Waterlife Documentary

Not your typical documentary, but it does the job to get the message across. Again, we are talking about another resource that people take for granted. Water is THE most important resource to us, as our bodies are composed of it and it is needed to survive. Beyond the water itself is a vast array of marine wildlife, another resource which we depend on--fish. Like mentioned in the documentary, if you cannot eat the fish in a lake, then there is a major problem (if there are even any fish left). People (myself included) do not realize how important the Great Lakes are and that their destruction is an indicator as to the bigger picture. Wetlands that surround the Great Lakes are hugely important and vital to the Great Lakes acting as natural filters and protection for fish reproduction. Introduced invasive species are next to impossible to remove, meaning once they have made their way into the Great Lakes, they are there to stay.

I was a little surprised to hear that the Great Lakes are actually decreasing due to increased evaporation. With less rain and snowfall, the water levels are going down. Though that opposes the theory of climate change causing sea levels to rise, it is still a huge indicator that climate change is incredible serious. Also, on top of sea level changes due to other "unseen" causes, dredging the lake floors to deepen them for ships is happening which seems crazy! How are they doing this in a way that marine life is not effected? And speaking of marine life, the fact that there are "intersex" frogs being found with male and female sex organs, as well as alteration of fish from male to female seems astounding. Considering the acceleration of everything on Earth, who knows how long it will be until we are seeing increased number of human babies born intersex? (Above any natural occurrences).

Lastly, I felt that it was hardest to watch the excerpt on the St. Lawrence Beluga whales. I had never heard that they were considered an endangered species, but hearing that they are the number one most contaminated marine animal in the world is astounding. 1/4 of adult females are dying from cancer. CANCER. Beluga whales can get cancer? I find it horrible that our poor pets like dogs and cats can develop cancer, but Beluga whales? These mammals are caught in a vicious cycle, as in the documentary they said that mother whales are passing down the contaminates to baby whales, which are then introduced to new contaminants mixing with the old...it is only a matter of time before the thousands of Beluga whales become hundreds.

Where does it all end? I have found that upon entering the Environmental Studies program I have learned of horrors beyond horrors. As concerned as I was for recycling, animals, the air we breath etc, I was blind to the deeper problems. And people do not care. I find that co-workers and even family members humour me when I pull cardboard out of the garbage and lecture on recycling. Then everybody gets proud because we are recycling so much now. Recycling is a start, but it is not enough. My common dilemma is the constant thoughts running through my head. It is tiring reading label after label, and trying to really go deeper into where the products I am consuming are coming from. That is why people don't care, because it is currently "work" to care. If everything started from the roots (ie, corporations, industries, manufacturers, etc) making almost everything eco-friendly, eco-choice, etc, then making the right decision could get easy. It is great that being "green" is somewhat of a trend, but until it really takes off to almost all of the products we regularly consume then "eco" will still cost more money than "non-eco" and so on. Maybe it is like anti-smoking campaigns. Frighten people into stopping smoking with commercials of people who have just barely survived cancer with part of their face missing. Yes, there are a lot of popular films out there like "An Inconvenient Truth" that do try and install that fear into people, but maybe it should be on cartons as well. Or on packaging for companies refusing to use recycled plastic or promote recycling. Maybe a picture of a decomposing bird with 500 bottle caps inside it's carcass.

I guess the answer is to keep trying. That is why I am in this program. I think maybe one person can make a difference. And if 500 people think that exact same thing, then we have 500 people making a difference, and so on. Even though at times I get the feeling of defeat, it is something that just adds to my "To Do" list in life. The Beluga whale in the documentary almost looked as if it was smiling, even though it may have riddled with cancer. It doesn't deserve to inherit our diseases, as much as our children don't deserve so. Positivity is key, no matter the grimness of what is going on in the world right now.

Image taken from http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3204/3088444269_4cd35a9f74.jpg

Summary - Selection 20

Impacts of Biodiversity Loss on Ocean Ecosystem Services by Boris Worm et al.

Just because the oceans are enormous and vast, it does not mean that human activity will not have any impact. What is happening is that there are huge losses in populations and species. With the marine diversity loss comes a loss in the ocean's ability to provide food and maintain water quality. What is questionable is if they can recover. People need to realize the importance of a rich marine biodiversity, which does not include any invasive species. Without a healthy population of marine species, humans can become affected from those services such as fishing, flood control, and waste detoxification. It is not just oceans that are being affected, estuaries, coral reefs, and coastal and oceanic fish communities are as well.

Through experiments on examining the effects of variations in marine diversity, Worm concluded that as biodiversity is lost, so goes the loss of ecosystem services. The rate of fisheries will collapse which can also affect economic opportunities. Though the results were drastic, he at least concluded that it is possible to recover lost biodiversity and perhaps reverse some of the damages. We need to work on preserving local populations and managing our industrial growth in order to stabilize the losses without sabotaging the marine ecosystems. We need highly diversified systems to provide us with more services. Consistent changes in our lifestyles across the world also will help with marine ecosystems, such as pollution control, maintaining habitats, reserving any sort of wildlife, practise sustainable fishing and have true appreciation for the services that our ecosystems provide for us.

