sarettah

I grew up in the 1950s, 1960's and 1970s. I was 15 years old in 1970 when the first Earth Day was held. Yes, I am old as fuck, live with it.

I lived on Long Island in New York, about 45 minutes from New York City, so we visited Manhattan quite often. The air was terrible. The city was always covered in smog. On a smoggy day, you can't see forever

Air Pollution New York City 1966


Air Pollution New York City 1973


I was also an avid surfer and skier, so I was out in the water and up in the mountains a lot.

I saw ocean pollution up close and personal. Water pollution was a very real thing. I remember quite clearly when the Cuyahoga River in Ohio caught on fire in 1969.

The water pollution caused by factories was immense, any rivers and lakes near a major city were polluted to the point it was not safe to swim or eat fish from the lakes.

Many of the rivers like the Cuyahoga, the Detroit River and the Niagara River looked horrible and smelled horrible.

In 1973 I started school in a college that was right next to Lake Erie. I got to see personally how bad Lake Eris was. Pictures really do it no justice. There was raw sewage flowing freely into the lake. There were factories all along the rivers leading into Erie and they were freely dumping all their leftover shit into the rivers which led eventually into the Great Lakes. By the time I got there you didn't dare to swim or fish in the lake, it was truly horrible.

East Chicago 1968


Lake Erie 1968


Lake Erie 1971


Lake Superior 1968


Raw sewage pouring into the Niagara River 1968



The Cuyahoga River has caught fire a total of 13 times dating back to 1868. But the fire in 1969 led to the first Earth Day and helped spur action that ultimately led to the passage of the Clean Water Act in 1972.

Cuyahoga River 1967


Cuyahoga River 1969


Cuyahoga River 1973


The first earth day in 1970 was created mainly by college students in an attempt to draw attention to what "we the people" were doing to our environment. It was a very successful movement in a lot of ways. The pressure that the environmental movement put on the Nixon administration along with several environmental catastrophes helped to get the 1972 Clean water act amendments passed. I say amendments because there was already a pollution law in place, the "Federal Water Pollution Control Act of 1948, but it was pretty weak and was not helping to keep our water clean. The amendments made the law much stronger, and it was renamed the Clean Water Act of 1972.

First Earth Day 1970


The Clean Water act 1972 amendments
https://www.epa.gov/laws-regulations...lean-water-act


It took a while but the Clean Water Act along with major actions by the U.S. government to clean up the rivers and lakes was very successful. Many of you were not alive during that period and have only seen the air, rivers and lakes after they had been cleaned up. The first Earth Day and subsequent Earth Days have helped keep attention on the environment and the many risks that are caused by man and greed.

Cuyahoga River 2016


Now we are facing different risks, among them plastic pollution. Plastic pollution is a global issue. Countries that don't use much plastic (very few) have to deal with the plastics that other countries produce. Plastic does not break down like other natural materials such as rubber does. Plastics were invented to be around forever; they are not bio-degradable so the time for a plastic to decompose is literally somewhere around 1000 years. Plastics are very convenient but the plastic you toss into the trash today will still be around when your children's children's children's children's children's children's children's children's children's children's ........ are alive.

It is imperative, if you like to live and have good health for us to start getting plastics out of the environment. The first step of that is to stop using them. There are new alternatives made out of biodegradables like corn starch that can take their place. We just have to have the will to demand that it happens.

Currently plastics are everywhere, from the top of Mount Everest to the deepest parts of our oceans. Microplastics have made their way into our food supply and our water supply, this can cause major health issues.

You may think that the U.S. is not the cause of plastics washing up on the beaches in the Philippines but if you look closely at plastic piles you will find lots of Coca Cola, Pepsi, Dr Pepper, Gatorade, etc. All companies based in the U.S.

Plastic Pollution


Plastic Pollution


Plastic Pollution


Plastic in the ocean


Plastic in the ocean


Sea Turtle with plastic


Plastic in a whale


Plastic on the beach


Plastic Pollution California



Earth Day is simply a reminder that we are, every person on Earth, part of the problem and unless we take action we will manage to kill the earth off.

