politics of environment

Environmental Pollution: A Catastrophe of Decades

Posted on by Helena

Where are all the charities tackling global pollution?   When I was growing up, pollution, the environment, and saving the whales were the calls to action!   Decades later, billions of dollars later, thousands upon thousands of charities later, what has been accomplished?

I recently saw a meme on Facebook that made a frivolous statement that going green, cleaning the environment, cutting carbon emissions, neutralizing our pollution would all be beneficial gains.   True.   Somewhat.   So what?   Rallies and protests, federal funds, grants, billions from concerned citizens, and what has happened?

According to the UN, land based agricultural run-off, discharge of nutrients and pesticides and untreated sewage including plastics account for approximately 80% of marine pollution, globally. Great!   Who is doing anything to mitigate this?

Apparently – no one – not any country on earth. Not the NGO’s, not Greenpeace or WWF, or any of the hundreds upon hundreds of NGO’s that have reaped billions on sympathy.

According to the UN, there are now close to 500 dead zones covering more than 245,000 km² globally, equivalent to the surface of the United Kingdom. Is that diminishing? Hardly.   China, Indonesia, Thailand, Vietnam and the Philippines dump more plastic in our oceans than the rest of the world combined. Has that statistic changed? Yes. It has grown!

While the Greta’s of the world would demonize developed countries for their global warming footprint, what are they doing to alter the pollution that has grown unabated for a hundred years?   Global warming is simply the new – NEW.   It is a fashion statement.   And in a decade it will be replaced with another fashion statement in which charities demand more funding to alleviate another crisis that will never be dealt with because all the money goes to pay salaries and administrative expenses to demean The People.

If an NGO was truly about their cause, wouldn’t there have been a positive impact these last 50 years?   Has whaling decreased?   Are our oceans less polluted?   Does China have non-mask days?   Remember the Animas River in Colorado that was completely devastated due to negligence by the EPA?

Everyone is about the talk – but who is actually ‘acting’?

“Talk the talk, walk the walk”.

Europe and the western greens were aghast when President Trump pulled out of the Paris Climate Accord. “How dastardly!”   But what has the accord actually accomplished?   Have they altered the output of Germany’s pollution? No.   China’s? No. France?   UK?   Japan? What they have done is redirect funds to Africa which has -0- carbon footprint, for the purpose of constructing an infrastructure system that will help the transportation of palm oil – to Europe.   Ahhh!

And then, there is the factual calamity that many if most of those who scream the loudest are among the largess of polluters. Jane Fonda is notorious for her own carbon footprint while screaming, “it’s not my fault – they are guilting me!” So if it isn’t her fault – then whose fault is it?   Bill Gates?   Bloomberg?   Obama?   Buffett? Has Jane Fonda’s protests changed anything? Has she lowered her carbon footprint?   Or, is it the continuum of finger pointing?

The garbage that floats in island patches throughout our oceans has grown exponentially.   Teams of NGO’s have commissioned studies and research and evaluations for decades, spending billions to determine existence….   One such project included The Ocean Voyage Institute which claims it has removed 84,000 pounds of polymer nets and plastic trash.   One patch alone is estimated to contain 80,000 metric TONS – 1.8 trillion pieces.

Yet no one seems to acknowledge this travesty of growth that can be trajected to every single city, country, continent and government dating for at least 5-6 decades.

So.   To address the meme. Would a clean environment, wherein there were no polluter, no arsonists, no travesties, be better for our environment? The answer is a resounding – YES!   But the solution is pathetic.   It starts with you! Each individual! Including Jane Fonda.   It means no more pampers.   It means no more wipes.   It means no more water bottles.   It means no more electricity in ‘elite compounds’, it means shutting down office lights, it means no more superfluous air flights – say once a year…   It means eliminating yachts.   It means no glyphosate. It means organic farming. It means so much more than most are willing to actually – do. Oops.   It means planting trees, not having wood floors, it means no more paper, it means deescalating city growth which is a cement paradise.

You want to talk the talk? Then you need to walk the walk!

It isn’t about a President.   It is about – YOU!

Germany: The Great Pacific Garbage Patch

Posted on by Helena

Plastic waste has evolved into a catastrophic global problem!   Plastic bags were once considered the best alternative to save-a-tree paper.   They have now become a death trap.   The Great Pacific Garbage Patch is the world’s largest accumulation of plastic. It floats between Hawaii and California.   Of the 2.5 million tonnes of plastic garbage that enters the oceans annually, this patch is host to about 80,000 tonnes, and is the size of three Texas’.   Once the plastic degrades, it becomes microplastics which are commonly ingested by marine life.

