IMO the media played a central role in the narrowing of the debate. Global warming offered so many hyperbolic predictions to headline, so many celebrities speaking out, so many simplistic graphs to illustrate the 'inconvenient truth'. Of course, it's our fault as least as much as theirs - ratings, sales and 'profits' are achieved by supplying that which is demanded in the media as in all capitalist industries. Folks need to stop driving to the mall, stop consuming needless crap, just slow down.
Today's article 'GMOs Are Killing the Bees, Butterflies, Birds and... ? by Katherine Paul and Ronnie Cummins is an example of the other equally important tragedies befalling the biosphere. The authors give short term materialist thinking a good boot in the ass, especially in the section that quotes science writer George Monbiot who says "neonicotinoids are the new DDT killing the natural world, 10,000 times more powerful than DDT". On his blog Monbiot explains how neonics, when applied to the seeds of crops, remain in the plant as it grows, killing the insects that eat the plant. "Other pollinators, including bees, hoverflies, butterflies, moths, and beetles that feed from the flowers of the treated crops, absorb enough of the pesticide to compromise their survival," says Monbiot.
Global warming IS real and our industrial footprint is the major component of it. We all have the personal responsibility to minimize our deleterious effect on the it and all aspects of the inter-connected bio-sphere we share with everything. GMOs and the related use of pesticides and herbicides are a real problem too. Every one of the apparently different issues on the 'Green Living' list below is a manifestation of how extractive capitalism's blinkered response to consumer's demands work in consort to destroy the environmental matrix that supports us all.
1. Contamination of Drinking Water: Contamination of fresh water used for household needs, including pollution of oceans, rivers, lakes, and reservoirs, ranks top on the list of environmental concerns for many Americans. More than half of respondents stated they worry about the safety of their drinking water a great deal.
2. Water Pollution: General worry over water pollution and associated environmental issues greatly concerns half of all Americans who participated in the 2008 poll. Related issues include acid rain, ocean dumping, urban runoff, oil spills, ocean acidification, and wastewater.
3. Soil Contamination: Soil erosion, soil conservation, soil salination, and soil contamination by waste, pesticides, and lead worries 50 percent of Americans.
4. Wildlife Conservation: More than 40 percent of Americans expressed concern about wildlife conservation and associated environmental issues, such as endangered species, animal and plant extinction, coral bleaching, introduction of invasive species, poaching, and loss of natural animal habitats resulting in relocation and a break in the food chain.
5. Air pollution: Concerns over air pollution have remained steady over the last decade, with more than 40 percent of Americans worried about indoor and outdoor air quality, carbon emissions, tropospheric ozone, particulate matter, sulfur oxides, volatile organic compounds, radon, refrigerants, and methane emissions.
6. Biological pollutants, including bacteria, viruses, molds, mildew, dander, dust, mites, pollen, ventilation and infection.
7. Carbon footprint and the responsibility of individuals to reduce their effect on the environment, including the use of renewable energy sources (solar power, geothermal heat pumps), recycling, and sustainable living.
8. Climate change and issues related to global warming, such as the greenhouse effect, global dimming, and the gradual rise in sea level.
9. Consumerism and over-consumption and their effect on the planet.
10. Dams and the impact of dams on the environment.
11. Ecosystem destruction and associated environmental concerns, such as aquaculture, estuaries, shellfish protection, landscaping, wetlands, and ecological restoration.
12. Energy conservation issues, including renewable energy for home and business, energy efficiency, and fossil fuel depletion.
13. Fishing and its effect on marine ecosystems, blast fishing, cyanide fishing, bottom trawling, whaling, and over-fishing.
14. Food safety concerns and the effects of hormones, antibiotics, preservatives, toxic contamination, and lack of quality control on health.
15. Genetic engineering, including concerns about genetically modified foods and genetic pollution.
16. Intensive farming, irrigation, overgrazing, monoculture, methane emissions, and the damaging environmental effects of deforestation for farming and cattle.
17. Land degradation and related problems, such as desertification and soil and land pollution.
18. Land use, urban sprawl, lack of free space, and habitat destruction and fragmentation.
19. Logging, deforestation, clear-cutting, destruction of wildlife habitats, and greenhouse gas emissions that contribute to global warming.
20. Mining and its role in global warming, acid mine drainage, and soil and air pollution resulting from toxic emissions and heavy metals.
21. Nanotechnology and the future effects of nanopollution and nanotoxicology.
22. Natural disasters and their impact on all aspects of the environment.
23. Nuclear issues, including the effects of nuclear fallout, nuclear meltdown, radioactive waste, and the population's reliance on nuclear power.
24. Other pollution issues, such as light pollution and noise pollution, and their effects on human health and behavior.
25. Overpopulation concerns, such as continued building and burial.
26. Ozone depletion and damage to the Earth's ozone layer caused by CFC.
27. Resource depletion, the need for newer, cleaner energy sources, and exploitation of natural resources.
28. Sustainable communities and issues such as reducing reliance on fossil fuels, supporting local farmers and merchants, encouraging green practices and building, consideration of native wildlife, and adoption of mass transportation and cleaner methods of commuting.
29. Toxins, including chlorofluorocarbons, heavy metals, pesticides, herbicides, toxic waste, PCB, DDT, bio-accumulation, endocrine disruptors, asbestos, and poorly implemented hazardous waste management.
30. Waste and associated environmental issues, such as litter, landfills, recycling, incineration, marine debris, E-waste, and contamination of water and soil caused by improper disposal and leaching toxins.
There's many others too, but the sun is out, the mist from last night's rain storm is rising, there's chores to be done and my best friend waiting patiently for us to get out there and do 'em.