I hope you all have a happy Earth Day

JesseQuinn

wicked thread

was reading an article about an upcoming int'l conference in the Jamaican Gleaner yesterday

Gleaner article here

JA has been on this pretty heavily since 2022, with lots of plans for 2024. not a lot of faith in the current gov but they have followed through on what they've promised thus far in terms of this issue. lots of plastics banned with more set for this year. along with education to the youth about WHY this is important. a lot of gov enviro-oriented policies are introduced formally in schools for that reason

but you're right that shit from other countries can cross oceans and end up on other nation's shores so it can't be a unilateral effort by any one country

plastics are def not inert, they release chemicals as they degrade (not the same as bio-degrade) that are toxic to humans, animals, sea life and ecosystems. they're even implicated in killing the coral reefs (aka the lungs of the ocean)

aside from that, discarded plastics kill marine life overtly (that image of the turtle with the bag wrapped around it is spot on, fish and birds etc too) and are sometimes the cause of landslides that kill people in the hills during rainy season

normal drainage routes get clogged up with crap and the water diverts, to sometimes devastating effect. same deal with flooding on the lands below


"Countries will have an opportunity to progress work on a legally binding instrument on plastic pollution at the upcoming Intergovernmental Negotiating Committee (INC-4), to be held at the Shaw Centre in Ottawa, Canada, later this month."

the report from 2023 that will be the foundation of the conference is pretty long so not gonna post it all here, it's all in the link for anyone interested


ya gotta wonder how long people will keep treating the planet we rely on as a garbage dump for our needless waste. it's not the planet we need to save, nature can exist in any form. it's simply a matter of whether it's hospitable for us and the species we share it with

loved your pic showing water improvement. proof things can change

until then...



happy Earth day to you. we as a global community def still got lots to do

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CaptainHowdy

We are the sickness of the earth . . . It'll pass.

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sarettah

Pogo by Walt Kelly, Earth Day 1970

Pad

bitch it's weed day don't depress me with our invariable demise

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JesseQuinn

*inevitable

@S, have you ever read Kicking Tomorrow? story of a super-privileged but disaffected youth involved in the biker/drug/language wars of Quebec in the early 70's, then gets into the environmental movement that changes his life

for the first time in his life he actually cared about something. or, as he put it, got tired of firing a gun at his own temple

it's a wicked read if you haven't already

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jscott

Who of you actually reuses your plastic bottles or bags? Or even fast food paper bags? From what I've seen those of you who complain the most reuse/recycle/care-by-action the least.

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CurrentlySober

I do... Really...

Coz i cunt a4d new ones...

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jscott

That's the point though, most people CAN afford stuff but they won't reuse shit. I see ppl in America all the time throwing away food, plastic bags, any other shit because it's inconvenient to them. Yet they go on rampages about climate, pollution and Earth. Extreme fucking hypocrites.

So many lil Bill Gates's out there.

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JesseQuinn

don't buy plastic bottles except for shampoo/conditioner/red hair dye cuz I don't (yet) have a choice. my face powders and lip balms are in plastic too, same as my advil and diovol

my vitamins and such I have a choice to get them in little paper bags that are excellent for scooping cat litter. two come in plastic containers, apparently it's the 'rules' cuz not vitamins. paper bags at least bio-degrade

the wrapping on my cigs too. really why is that needed? also dish detergent and laundry powder. there are alternatives to all the above but just not available

don't drink soda and have my own wata bottle. fresh lime water down the street comes in a thick cardboard cup. my garbage bags are bio-degradable (as almost all are here)

plastic shopping bags banned, we carry our cloth ones when shopping. some who have cars just pack their stuff in the mountain of cardboard boxes left over when a product is unpacked. take out food (which I don't eat) comes in cardboard containers. still the plastic forks though...

everything I eat comes off the land on a plate or in tins (glycerna) or cans (tomato juice). stores sell glycerna in plastic bottles too, in 6 packs with those awful plastic rings around the pack no one bothers to cut up so birds etc get their necks stuck in them and can't hunt

small steps, but important ones. like I'm not gonna wash my hair and let it go brown and not smoke? might be an excuse not to do laundry though

reduce
reuse
recycle

it's a hierarchy for a reason

this is not sanctimonious ish, just demanding a better way

not gonna pretend all my flights don't impact the earth, and that's a fight for another day, but I don't need to buy shit in plastic where I can make other choices. we need more choices and that is what this conference and others are about. no one's guilting anyone else

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jscott

I wouldn't expect anything less from you Jesse.

Just wish other people would care too. Everytime I'm in North America I mostly see nobody gives a shit. It still seems to be a luxury to be able to waste food, everything. Sickening. And we still have these same people who cry "but climate, but pollution, but but but" fucking pisses me off. To those of you, change yourself before you preaching your fake concerns....

These are the same people who claim they love animals and will walk past an injured death-ridden animal in need of help.

