Another problem we as a society are facing is the number of children being born with food allergies, or celiacs disease, and I attribute that to the chemicals we put in our food, how just about every crop out there has been genetically modified to grow bigger, produce more and so on. I recently read a book on kindle called "wheat belly" and it talks about how our farmers have gone from the traditional wheat plant to a GE one that's more hardy, grows shorter, resist dry spells and bugs. The only problem is this new GE plant has an extra chromosome that our bodies weren't designed to digest. So people who are more sensitive to this extra gene have problems. Well I'm one of them! I actually have many food allergies that of which some I deal with like wheat but others I can't such as cow dairy, think of all the hormones we pump into cows to produce milk? I've successfully sustained from eating dairy for 10 years now. When I first eliminated it from my diet I lost 40 pounds in 2 months, basically my body getting rid of all the crap it couldn't do anything with.
Has anyone ever heard of the great mercury disaster coming our way?
Basically during the gold rush of California miners used mercury to separate gold. Well it worked very well and so it was mainstream to use it and dump once you were done. Now it's been discovered that the mercury in the mountains of Cali. Is starting to seep down to the growing fields of California.
I'm not sure the exact number but I've heard that California produces something like 70% of our nations nutritional needs. Now if that's right, we can possibly be facing a dangerous future.
Basically during the gold rush of California miners used mercury to separate gold. Well it worked very well and so it was mainstream to use it and dump once you were done. Now it's been discovered that the mercury in the mountains of Cali. Is starting to seep down to the growing fields of California.
I don't get it. Why is this year different than 50 years ago?
__________________
Those he commands move only in command, Nothing in love. Now does he feel his title, Hang loose about him, like a giant’s robe, Upon a dwarfish treasonous thief.
Well from what in understand the mercury has basically made its way deeper into the soil. To the point were it now is seeping into many of the local rivers. Where as 50 years ago the majority of the mercury was still in transit I guess. I agree 50 years ago mercury was known to be in many of the mountain ranges but but it's only now becoming a concern. I have to admit, I got this information from watching a show on discovery about gold mining, so who's to say there isn't once again an agenda behind the whole mercury scare. Also I think another reason is the encroachment of agriculture toward the mountains.
I don't know I guess what your saying is it's no surprise to you, I however never had it cross my mind. To be honest I thought a majority of our farmland was in the Midwest, not California.
And sorry I didn't make it clearer before but it's not a warning of this year, but rather a pending problem. They actually said it would take many, many years for the mercury to make its way toward the flatlands. One thing they did mention was whenever there is a heavy winter that creates abnormally high springtime runoff, that increases the rate of travel for the mercury.
The scope of the principal of moderation is amazingly wide when analyzed. Moderation for both inclusion and exclusion.
The possible effects of most of these things is very small. Further, even when the possible effect might be a little larger, it takes a massive amount of study to try to nail it down. Consider the large effect of smoking and how much time, study, and information collection it took to reliably nail it down with reasonable certainty. Few of these things are likely to have even a fraction of the effect that smoking has. What do you think the chances are of reliably establishing the effect of even ONE of these things, not to mention trying to include the combinatorial effects. Life span is a very stable property, meaningfully affected only by a very few large interventions (reduction in infant mortality, sanitation, suppressing epidemics, etc). Doesn't mean the policy issues should be ignored, but acute worry is usually not productive.
Much better to apply some broad principles of healthy living and not obsess on the newest danger of the week. Health wise, there's probably much more bang for the buck to be had by trying to minimize iatrogenic harm by resisting the medical marketing attempts to make everyone a patient.
If anyone is overly anxious about cancer, I highly recommend a book called "Should I be tested for cancer? Maybe not and here's why". Extremely well written and accessible, and a book I'm extremely glad to have come across. Cancer is about that last thing any young people should have on their mind.