Summary - Selection 10

Life and Death of the Salt Marsh by John Teal and Mildred Teal

The Teals are expressing a simple beauty and necessity of salt marshes along North America's eastern coast. Aside from being a natural phenomenon, they hoard wildlife, natural filters, and help out in times of trouble. Their prime example in the disastrous change in salt marshes would be the significant change in odour. From a faint scent to rotten egg stink, we are exposed to an indicator that pollution and industrial expansion are heavily effecting our salt marshes. Population pressure, roads, and public access are all part of the destruction of salt marshes. People need to have knowledge of the benefits that salt marshes have for us, or else their safety from corporations that sucker towns into allowing increased development will be lost. The Teals believe that there needs to be a lot of planning in preserving salt marshes in their entirety, and enforcing safeguards in the protection against the pressures of an increasing population.

Summary - Selection 31

Living Downstream: An Ecologist Looks at Cancer and the Environment by Sandra Steingraber

Sandra Steingraber is a cancer survivor herself. In telling her story and family history, she came to the realization that there aren't cancer genes, but trigger factors in the environment around us. Sandra is adopted, yet she was cancerous at a young age and many of her adoptive family members had similar forms of cancer. Her theory is that families tend to share environments and would be exposed to similar toxins. Contaminants called aromatic amines are found in cigarette smoke, dyes for clothes and leather, printing and colour photographs. Granted, genetics aren't always going to be perfect and leave some people more susceptible to get cancer. Sandra specifically talks about bladder cancer which seems to be sensitive to a lot of factors such as carcinogens in rivers and ground water. Specifically, Sandra discusses an aromatic amine called 0-toluidine which can be found in the dyes of commercial textiles. Other chemicals of concern mentioned are trihalomethanes (by-products of water chlorination) which also link to bladder cancer.

There are many questions that should be asked, in Sandra's view. Her concern is the big "why?" Why are these chemicals being used--or still used, after many years? What happens to them after their release into the environment? Why are products continually being manufactured with proof of their linkage to bladder cancer? There are so many factors involved in ones health, many are unknown. There is difficulty in finding exact causes because it could be a variety of unseen contaminants. Carcinogens that do get into the environment and into our bodies can stick around in our human tissue or just remain in the environment. Looking back to the physical environments that we grew up in instead of the history of distant relatives could be key in finding answers. Sandra believes that we should be preventing these toxins from being used rather than releasing them or disposing them into the environment around us. In her conclusion Sandra discusses the "principle of the least toxic alternative," which stops the use of the harmful chemicals if they can be replaced by non toxic alternatives as well as supporting people to make the change. It should be the first choice of any person on the planet to use the safest alternative so that release of any sort of chemical carcinogen can be abolished.

This article was less difficult to read than others in this book. Every single person has been touched by cancer, whether be a loved one, friend, or idol. It is a scary and real disease, and people cringe when they hear the word. I found Sandra's view on how genetics have little to do with getting cancer. It makes a lot of sense that we could live a life cancer free without some sort of airborne toxins triggering the cancer cells or "fragile" genes that could aid the toxins in forming into cancerous cells.

Summary - Selection 33

At the Shrine of Our Lady of Fatima or Why Political Questions Are Not All Economic by Mark Sagoff

Sagoff has written a brief excerpt about corporate "big wigs" vs. "the people." Using the town of Lewiston, New York as an example, Sagoff explains a bit about the site that people live on which radioactive wastes had been buried. There were cases of leukemia found in children, and many other health risks were noted or feared. A response to their concerns involved money--would they choose to live in Lewiston with knowledge of the wastes if it were a free market?

The financial point leads to the rest of Sagoff's article, where he argues that when health and safety are involved, people should not have to pay major amounts of money to get that safety. Using examples as workplaces safety when working around health hazards, he stretches out his point--protection of our culture, history, aesthetics, morals, and health should be publicly shared issues which treat people equally on all levels. If one cannot afford to pay for safety and health then they should not lose their right to have that safety and health where there are no other choices. There should not be a sense of hierarchy between corporations or politicians. Going back the the exampled of Lewiston, New York, the people were given an answer that was meant to bring the corporation "down to their level" when really it seemed to have caused an even greater gap of misunderstanding. They did not want to hear that the corporation was "just people serving people," as it was almost belittling them and their concerns.

Sagoff believes that people should come together as communities or even as a nation instead of acting as individuals. Public law is important, but even more so are the people that it concerns.

e-Waste

I'm happy to say for the most part my family is OK when it comes to e-Waste. Aside from my Mom losing/accidentally throwing away cell phones, we keep old ones for emergency back up or return them to an MTS outlet to be recycled. We aren't big on upgrading electronics (we only recently put some money together for a large flat screen TV) but old ones are still put to good use. There is, however, an odd balance between old and upgrades. Old TVs may use more heat and power, whereby new ones are made to be more energy efficient. If you have perfectly good televisions or electronics and are still upgrading, why waste the energy from assembling a new one when the old is still good? Actually, the more I think about it, the worse off we actually are. We do have TVs sitting around waiting to be used. Though unplugged, they could potentially become a nuisance and get thrown away with the garbage. In the last 10 years we have only actually thrown away one stereo system.

Image taken from http://www.trade2save.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2008/07/ewaste-worker-on-a-mountain-of-e-waste.jpg