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King Mark

You seem woke today. You use paper straws? Or you being one of them folks you complaining about?

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jscott

Woke is communism and retardation. I'm talking about prolonging/reusing your trash, almost every piece of trash can be reused for another purpose. Example, since you're definitely smashing BigMac's on the weekly, use those paper bags for cat litter....

Yathink anyone complaining about climate, pollution are doing this? Doubtful. Yathink Bill Gates or Gore doing this? Hell fucking no.

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JesseQuinn

pretty sure KM is vegan like me, we just don't make a fuss about it. can't speak to what he does with used bags (why does that sound dirty?)

but I think he has cats too. correct me if I'm wrong. that's what bags are for, unless he trained them to use the human toilet which would be badass but then I'd rag on him about water waste

would make my life so much easier if they used the human toilet instead of me shlepping litter 'cross town but my girls do not behave

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sarettah

I do. I try to avoid plastic bags as much as possible. My wife sewed up some tote bags 24 years ago when we moved into our house. We use them for shopping and if we forget them, we choose paper if it is offered. If we end up with plastic bags, we do not throw them away. They usually get re-used for various things around the house and when they really start wearing out, they go in the recycle bin.

Unfortunately, Kansas City requires plastic bags for the trash pickup, hopefully that changes soon. But I have recently been looking for a good plastic bag made from biologicals instead of petroleum. Unfortunately, on that front, there are few choices for a thick enough bag that won't rip through but we are working on that.

All plastics go into our recycling bin and that is supposed to help but I have recently become aware that some recycle companies just dump the plastic. I hope and wish that that is not true and if it is true that they stop soon and process all plastics, keeping them out of the landfill and the ocean.

My main vehicle is a 2019 Malibu Hybrid. I would go full electric but the cost is higher than I want to go. I am also aware that lithium batteries are not the best option but it is the only real option right now if you want to go full electric. I read an article a couple of days ago about a hydrogen powered car (can't remember what model) will be available soon. Once they come out, and the technologies (like fueling stations) exist, I will probably try to buy one.

We have plastic silverware that we use for pool parties but we reuse it. After the party, wash it all up. We bought that about 20 years ago and are still using it. I was not as aware of plastic pollution back then as I am now. If I was going to do it now I would buy a big set of steel utensils and use then for the parties.

I started reading Mother Earth News back when it first started, like 1970 or 71. I still get it every 2 months. That helped me become very aware of the effect that we have on our planet. I also have been pushing for solar since around 1976 when I was in the Navy stationed in Northern California. I met a bunch of old hippies that lived back in the woods and they really turned me on to the benefits of wind power and they were trying to do stuff with solar but the panels back then were prehistoric to the panels available today.

I want to put up solar panels but there really is not enough south facing roof for it to work well but recently I started researching what I can do with the space I have available.

Right after I moved in here (2000) I ditched the gas heater that was on the pool and just use available sunlight to heat it. It stays cold for a while but I am a swimmer and as far as I am concerned a pool shouldn't be warmer than the high 70s. My wife does not agree but she puts up with it. There are a few weeks in August that the temp can get up into the mid 80s so she has that couple of weeks.

Oh, I almost forgot. If I buy POP or Beer, it is always aluminum cans which I then recycle. If I buy milk I buy it in the wax container.

If we do end up buying plastic containers because that is the only way to get the product we reuse the hell out of them

Oh yeah, I recycle all my bags from Greenlight dispensary. They let you trade in up to 23 bags for $1.00 a piece. Very nice program that keeps me going to that dispensary.

I pick up trash as I walk through parking lots. I try to do whatever I can. I am far from perfect and fuck up sometimes but I am trying.

Anyway, I am not trying to brag because there are many people that are going much farther than I do. I am just trying to give you an honest answer.

If everybody tries a little bit, it will change a lot. If everybody tries really hard, the changes will be amazing.

In 1968 John Kennedy announced we were heading for the moon, in 1969 we got there.

In 1972 Nixon signed the clean water act, by the 80's and 90's a lot of the water pollution had disappeared. By 2016, we were basically getting clean water, most water problems that we dealt with prior to 2016 were having to do with ancient water systems with a lot of lead corroding into the drinking supply.

We can do amazing things if we stop being lazy and work at it a bit. If each of us does what we can stop new plastic from getting into the environment. Once that happens, we can start to reverse the issue. We will invent new technologies to extract micro-plastic from the environment. We will then be able to start cleaning up all the plastics floating around the oceans and on our lands.