__________________
2005 Limited V8
Bilstein 5100 at .85
5th gen SR5 springs
BFG AT KO2 LT265/70/17 Load C (Replaced Revo 2 LT265/70/17 Load E)
Hanna sliders
I'm not sure the exact number but I've heard that California produces something like 70% of our nations nutritional needs. Now if that's right, we can possibly be facing a dangerous future.
This is true for fruits and vegetables mainly. Things people eat by themselves or raw and not processed (in the least bad sense of the word) into another product. The midwest leads for a lot of other very important crops.
Even my own state, North Dakota, is the number one producer in: (putting on my boasting hat)
spring wheat
durum wheat
sunflowers
barley
all dry edible beans
navy beans
pinto beans
canola
flaxseed
dry peas
lentils
honey
You said nutritional needs so I'm assuming crops that have a lot of vitamins in them. That may be true but I doubt that all the farmland is in danger of Mercury creeping into the soil.
Not to say Cali doesn't produce a good amount of food but its not the top for everything out there and I'm not going to be too worried about it until theres an imminent problem. Not saying mercury isn't bad but for now theres no way to know how bad it can get until it starts to happen.
__________________ 2001 Sport, AOR Plate, Daystar/OME, Level 8 MK6, and other stuff with more to come...
Last edited by sportrunner2001; 05-07-2014 at 11:47 PM.
Dam, that's crazy! I always wondered what was in ND. Turns out oil and food.
I've driven through Cali. I-5 and the miles upon miles of fields but never could have imagined it was such a major producer. I agree mercury nothing to worry about as of now, however the thing that strikes me the most is how once again man has left their mark on the earth. And let's face it the thing to worry about right now is the lack of water. I think the average person takes the modern day grocery store for granted. We have basically everything you can think of year round, never do we consider how it got there.
Dam, that's crazy! I always wondered what was in ND. Turns out oil and food.
I've driven through Cali. I-5 and the miles upon miles of fields but never could have imagined it was such a major producer. I agree mercury nothing to worry about as of now, however the thing that strikes me the most is how once again man has left their mark on the earth. And let's face it the thing to worry about right now is the lack of water. I think the average person takes the modern day grocery store for granted. We have basically everything you can think of year round, never do we consider how it got there.
We have just about the same amount of water that we have had for the last billion years or so. It's just moved somewhere else for a little while.
All these chemicals are very scary and all, but whoever posted upthread that we live more than twice as long as we did 500 years ago is exactly on point. We DO live longer, and have more children, and consume more per capita, than ever before, That's going to continue at an exponential pace until we've outgrown this planet's resources, and then most of us are going to suffer long lingering painful deaths. That, to me, is a lot scarier than some chemical in plastic that may or may not give me boobs.
BPA in plastic doesn't scare me. Peak Water scares me.
__________________
.
'My needle always settles between west and southwest. The future lies that way to me, and the earth seems more unexhausted and richer on that side.' - Thoreau, sort of.
All these chemicals are very scary and all, but whoever posted upthread that we live more than twice as long as we did 500 years ago is exactly on point. We DO live longer, and have more children, and consume more per capita, than ever before, That's going to continue at an exponential pace until we've outgrown this planet's resources, and then most of us are going to suffer long lingering painful deaths. That, to me, is a lot scarier than some chemical in plastic that may or may not give me boobs.
BPA in plastic doesn't scare me. Peak Water scares me.
Ah grasshopper, you are right...and wrong lol! We do consume more per capita but the children thing? That's dropping. Yes, we are putting more people on the planet but the pace is slowing. Here is an excerpt from that website everybody says sucks:
The global growth rate peaked at 2.2% in 1963, and has declined to below 1.1% as of 2012.[7] Total annual births were highest in the late 1980s at about 138 million,[8] and are now expected to remain essentially constant at their 2011 level of 134 million, while deaths number 56 million per year, and are expected to increase to 80 million per year by 2040.[9]
The UN projects steadily declining population growth in the near future, with the global population expected to become between 8.3 and 10.9 billion by 2050
Now, this article is footnoted all the way back to caveman times so it has validity. The reason our population grew so fast during the early years is simple: Families wanted to have a bunch of kids to help them out. As families started making money the birthrate decreased. In the US we are at historic low births per family because the mom and dads are comfortable with their income and think they will be OK into retirement. Other parts of the world are showing the same birth decline too. In the not too distant future I am pretty sure the world population will stabilize at around 9 Billion and actually start dropping, due to the above and other factors such as resource management, etc.
