encourage checking it out of the library before it is banned.
The only thing I have a handle on (after trying to work with enviro orgs) is that most people are not targeting saving the environment. They are targeting doing small things that make us feel better. Well, in the case of one org, they were simply targeting creating a nice revenue stream by making membership targets their work goal (rather than natural resource policies!)
It is true that I am not at all sure that every little bit helps avoid the problem.
If you are trapped in the desert in the summer and you can only collect 2ml of water a day, every little bit helps, but you are still going to die of dehydration pretty quick.
It seems to me we should start by figuring out how much needs to be done, then set a plan to reach that goal. If everyone doing "small start" actions distracts us from that and keeps us from doing what needs to be done to set a sustainable (using the original meaning of that word) plan then there is a problem. Then I'm against small ultimately meaningless steps.
There are also fallacies about the ultimate benefit of many of the small steps. For instance, they may not even change the amount of total oil pumped out of the ground on a global scale because there are compensatory economic mechanisms at play.
what to do?
Step 1. Stop thinking that small steps will be enough, unless we know that we will be able to walk all the way to the destination. Step 2. Use the word sustainable as originally intended.
Step 3. Determine what impacts can sustainably be applied to the oceans.
Step 4. Yuck. Realize that society will have to decide if it wants to pay the price.
Back to my question. It was a question. What would it take to save the ocean? What quantities of impact are sustainable?
Good point. The little stuff will not change the collapse. I am with you and will continue to enjoy using one use plastic bags and whatever the hell else I want to do. If I want to dump stuff in the storm drain because its easier than dumping it at a gas station, no biggy.
ReplyDeleteIt definately wont change the big picture. I ask, If you can't quantify what is needed to save the oceans, why do anything?
LB, Marilyn Monroe had it right when she said:
ReplyDelete“Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world; indeed, it's the only thing that ever has.” ...
Jeff,
ReplyDeleteI'm sorry to upset you.
There are lots of reasons to not dump crap in the storm drain because of local impacts on public health and resources.
I use as much plastic as possible! Using plastic is not bad. It may even be beneficial because I make sure it all goes into the dump where it doesn't get burned or decomposed and turned into atmospheric C02.
In the end, nothing really matters. We are all specks in time and have no real signifance anyway.
ReplyDeleteNo offense taken LB. Just trying to understand your perspective. I see you don't beleive that the massive human movement can change its path of destruction. I agree with you on that note. I still may try and minimize my footprint on mother earth. It may save a few more bugs or fish in the short run.
"Using plastic is not bad. It may even be beneficial because I make sure it all goes into the dump where it doesn't get burned or decomposed and turned into atmospheric C02."
ReplyDeleteYou might want to research this one more for your kids sake. Using plastic is not good... who knows how bad it is... but its definately not good. Time will tell.
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ReplyDelete"In the end, nothing really matters. We are all specks in time and have no real signifance anyway."
ReplyDeleteAs far as "the end" you speak of goes, it's probably too far away to make the assessment you did. Scientifically however, in all recorded history, and as far as we know (with all our grandious knowledge), we are the only things in the universe of significance. The only inhabitants able to appreciate the all. Might as well not ruin it.
Drive less! Just stop driving. I don't even take the bus unless it runs on biofuel. I walk almost everywhere I need to go. I am much healthier and happier.
ReplyDeleteWO,
ReplyDeleteMost people don't have the luxury of time to walk everywhere.
Jeff,
What should we consider when doing plastics research?
Jeff,
ReplyDeleteMinimize, meaning the smallest footprint possible? Most people just do what is easy for them. I'm not saying that is you, because I'm sure you'll agree.
Why do they just do what is easy and comfortable for them? Because it is not about doing good in the end, its about feeling good and about taking an action even if the action is insufficient to reach the goal.
Do you still take warm showers with water warmed by fossil fuel energy?
I know a guy who's total monthly trash can fit easily into a 5 gallon bucket and EDCO makes him pay for trash pick up every month even if there is nothing to pick up.
Are we are at a minimum until we keep up with him?
More importantly, do we need to have that small of a footprint? I do not know and believe that we should be asking that question as a priority if we really want to save the ocean and the environment.
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ReplyDeleteLB- Plastics. Use on children in the various forms of containing food, holding water, and products you put on your children, and hydrocarbons (plastics roots) being breathed by your children.
ReplyDeleteWhat did you think about the movie "Bag It." I am reading Collapse, please tell me you have watched Bag It.
So if you don't care if I take a small foot print, if I chose I can create as much trash as I want, consume as much everything as I want, pollute as much as I want, burn plastic if I want, pour my pollutants downstream and pollute the water source for your children and your food source if I want.
Wow. LB. You got me. I don't see your logic one bit. What I do see is your the common Consumer American that doesn't believe their actions have one bit of reaction on this earth. Please realize every action has a reaction.