Of course, we can also do nothing, as that is always a choice. We can continue to just by lazy fucks, throwing plastic bags out of cars, tossing plastic cups and plates in the woods and parking lots, we can continue to dump sewage into our waters. (Yes, that is happening again. Lake Erie is having big Algae blooms being fed by sewage.) We can do nothing and watch our planet dies before the next few generations go through.

The Earth has a tremendous ability to heal itself, but it has to have the chance. As long as we continue dumping shit in, the Earth will continue to degrade. If we can stop dumping all our shit in, the Earth will have a chance.

You have to start somewhere.

Part of my Mother Earth collection. Those are the tote bags behind the magazines.




One of our 24-year-old tote bags that my wife sewed.



Our plastic cartons and lids.

King Mark

I'm vegan, and I don't see how putting cat shit in paper bags benefits anybody. I scoop that shit out and let the trash folks handle it.

Anyway, I'm all about decreasing our dependence on our enemies oil and the health benefits (personal and planetary) that comes with it.

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JesseQuinn

but where do you put it? when scooping I mean. clearly you have a diff system than me but I scoop it, then carry it to the garbage bag

such a servant to my cats. no fucks given

I do wish they would follow instructions for toilet training though

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sarettah

When we have my daughters cats I take the litter and dump it in a corner of my yard and then cover it to keep our dogs out of it. It degrades pretty quickly,

sarettah

damn, I just finished reading through my posts and I have some stupid typos, I hate typos, at least when I make them.

So, so far these are what I found:

should be

********************************

should be

********************************

should be


Sorry for that, I hate when I do that.

sarettah

Bump - To The Top

HAPPY EARTH DAY!!!

BE GOOD TO OUR MOTHER EARTH!


We can change the world


NYC 1968/2005




NYC 2016

sarettah

A little Earth Day playlist:





















We have one world and we all have to share it together.

Be gentle to Mother Earth. Love more. Hate less. Take care of each other.

Huggles

Wow sarettah you put a ton of effort into these posts, you are clearly very, very passionate about this topic. I appreciate you and the videos you have posted are full of what feels like genuine emotion.

There must be a balance struck between the need for resources and the preservation of the ecology. Namaste! (or whatever)

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JesseQuinn

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sarettah

Yes, it is important to me.

CaptainHowdy

You guys forgot . . .

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Victor-E

There is no reason we can't recycle every single atom of our waste for profit other than lack of intellect and responsibility. We don't need to ban or subsidise anything. Just need to use technology to recycle or incinerate our trach as fuel and recapture the byproduct for building materials. The possibilities are endless. Every trash bag we throw away is money wasted.

Avoiding pollution should be the universal religion. I reuse as much as humanly possible. Haven't bought ziplock bags, trash bags or toilet paper in years, for example. I use a bidet and feel cleaner and healthier than ever. I even reuse saran wrap and aluminum foils. It really is a religion for me and it's become second nature and very easy to do. It's good for the environment and good for the soul.

jamezon

havent you heard about the big recycle lie lately , you cannot recycle 90% of the plastic , its been proven that millions of ambitious wifes and guys like you masturbated their ecological conscience trying to seperate plastic waste. at the end it all goes together is dumped somewhere or burned, and when it burns its toxic. there is no other way then reducing or stopping using it but nobody wants to hear this, the opposite is true we have 40x multiplied plastic consumation since the 1970ies

https://www.earthday.org/plastic-recycling-is-a-lie/

sarettah

Thanks for the article link. Very interesting. I had heard something similar but had not read up on it yet.

That was what i was referring to in this paragraph of my original post:

thanks for the clarification.

Huggles

I'm gonna go pour motor oil into a creek full of ducks because of this thread!

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sarettah

i can recognize sarcasm but what makes you think your statement is funny?

i apologize if you did not intend it as sarcasm but that would just make you a total fucking assfuck.

CurrentlySober

I agree about poolution though... Someone dumped a car engine in the local do poo bin!

Took me ages to walk to the other bin, in able to route through it!

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Huggles

It is called a shitpost, don't get your titties in a twist.

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sarettah

So, you are just a total fucking assfuck.

So noted.

Speigelau

Good read, thanks for all the work that went into this thread Sarettah

jscott

Hey @sarettah, are you against the global scamdemic?



are you anti-gold?

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sarettah

i am against any waste the ends up in the environment. It is pretty easy to make a mask out of biodegradables, there are technologies to mine gold that do not do non-repairable damage to the environment.

Now, please stop trying to bring your personal politics into this thread. Thanks in advance.