Sea turtles can have as much as 74% of their weight in ‘plastic’. Albatross chicks – 45%.

It has been analyzed, researched, photographed, and reported on for a decade…   But no one has done – anything.   In essence, it epitomizes the political fray of committee’s to analyze committee’s to do – nothing.

The Great Pacific Garbage Patch – is one of five such floating islands in the world.

This month, 1400 delegates from around the world gathered at the UN and spent 12 days negotiating the problem of dumping plastic waste into our oceans.   The end-all agreement states that countries will have to ‘monitor and track movements of plastic waste”.   Germany intends to lead the pack by announcing it will ban straws and plastic bags by – 2030.   Reminiscent of Germany stating it would comply with the Paris Accord 2015 – which has yet to occur.

The media is aghast that the US was the only country not to accept this agreement. But then it isn’t a worthwhile agreement. And this is why:

The largest ocean based plastic pollution is discarded fishing gear, representing 46-50% of all plastic debris in the oceans.   The top ten countries polluting the oceans the most include: China, Indonesia, Philippines, Vietnam, Sri Lanka, Egypt, Thailand, Malaysia, Nigeria, Bangladesh and Brazil.

But that isn’t the whole story, because many countries, including the entire EU have for decades transported all their plastic waste to China, Indonesia, Malaysia, Vietnam and Thailand.

The main sources as a whole of plastic waste are; bottles, tubs, trays and pots. Plastic bags and straws are not even identified.   And thus, once again, the real problem is not addressed.

According to DW.com, Germany is quite proud that it has been allowed to join an international waste coalition headed by Coca-cola, Pepsi, and the WWF whose core concern is “preventing waste”.   But apparently, the author/journalist didn’t exactly do his due diligence, because the coalition is called, The International Food Waste Coalition, which is concerned about wasting food – not plastic.

Not only was the UN summit the most ridiculous waste – of time, it reveled in an agreement that will do absolutely nothing to mitigate the problem. Thus abstaining, the US did us all a favor in not wasting precious time or resources doing more ‘studies’ while our oceans and marine life die.

However, there is a much more interesting potential solution that was accidentally discovered last year by two biologists:

Discovered in a Japanese recycling center, a bacteria had formed on the plastic bottles that was degrading them. It is a naturally occurring enzyme that speeds up the process of degradation so that recycling is a much easier and a faster process. But it is still in its infancy. While it has yet to be refined, the process could make one of the leading end waste products, bottles, more pliable for degradation into a recyclable product.

Shipping waste to other countries is not just the EU, many developed nations do so while telling the public that it will be – recycled. In fact, it isn’t, and the waste is simply dumped in the ocean.  The Problem is the fact that the media tends to omit these rather blatant facts and instead demonizes the US – because it can then demonize Trump.   But this is a decades long agenda – and the EU is likely the largest guilty convict.

Basically, the UN meeting is asking the 186 nations of the world to chart where they send the plastic waste so they can then determine if it will end up in the ocean.   In reality, nations will ‘cook the books’, and nothing will change.  While in reality a new and improved lobby of committees will be formed, all mired in graft, corruption, and bribes.

But, it ‘looks good’, when in fact it is yet another ridiculous fakery of monstrous proportions wherein political correctness masks a true environmental catastrophe that far explodes the concept of manmade global warming.

This is undeniable.   This is man-made.   There is NO scientific consensus that would attribute this catastrophe to anything but – the ignorance of man. And at the end of this 12 day discussion wherein 1400+ delegates were wined, dined, flown, hoteled, partied, and carboned their footprint into a far greater foray than the entire dinosaur population…. They all boarded their private gas guzzling jets – went home – and took time off for all their intensive labor to have some R&R because they – deserved it.

When analyzing the major litter sources that plague ‘beaches’, the list includes, by rank: food wrappers, bottle caps, bottles, bags, straws, lids, utensils, and cigarette butts.

Oddly, the alliance of 186 countries failed to mention that food wrappers and bottle caps account for more than double the pollution of bags and straws. It is interesting that these items did not even get mentioned, thus, no remedial ban or recycle program addresses these concerns.

But hey, Germany is proud to slap it’s back along with the other 186 countries and the UN, and proclaim a demonstrative success because they have decided that action needs to be benched, while more studies need to determine what, where, when and how….to add to the decade fray of – studies already done at a cost of millions.

So – How’s That Workin’ For Ya?