If you really want to solve the world’s problems, we need to have a massive reduction of human population. I am all for that happening. All the religions are always preaching to preserve life and encourage procreation are self serving and don't give a shit about his earth.
LB- As I said earlier, in the end it doesn't matter. If I want to have a small or large footprint it doesn't matter. If creating small footprint makes me feel better by being less destructive to mother earth then that what I want to do. Since you don't care, you can consume as much plastic as you can buy. Too bad plastic LB. I don't share your love for plastic.
Jeff,
ReplyDeleteThose issues you bring up about plastics are about public health impacts that I accept. Those are not issues about saving the ocean.
Few Americans live like the Amish. More than likely your direct footprint and infrastructure support footprint are probably huge and unsustainable for the current world population size.
My reference to Diamond's book is a good indication that I don't believe there is no consequence of resource impacts.
Plastics play an important part in our economy and in our lives. Outlawing plastic today would cripple the economy.
My point about plastic was related to saving the ocean. The easily extractable oil will be converted to plastic products or burnt by a billion Asians who want to have a life that cheap energy provides. Action/Reaction, just maybe sopping up the oil in plastics and keeping it sequestered in land fills in the form of plastic is better than having it burnt in an Asian nation and released into the atmosphere. Action/reaction.
Your "small" footprint has a reaction. It means oil producing nations won't get as much of your money for their oil. They will sell it to other people and maybe even have to pump it faster if they are selling it more cheaply to poorer nations if the producing nation has a particular revenue target for the year.
I believe Obama recently pushed for greater oil production.
http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/04/27/us-usa-obama-oil-letter-idUSTRE73P56O20110427
I think that should be humbling and noteworthy. The environmental movement has to step up to the big picture if it wants to save the ocean.
Thanks for playing ;)
Plastic Loving LB,
ReplyDeleteI enjoyed your dialog and understand your points.
As I said earlier, I believe the only real factor that could save the earth from collapse is a massive reduction in humans. I am all in favor of that happening.
I think American citizens are as ignorant as or more ignorant than other great empires and will continue down this current path until this country’s financial stability completely collapses like USSR, Rome, and most recently Greece.
You bring up good points and thanks for the dialog. I still think encouraging plastic use for Everything increases the pollution in the ocean. Again, watch the movie, “Bag It” then tell me how you feel.
"I believe the only real factor that could save the earth from collapse is a massive reduction in humans. I am all in favor of that happening."
ReplyDeleteGreat idea! Any particular race you'd prefer to survive?
Race? WTH?
ReplyDeleteIs there race anymore?
The Human Race maybe? And it isn't pretty.
No. Hopefully the most intelligent and compassionate towards earth and ones that can evolve towards a better human being will survive. I personally don't give any ethnic origin preference over another. At this point in history most of us are pure mutts.
Although I do have to say I don't like hairy nipples so I hope hairy nipples evolve out of the human race.
Sorry bud, Didn't you see Planet of the Apes? In the battle of world domination, the hairless nipples lose.
ReplyDeleteBag it is on the to do list.
ReplyDeleteGood one Winston. If the apes win, I don't need to worry about it.
ReplyDeleteTime will tell.
Jeff,
ReplyDeleteYou are a NAZI. Schmitty & Jack's suggestions are good enough.
Hitler hated hairy nipples.
ReplyDeleteLee,
ReplyDeleteWhat make you jump to that statement?
NAZI? Please enlighten me
Is WC right? Did Hilter write a book about hating hairy nipples or something that I am not aware of?
Everybody should watch Bag it! Another great film to watch is The End of the Line. The ocean is almost fished out. All of the large fish face increasing risk of extinction from over fishing in the next 20-30 years. The ever growing plastic fantastic gire in the the Pacific and the new one found in the Atlantic ocean, not a leap to think there's more out there in the rest of the world's oceans. Plastic is found all over the globe. You can find plastic on every shoreline in the world. K.C. is correct. Plastic is the fabric of the world's economy and there is no way to get away from it. It will be our doom. We will all one day have plastic in our DNA. It is already in all the fish we eat. It is in the milk we drink. Jeff, the end is near for humans. The ocean will be just fine after we are gone. Too bad that asteroid missed us today. Hitler had hairy nipples!
ReplyDeleteBag It! is great. I saw it at the La Paloma. Definitely watch it on DVD before you ever accept another plastic bag at the grocery store.
ReplyDeleteAnd while you're in the documentary mode, see Inside Job about the Wall Street, government, Federal Reserve, and academic crooks who looted this nation.
Thanks WC. I just ordered it. Look forward to watching it. I'm surprised they haven't outlawed it yet.
ReplyDeleteKC,
ReplyDeleteI hope your kids like the taste of plastic. Enjoy some fresh fish.
http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/2011/jun/30/nearly-1-10-fish-sampled-contain-plastic-debris/