Mass Plankton Die-Off

[LuvToSail]

I am only 43, but in my life I have witnessed first hand population growth, conspicuous consumption sky rocket, plastic use increase dramatically, the collapse of the worlds greatest fisheries collapse from what is essentially the bulldozing of our ocean floors and piling up of plastic in the ocean and the increase of polluting of heat and co2 into the atmosphere at a staggering rate.

I am an engineer, but it doesn’t take a scientist or a genius to see what effect people are having on the eco-systems of the world.

People who sail and/or enjoy cruising have a hard time ignoring what is going on the world, whether you agree with all the science that is going on the world or not! I truly feel sorry for anyone who doesn’t care about the condition of our oceans and atmosphere. This is not a political issue, this is every political persuasion’s work. The extreme politicization of issue about every human's right to clean water and air is farce and a diversion. We are all part of the solution.

Today we have higher buildings and wider roads, but shorter tempers and narrower points of view.
We spend more, but enjoy less.
We have bigger houses, but smaller families.
We have more compromises, but less time.
We have more knowledge, but less judgement.
We have more medicines, but less health.
We have multiplied our possessions, but reduced our values.
We talk too much, we love only a little, and we hate too much.
We touched the moon and came back, but we find it troublesome to cross our own street and meet our neighbors.
We have conquered outer space, but not our inner space.
We have higher incomes, but less morals.
These are times with more liberty, but less joy.
We have more food, but less nutrition.
These are the days in which it takes two salaries for each home, but divorces have increased.
These are times of finer houses, but more broken homes.
That’s why I propose, that from now on, you do not keep anything for a special occasion,
Because every day that you live is a special occasion.
Search for knowledge, read more, sit on your front porch and admire the view without paying attention to your needs.
Spend more time with your family and fiends, eat your favourite foods, visit places you love.
Life is a chain of moments of enjoyment, not only about survival.
Use your crystal glassware. Do not save your best perfume, use it every time you feel you want to.
Remove from your vocabulary phrases like 'one of these days' and "someday".
Write that letter you thought of writing 'one of these days'.
Tell your family and friends how much you love them.
Do not delay anything that adds laughter and joy to your life.
Every day, every hour, and every minute is special.
And you don’t know if it will be your last.

Dalai Lama

[barnakiel]

Originally Posted by dacust

So, it boils down to: Do we just give up and write it off? Or do what we can, futile though it may seem? For me, I kinda do the middle.

This is a very good question.

Well, here, I have always been trying to have a very small footprint life. Not that I am a believer or something but simply because this is the way I like to live. 'Leave only footprints', but when I look around I can see other people with different backgrounds and different means and needs.

So, while living my 'no fridge, no car, no genset' life and seeing what I perceive like the beginning of the end of our once lovely planet, I still try to convince, enourage and motivate my neighbours, family and friends to do as much good as one can.

I think the problem is not that we sometimes meet people who gave up on it (they gave up - which means they did care once, didn't they). I think the problem is that there are so many people who do not care, never did, never will.

But I am not one of them.

b.

[stark]

One of the biggest arguments against climate change appears to stem from the general belief that scientists are funding by the gov't, linked to businesses, and therefore corrupted into skewing their data to show that human consumption is destroying our environment.

What I don't understand is, wouldn't it be so much better for the big consumer driven, waste creating corporations if the climate scientists are wrong??

-Where are the Exxon climate scientists telling everyone that its OK to drive their gas guzzlers?

-Where are the Xcel Energy climate scientist telling everyone that the coal powered plants do not need extremely expensive carbon scrubbers?

-Carbon credits?? Really? Why do corporations want to have to deal with that?

Ok, your going to say its the new "green economy". I tried looking up numbers for the size of the green economy, but didn't find anything... anyone know? But I somehow doubt that a bunch of small tech startups and clothe bag companies can pull much sway after the oil companies.

[conachair]

Originally Posted by barnakiel

I think the problem is not that we sometimes meet people who gave up on it (they gave up - which means they did care once, didn't they). I think the problem is that there are so many people who do not care, never did, never will.

If this site is accurate Poverty Facts and Stats ? Global Issues then 5 years ago 80% of the worlds population were living on $5 a day or less. Caring is a rich mans game. And the rich man doesn't care really, I don't think. Bad for business.

[GordMay]

Originally Posted by LuvToSail

... Today we have higher buildings and wider roads, but shorter tempers and narrower points of view ...

I see this pap all over the 'net; but wonder who originally wrote it?
I never see an attribution.

[LuvToSail]

Originally Posted by GordMay

I see this pap all over the 'net; but wonder who originally wrote it?
I never see an attribution.

it is based on a poem by the Dalai Lama, the exiled Tibetan leader.

[LuvToSail]

Originally Posted by GordMay

I see this pap all over the 'net; but wonder who originally wrote it?
I never see an attribution.

Gord by Pap I assume you mean it has little or no substance. I referred to because it resonates with me. I thought it loosely related to cruising in that a cruiser typically make the decision to a life style that is "different" to the main stream which undoubtedly leads to some negative outcomes i.e. the S@#T economic situation, increased disparity between rich and poor, food with NO nutrients left, obesity rates through the roof, etc etc...

