Almost all the news that we hear these days is terrible. If you want absolute proof that either God is dead, or that God does not exist, just turn on the nightly news (and not the watered down news for entertainment that is supposed to pass as the news), and then pay attention.
Every story is tragic, seemingly. Every story has wide ramifications, and can lead to some serious problems in the future. One that I have been paying attention to lately is the arrival of Asian Carp to the Great Lakes. Apparently, some have been found already. This is bad, because these things are big, and eat plenty of food - so much, that they essentially choke the life out of the rest of the fish in the waters. Thus, they are expected to essentially kill off the fishing industry in the Great Lakes.
That is, of course, a human-made problem.
And so is this one:
We now have to ask if seafood is simply too dangerous to consume these days.
More bad news piled on top of more bad news.
Think about this for a second: the oceans are, by far, the largest thing on the surface of this world, covering roughly 70% of the Earth's surface.
Yet, we have managed to pollute them already to the point that it might no longer be safe to eat seafood. Think about all of those arguments that people made (or rather, excuses) about how costly stronger environmental regulations would be, and how it would be detrimental to the environment.
Now, speaking strictly in economical sense, think about the hugely detrimental to so many the impact of the possible death of the fishing industry in the Great Lakes, and possibly of the oceans, would be. Not just the fishermen, many of whom would lose their livelihood. But also the coasts in general, coastal towns that rely on the fishing industry. Restaurants lining the coast with fresh seafood. Transports to take that seafood to other markets. Supermarkets and local markets that sell all of those wonderful fish, that we have been told all of our lives are healthy for us.
Okay, now think about the environmental side of things. These two problems, if they indeed have come to pass, are undeniably human made problems. Those who deny climate change could possibly have been created by human beings claim that humans just simply could not possibly have such a huge impact. Keep that in mind when we hear stories like this, that the mercury level in fish may be too high for safe human consumption. Do you expect the problem to get better?
If we need more proof, the proof is there for us to find. Scientists have discovered that we can determine how much whales, the biggest animals in the world, have been affected by pollution, by measuring their ear wax, of all things. So far, the results have not been good, but more research needs to be conducted. It is a fascinating way (and a little gross) of measuring pollution in our ocean waters, but it is also horrifying to think of the ramifications. I posted some links to articles on using samples of whale ear wax to measure pollution levels down below.
And then we get to this article that prompted this blog entry, and how it has been estimated that 84% of the fish in the ocean contain levels of mercury that are too high for healthy human consumption.
Then I think of another huge tragedy that we do not actually hear about very often on the nightly news: the so-called Great Pacific Garbage Patch. The name almost sounds reminiscent of the old Cabbage Patch Dolls that were all the rage, and used to be the hot Christmas gift, back when I was growing up. But I assure you, there is absolutely nothing charming or comforting about this particular story. The patch is actually two patches, and as the name would suggest, they are essentially floating patches of garbage. I have heard different estimates of the size, but they are supposed to be roughly the size of Texas.
And Texas is known for being big, right?
I remember my introduction to this disgusting thing was a picture of a man canoeing through garbage in what should have been clear water.
Again, problems of our own creation. Yet, still, you will surely get people that remain willfully blind or stupid, who will deny that there is a problem, and that the time for action is now.
I try to see the world, and the place of our "civilization" within it, in a relatively positive light. But it is hard to do. We wonder why cancer rates keep shooting up. We wonder why people always have this fixation with apocalyptic television shows and movies, almost daydreaming about the end of our civilization, and the ushering in of a new world that might be scary, but which has the romance of being simpler, in terms of good and bad, and a worthy struggle, that of simple survival under tough circumstances. I think of how unhappy most people that I know are, and how widespread this is. And I think of those who deny that pollution and human activity can be so detrimental to a healthy environment, and how, in my opinion, these people are worse than Holocaust deniers, to be quite blunt.
The facts are only beginning to come in, but they already pretty much all suggest the same thing: we have a big problem, and it is only growing bigger. And this problem is undeniably of our own making!
Finally, I wonder what we are going to do about it? Or maybe, the question is if we are going to do something about it, then when?
"Mercury in Seafood: Is It Still Safe to Eat Fish?" By Lisa Collier Cool Oct 02, 2013
http://health.yahoo.net/experts/dayinhealth/mercury-seafood-it-still-safe-eat-fish
Articles on "The Great Pacific Garbage Patch":
The Heartbreaking Horror of Garbage Island in New Doc ‘Midway’ By Carly Milne | Takepart.com September 18, 2013 4:35 PM Takepart.com:
http://news.yahoo.com/heartbreaking-horror-midway-garbage-island-194106251.html;_ylt=A2KJ3CcwM01SphQAF4XQtDMD
Why is the world's biggest landfill in the Pacific Ocean? by Jacob Silverman of HowStuffWorks.com,
http://science.howstuffworks.com/environmental/earth/oceanography/great-pacific-garbage-patch.htm
The World's Largest Dump: The Great Pacific Garbage Patch By Thomas M. Kostigen|Thursday, July 10, 2008:
http://discovermagazine.com/2008/jul/10-the-worlds-largest-dump
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Pacific_garbage_patch
http://greatpacificgarbagepatch.info/
Whale Ear Wax Links:
Whale Ear Wax Reveals Environmental Pollutants
http://www.scientificamerican.com/podcast/episode.cfm?id=whale-ear-wax-reveals-environmental-13-09-24
Ear Wax From Whales Keeps Record Of Ocean Contaminants by RHITU CHATTERJEE September 16, 2013 7:53 PM:
http://www.npr.org/2013/09/17/223139796/ear-wax-from-whales-keeps-record-of-ocean-contaminants?ft=1&f=1001
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