Envirolog

Even as individuals we all have a significant impact. It may not seem like it but from a standpoint of sustainability individually we are each taking a chunk of the Earth with us. Whether it be in a form of gas and oil to food and water. Something as minute as a laptop computer may not seem like a big deal but it is in terms of resources poured into it. It takes massive amounts of energy to harvest all the materials that will at one point be assembled to this thing I’m typing on. Resources go into the transportation of it and it still uses energy. Even when its gone it will have a negative effect on the world because this thing is going nowhere anytime soon. So in terms of the individual we have an impact. Don’t think it’s the huge corporations and poachers or something crazy like that. Sure they do have an impact but if you put all of the people together on this Earth, mostly Western people because for some reason we are especially hard on the world, we would have a huge problem on our hands. And we do. Its called pollution and its everywhere. Seriously go outside or anywhere for that matter. Can you go anywhere and not see human influence? I doubt you can. In fact, I would bet its impossible these days to not see human influence in someway. Some places you can’t with the naked eye but science will tell you water is polluted. Air is polluted. And soil is polluted. We are sitting on a time bomb of pollution that will bite us in the ass and nobody even realizes it.

Posted by Pete Turner at 6:37 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

I enjoyed reading Rachel Carson’s “Silent Spring.� It seems that most environmentalists credit her with first inspiring them to become involved and take an initiative. I can see why. Here story may have been fictionalized but I don’t care. If anything she scares people into change. In this case I don’t see that as being a bad thing. I can’t see any harm in reducing the amount of pesticides we dump on our plants and fertilizers for that matter. Maybe farmers won’t be able to pump out as much product but that will only increase demand which will increase the prices. Also, it would get rid of the massive operations that have taken over and bring back the family farms. Sometimes it takes a shock like that to encourage people to make the changes they need to make. It is the same thing with global warming. Some facts maybe portrayed in a way that exaggerates them. I don’t think that matters. If it makes people want to change how much they pollute or consume then I don’t see the bad thing about it. I suppose if people start playing devils advocate then we could have some negative consequences.
What happened at Rachel Carson’s fictional spring has actually happened all over the world and that’s the scary thing. Human intervention with nature rarely has a good outcome. In fact, I can’t even think of one good example. Nature has worked fine for millennia and humans appear to be the monkey wrench. I only hope that in the future we realize this before it is to late to do anything. It’s to bad though because I think we have crossed that line long ago and we are storming head first into a future that can only progress downhill. Rant Rant Rant.

Posted by Pete Turner at 8:26 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

After reading the two articles about global warming I started to really think about it. What I came up with afterwards is that I still think global warming is occurring, and if it isn’t I guess I don’t really care. If we do all we can to stop global warming even if it isn’t really happening all we are doing is improving the environment. Changes for the positive will be made and that in my opinion is all that really matters. Just because global warming isn’t happening doesn’t mean we should just throw it to the wind and start pumping as much CO2 as physically possible into the air, we should learn from this. Of course that’s all hypothetical because I believe it is happening and we should be doing something. Which it’s kind of strange because most people really aren’t doing anything about it. People still drive SUVs and cut down trees so they can build big houses that use copious amounts of energy to heat or cool, either one will work because nature is never perfect enough for all people. It’s always to cold or to hot, sorry about the rant. Something to think about: methane is a major greenhouse gas. What’s the largest producer of methane? Cattle. What? That’s right cattle are the largest producers of methane. Think about that. If you cut down on your meat intake you can save so much it must be illegal. It takes 2500 gallons of water to produce one pound of beef. If you cut out at least one pound of beef from your diet you can save the equivalent to a years worth of showers. Another that’s insane about cattle is the amount of land they take up and destroy. Most of the open space in America used for agriculture use is used by cattle. What do those cattle do on these open spaces? They produce methane which in the long run might kill us. It’s almost as if they are trying to seek revenge on us through some long term goals or something. Once again I just rambled, sorry; hope it made some sense to somebody.

Posted by Pete Turner at 2:25 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Let me start this off by saying I have an enormous amount of respect for Timothy Treadwell. He lived deliberately. I in no way consider him to be stupid or getting what he deserved like the redneck helicopter pilot slurred. I think Timothy was out there studying them. If anything he was doing the ecological community a tremendous service. We know have videotape of bears and other animals as they naturally are. He has assimilated into their group so they accept him as one of their own. I wish I could do something like this. Not to the extent, but who knows? I don’t think I would like to be around bears that much. I think it would be crazy awesome to assimilate into a group of monkeys or something that can’t kill me instantly. I guess that’s already been done before, but it worked well I think.
And what was the deal with those hate letters? Doesn’t that seem a little insane to say we need more bears to eat liberals and democrats? I mean that just seems ridiculous to send a letter like that. Who wakes up in the morning and thinks, “oh yeah, I need to fire off a few hate letters for no reason, then watch some NASCAR.� Sorry to NASCAR fans I guess.
Maybe I should address something of any importance. I think through film nature has an aesthetic value to it. People will rally behind anti-oil drilling in the ANWR because they see its beauty through film. I suppose that’s a good thing. They might like it more if they actually were in it, but I guess the more people at the ballot boxes voting against it the better.
speaking of which, check this out if you have time--> ANWR

Posted by Pete Turner at 1:40 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)