[dacust]

Originally Posted by LuvToSail

it is based on a poem by the Dalai Lama, the exiled Tibetan leader.

I like that quote.

However, after looking, I cannot find anything to attribute it to the Dalai Lama. I was just wondering if you have a link to the poem?

I DID find some places that attribute it to George Carlin, but they were not authoritative sites. The only places I see the Dalai Lama are on quotes in blogs.

I didn't find it listed on snopes or truthorfiction.

-dan

[GordMay]

Originally Posted by dacust

... I DID find some places that attribute it to George Carlin, but they were not authoritative sites. The only places I see the Dalai Lama are on quotes in blogs...
-dan

George Carlin has oft’ been accused of writing “The Paradox of Our Time”; but always denied having anything to do with it.

Here is what George had to say about it:

"One of the more embarrassing items making the internet/e-mail rounds is a sappy load of **** called “The Paradox of Our Time.” The main problem I have with it is that as true as some of the expressed sentiments may be, who really gives a ****? Certainly not me.

I figured out years ago that the human species is totally ****ed and has been for a long time. I also know that the sick, media-consumer culture in America continues to make this so-called problem worse. But the trick, folks, is not to give a ****. Like me. I really don’t care. I stopped worrying about all this temporal ******** a long time ago. It’s meaningless. (See the preface of “Braindroppings.”)

Another problem I have with “Paradox” is that the ideas are all expressed in a sort of pseudo-spiritual, New-Age-y, “Gee-whiz-can’t-we-do-better-than-this” tone of voice. It’s not only bad prose and poetry, it’s weak philosophy. I hope I never sound like that."

More ➥ George Carlin's Schedule


Evidently, the true author (“Words Aptly Spoken”), Dr. Bob Moorehead, a former pastor of Seattle's Overlake Christian Church, resigned when 17 allegations of sexual abuse surfaced in 1997.
➥ http://www.snopes.com/politics/soapbox/paradox.asp

[David_Old_Jersey]

Originally Posted by LuvToSail

it is based on a poem by the Dalai Lama, the exiled Tibetan leader.

Lots of "we" in that

[LuvToSail]

I love George but I disagree with his comment about not giving a s@#t!!
But I certainly DO give a **** about the people on this planet...I just do.

It is human to care.

The poem is definitely attributable to the Dalai Lama in that the Dalai Lama concurs that to be aware of this s#&t is the path to happiness. Ignorance IS NOT BLISS.

[barnakiel]

Originally Posted by conachair

If this site is accurate Poverty Facts and Stats ? Global Issues then 5 years ago 80% of the worlds population were living on $5 a day or less. Caring is a rich mans game. And the rich man doesn't care really, I don't think. Bad for business.

This is not quite so.

I have spent some time in Sweden, which is rich and where people do care.

I spent some time in Brazil and Panama, which can be closer to the 5 USD daily and they were the dirtiest places.

I do not think it is true that the rich do not care.

BTW I am not so far from the 80% group, in fact at times I might be IN the group, and I do care.

Anyway, my uneducated guess is that the rich seem to care more than the poor. I think it is related to education.

barnie

[Chief Engineer]

We're from the government, we're here to help........RUN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Haiti is still in ruins,
New Orleans is still unfit to live in in many areas
The Gulf has been swept under the rug....because the leak is capped. Pshaw!!!
Pakistan is still flooded.

I do not plan on or expect the Gov't to rescue me.

Unless you are a USCG Rescue Swimmer or a Paramedic. Stay away.

[roverhi]

You have to be able to afford being green. The 1st world, that doesn't count India or China, has cleaned up it's environment to the detriment of their economies. The rapidly developing countries, shall we call them 2nd world, are taking advantage of the green mania in the first world.
They have gladly taken the 'dirty' manufacturing. The developing countries are really big on being green, just not in their territory.

The 3rd world is mainly worried about the next meal and will cut down every tree in their realm if it's helps to feed them. Compare Haiti with and the Dominican Republic if you want to see a prime example of how much better even a small step up on the economic totem pole is for the environment.

CO2 is .035% of the atmosphere. Humans maybe contribute 15% to the total annual release of CO2. Do the math, the amount of green house gases that that generates is so minuscule as to be non existant. Burning fossil fuels is such a small contribution that even a total cessation of burning fossil fuels would have virtually no effect on Warming. Declaring CO2 a pollutant, a gas that virtually every living thing relies on to live, is the biggest joke in the universe. The idea of Carbon offset is just another way for Wall Street to make money as they would be the ones to market the exchange.

[LuvToSail]

Originally Posted by roverhi

Declaring CO2 a pollutant, a gas that virtually every living thing relies on to live, is the biggest joke in the universe.

With all due respect I would say it is a bigger joke to willfully deny a consensus that the near-entirety of the scientific community has cited as one of the gravest threats to the environment on our earth. What is the basis of your view point?