So there. We require more stuff but in a little while the births and deaths will be evened out for a stable world population. If I were to really go out on a limb here with my wild assed ideas I think the big push for immigration reform is based on the US potentially losing population in the near future (50 years or so) and the tax base drying up, but that's just me.
'My needle always settles between west and southwest. The future lies that way to me, and the earth seems more unexhausted and richer on that side.' - Thoreau, sort of.
Ah grasshopper, you are right...and wrong lol! We do consume more per capita but the children thing? That's dropping. Yes, we are putting more people on the planet but the pace is slowing. Here is an excerpt from that website everybody says sucks:
The global growth rate peaked at 2.2% in 1963, and has declined to below 1.1% as of 2012.[7] Total annual births were highest in the late 1980s at about 138 million,[8] and are now expected to remain essentially constant at their 2011 level of 134 million, while deaths number 56 million per year, and are expected to increase to 80 million per year by 2040.[9]
The UN projects steadily declining population growth in the near future, with the global population expected to become between 8.3 and 10.9 billion by 2050
Now, this article is footnoted all the way back to caveman times so it has validity. The reason our population grew so fast during the early years is simple: Families wanted to have a bunch of kids to help them out. As families started making money the birthrate decreased. In the US we are at historic low births per family because the mom and dads are comfortable with their income and think they will be OK into retirement. Other parts of the world are showing the same birth decline too. In the not too distant future I am pretty sure the world population will stabilize at around 9 Billion and actually start dropping, due to the above and other factors such as resource management, etc.
So there. We require more stuff but in a little while the births and deaths will be evened out for a stable world population. If I were to really go out on a limb here with my wild assed ideas I think the big push for immigration reform is based on the US potentially losing population in the near future (50 years or so) and the tax base drying up, but that's just me.
Somewhat off topic, but my thread so
This BBC documentary illustrates pretty well exactly what you are saying:
As far as being scared to death about our environment and the fact that we are living longer in modern times, I think its important to distinguish the fact that most of us arent being unreasonable about making a common sense effort to reduce exposure wherever we can:
- Dont cook with teflon coated pans
- Use glass or steel instead of plastic
- Buy clothes made of natural fibers instead of synthetic
- Dont smoke?
- Wear a respirator when you are sanding or painting
- Dont huff gasoline
- wear gloves when you handle automotive or cleaning chemicals
- clean your stuff with vinegar and baking soda instead of bleach
- buy organic where possible
- use a R/O filter for your water
- dont use a microwave
The list goes on. Just being conscious about materials and methods is really all we need to do, right?
Don't huff gasoline....WHAT!!!
I think your forgetting who your talking too here, lol...
Actually, one of my favorite smells is from a boat motor, don't know why but man when ever I smell it the ol' brain takes me back to being a kid growing up at Martinez lake in Yuma Arizona. Man if I could have just hit the pause button and stayed there till I die it would be a wonderful life.
It may have something to do which the exhaust being filtered through water
haha when I was typing that list I put that in as a joke and apparently forgot to delete it. Leaving for work in the mornings, I have to exit the garage quickly because that stuff gives me a wicked headache. Cant really stand having the rear window down in the T4, which sucks. Need to reroute the exhaust pipe.
Somethin about the smell of fuel on the water though...I know what you mean! Getting the boats cranked up for a day of wake surfing with a cooler full of cold ones and good tunes. Makes the summers bearable until the snow starts falling again
Linear Mode
