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EARTH BURDEN GROWS WITH POPULATION

August 8, 2023 by

earth burden

If the earth burden grows with population, will it shrink with a population decrease?

Not when we hear about ‘forever chemicals.’

How does anyone rebound from a ‘forever’ problem?

By the way, ‘forever’ is spelled PFAS.

For decades, chemical companies covered up evidence of PFAS’ health hazards. Today nearly all Americans, including newborn babies, have PFAS in their blood, and more than 200 million people may be drinking PFAS-tainted water. What began as a “miracle of modern chemistry” is now a national crisis.

In 1946, DuPont introduced nonstick cookware coated with Teflon. Today the family of fluorinated chemicals that sprang from Teflon includes thousands of nonstick, stain-repellent and waterproof compounds called PFAS, short for per- and poly-fluoroalkyl substances.

From my lofty perch in Blogger Tower I can see we the people have the same earth burden as our planet.

So it’s a wash, a breakeven, so why make an effort to change?

In some corners people call any report on pollution a ‘scare tactic.’

If you’re not too scared, take a look at your teflon pans with their no-stick surface.

Do you see some scratches or deterioration? Where did the missing material go?

“Don’t use a metal spatula when you scramble eggs.”

“Oh sure, now you’re the big expert on science.”

“Medicine, too.”

Numerous studies link these and closely related PFAS chemicals to:

  • Testicular, kidney, liver and pancreatic cancer.
  • Reproductive problems
  • Weakened childhood immunity
  • Low birth weight
  • Endocrine disruption
  • Increased cholesterol
  • Weight gain in children and dieting adults

Take A Good Look Around Your Hometown

earth burden

Look around Portland for a Superfund Site.

You’ll find it in the Willamette River section called the Portland Harbor.

These (water) discharges contained contaminants of concern (COCs). There are 64 total COCs at the Site, with most of the human health and ecological risks attributed to polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), polycylic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), DDx (DDT, DDE, DDD), and dioxins/furans. The COCs have degraded the natural resources in the Willamette River.

Do all of these chemical acronyms sound spooky? Like a path to a bad end? That’s the local earth burden

Keep looking around Oregon for even more work to be done.

Since this is a state known for it’s natural beauty, why not make it more than skin deep?

No one wants to dig a killer clam, or land a killer carp.

Know more about fresh water fish from water that’s not very fresh.

And don’t cook it in a teflon coated pan for best results.

What You Can Do To Ease The Earth Burden

earth burden

Find something you care about and help them have a good life.

One of the saddest posters of all time is the lost pet poster.

If you don’t have a pet, never had a pet, and never plan on having one, it’s just a cat.

This is just a dog:

earth burden

This is just a river:

But, like many Oregonians, I identify with the Columbia Gorge being a world wide phenomena where a river cuts through a mountain range.

I also love my dog and feel bad for the lady who lost her cat.

Call me soft, or concerned, but pets are important.

No one wants to lose those furry buddies.

But some people still consider them insignificant to them.

The pet owner counters with the significance their pets have on kids, the elderly, and the random baby boomer.

I believe people still care about their environment and the organisms that share it.

This may be our ‘canary in a coal mine’ moment.

Coal miners used to take canaries into coal mines with them. Canaries are more sensitive to dangerous gases than humans are.

If the canary died, the miners knew there were dangerous gases present and would leave the mine.

If you’re not a coal miner, and don’t have a canary, what can you do to help?

What can we do?

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Do the little things. Tell others how they can help.

Starting a change takes time.

In July 1970, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) was established in response to the growing public demand for cleaner water, air, and land—its mission to protect the environment and public health.

Earth Day also was the precursor of the largest grassroots environmental movement in U.S. history and the impetus for national legislation such as the Clean Air and Clean Water acts.

Earth Day: 1970 to 2023, and beyond.

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About David Gillaspie

I am a writer. This is my blog story day by day.

Comments

  1. Alex Paul says
    August 8, 2023 at 12:55 pm

    Excellent article! And there are so many other chemicals of concern! Glyphosate (roundup) is sprayed on 98% of all the wheat harvested in the US. It saves money when harvesting and speeds up the drying time.

    Most of the rest of the world, including Russia, cut the wheat, let it dry in the field. Then harvest it. Here we spray it with Roundup and it soaks into the wheat and is never removed. So when we eat wheat products we consume glyphosate, which is supposedly safe cause it is an herbicide, not a pesticide.

    But we have a lot of bacteria in our guts that produce enzymes critical to our health and glyphosate kills them. And if that wasn’t bad enough, our bodies can only discharge a finite amount each day, so if we take in more than we can dump, the body forces the stuff into our fat cells. But then the fat cell absorbs water to reduce the toxic load and we gain water weight. That is why people look puffy and have a hard time losing weight by simply reducing calories.

    Body weight is somewhat reduced by negative calories from dieting vs. exercise, but that still doesn’t detoxify so the water weight remains. I stopped eating wheat and others like oats and barley that are all harvested using glyphosate when I got to 267 pounds. Now I’m at 227, lost 40 pounds and was never hungry. That is why the keto diets work, no more bread.

    It’s not the carbs as much as giving our bodies a chance to detox. Again thanks for the well written blog and alerting about the danger of teflon. Keep it up, you’ll never run out of subject matter!

    • David Gillaspie says
      August 9, 2023 at 5:41 am

      Thanks for coming in Alex. This is the sort of comment that makes me believe in blogs.

      Roundup has always been a red flag in my mind. Its use brings images of DDT sprayed everywhere before science stepped up.

      null

      Good call on the weight loss, and congratulations. Forty pounds is not an easy cut.

      Now you’ve got me looking at Roundup use.

      https://kswheat.com/news/the-truth-about-roundup-in-wheat

      From this link: “After talking to the real experts who have spent years learning about the wheat industry in classrooms, labs and fields, I can’t help but conclude that the conventional wheat supply is safe. If you disagree, please feel free to support organic wheat farmers with your business.”

      We can take that invitation from Kansas.

      I did a quick run on a Roundup search and what showed up? Agent Orange.

      https://theecologist.org/2016/oct/10/first-agent-orange-now-roundup-whats-monsanto-vietnam-ecologist-special-investigation

      “Monsanto acknowledges that in the past it made toxins to order, but these days it claims its focus is solely on agriculture. That’s how Monsanto sees it – clearly failing to recognize Roundup’s wider threat as a toxin.”

      Thanks again, Alex