Category: Environment

NaPoWriMo 5

On By WinstonIn Enlightenment, Environment, Global Issues, NaPoWriMo, Personal Responsibility, Self Awareness, Society, ValuesLeave a comment

THE FUTURE

We see a shape but dimly there

Not certain what we see.

Project on it our hopes and fears,

No clue what it will be.

 

A thing of beauty it may be,

Yet certain we are not.

It may be brutal or bizarre,

May prove ice cold or hot.

 

The problem is we cannot know

Until we reach that time.

If it will be a paradise,

Or childbirth a crime.

 

What we must now remember most,

It will be what we make.

Our children and their children shall,

Pay then, what we now take.

 

So live your life with one eye now,

With one the future seek.

And leave to them a dream we built,

Not nightmare dark and bleak.

 

Cheers, Winston

 

Personal Creativity Project: Poetry

On By WinstonIn Environment, Humor, Personal Creativity Project,, PoetryLeave a comment

For those who thought I might be done with poetry…. that will probably never be the case.  Tonights verse is courtesy of the wilderness  is my backyard.  It got to the point my dog didn’t have room to go out to go pee.  So Lynn and I got busy and reclaimed part of it for him.  just not sure when we’ll get to the rest of it.

Nature’s Kingdom

My yard is overgrown and the weeds are quite extreme,
And if I don’t do something soon I’ll hear the neighbors scream.

I have a honeysuckle vine that once fit in a pot ,
But now it’s twenty feet or more to give or take a jot.

The locals think the look of it is really quite a fright,
But birds and all the critters seem quite thrilled to see this sight.

So do I cut it to the ground avoid my neighbors wrath,
Or leave it to the birds and bees let nature take her path?

Cheers, Winston

Personal Poetry Challenge Day Thirty-Eight

On By WinstonIn Environment, Personal Poetry Writing Challenge, PoetryLeave a comment

The whale which washed up on Canada’s east coast is on it’s way to the Royal Ontario Museum.  Hopefully it’s body will advance our knowledge of them magnificent creatures.  May it’s bones be an inspiration to all who see them.

The Whale & The Future

A whale died upon the coast,
It’s death was not in vain.
It’s being moved far from the sea,
The shore it shall not stain.

A far museum has laid claim,
Tis there it’s bones shall rest.
When tens of thousands pass in awe,
None fail to be impressed.

To stand before this titans bones,
To marvel at their girth.
I hope will help us understand,
Our place upon this Earth.

If we’re the cause of it’s passing,
We need to stop and think,
Of all the other’s still out there,
We’ve pushed right to the brink.

So if it’s bones can help us see,
At last to understand.
Then maybe it was meant to be,
It’s fate to come to land.

Someone who looks upon it’s bones,
May then take up the fight.
To end the hunt and save the whales,
Do what they know is right.

So grieve for it if grieve you must,
But celebrate its gift.
It came to us from out the sea,
Our spirits to uplift.

Cheers, Winston

NaPoWriMo Day Twenty-Seven

On By WinstonIn Environment, NaPoWriMo, Poetry, Society, ValuesLeave a comment

Commercial whaling is basically a vile practice.  It has been outlawed by the international community and yet some countries persist.  Fortunately, some very brave people are committed to ending this crime.  They are……

The Sea Shepherds

They roam the oceans to the south,
To keep the whales free.
Sea Shepherds lives are on the line,
To end the whalers spree.

Outnumbered they persist despite,
The fact they’re risking all.
To save a whale they’ll take that chance,
They’re answering their call,

The Japanese insist science,
Is why they hunt the whale.
But thousands slain can only tell,
What kind of meat’s for sale.

The Shepherds play a deadly game,
Against a deadly foe.
But they believe right can beat might,
Once more to sea they go.

We can’t afford to lose more whales,
The vital role they play,
We’ve lost too many as it is,
The time to stop’s today.

Support your local Sea Shepherds

Cheers, Winston

NaPoWriMo Day Twenty-Two

On By WinstonIn Environment, NaPoWriMo, Personal Responsibility, Poetry, Values3 Comments

For those who hadn’t heard, today is Earth Day.  This is the one day each year when we’re supposed to put away our rampant consumerism and give a crap about the planet we live on.  Seems to me that it might need more than one day a year.  Maybe that’s just me.

Thoughts On The Occaission Of Earth Day.

Earth Day today but what’s that mean?
Can one day save the world?
Now really can this day we claim,
Undo the the filth we’ve hurled?

We say we want to change the world,
But that impulse will pass.
We celebrate the earth today,
Tomorrow frack some gas.

We bemoan the latest oil spill,
As we fill up our cars.
Then drive away beneath the smog,
Say how we miss the stars.

We build our subdivisions on,
The best farmland around.
And then complain that fresh produce,
Costs so much by the pound.

Our kids and grandkids pay the price,
For what we do today.
If we don’t change the way we live,
A price too high to pay.

I am no better than the rest,
As I stand here and preach.
We all must change myself as well,
That is the truth I’d teach.

If you would change the world, first change yourself.

Cheers, Winston

NaPoWriMo Day Fourteen

On By WinstonIn Environment, NaPoWriMo, Poetry, Politics, SocietyLeave a comment

If todays post seems a little bleak, just chalk it up to me still suffering with my cold and reading way too much news on my day off. 

Not Today…. But SOON.

Now once again the skies are dark,
No rockets fly today.
The drive and budget for the stars,
Have long since gone away.

We sit and watch our planet fail,
We know it cannot last.
Our dreams of getting off our rock,
Now languish in our past.

We built a chance then squandered it.
On petty brinkmanship,
Our leaders need to buy votes then,
Denied our future trip.

We could have worked as one for once
Our future to redeem.
Instead we stood our ground to make,
Our nation-state supreme

If we had looked ahead a bit,
We wouldn’t be here now.
Where fifty billion mourn the loss,
Of Earth’s last, lonely cow .

When oceans rose and drowned our shores,
We shouldn’t have been here.
There were the means just not the will,
To save mankind so dear.

So now I stand alone and watch,
The ending of my race,
I look up at the stars and wish,
That we had gone to space.

Cheers, Winston

NaPoWriMo Day:22 Spare A Thought

On By WinstonIn Environment, Global Issues, Loving Life, NaPoWriMo, Personal Responsibility, UncategorizedLeave a comment

My 22nd NaPoWriMo effort is in honor of Earth Day.

Earth Day

A vernal warmth is on the land
As round the seasons go.
On this small world we call Earth
The only home we know.

She gives to us all that we need
Trash is all we give back.
The water’s dead, the soil too
The very sky is black.

We take so much then take some more
We take until we die.
Well what if we gave back instead
At least we ought to try.

Try taking less reusing more
Perfection’s not the goal.
For every single, smallest thing
Helps heal her wounded soul.

Plant some flowers or plant a tree
Put feeders in your yard.
Leave the car and take a walk
It’s really not that hard.

The Earth she needs your help my friend
She needs your help to heal.
It’s easier to just not look.
That won’t make it less real.

So won’t you please come work with us?
The time is now at hand.
To take much less and give much more
It’s time to heal the land.

Cheer, Winston

Thank You Rachel Carson

On By WinstonIn Environment, Global Issues, Politics, Society, Uncategorized, ValuesLeave a comment

I just wanted to give a quick shout out to Miss Carson during the demi-Centennial year of her book “Silent Spring”. For those unfamiliar with it, the book described a very near future in which one could walk through any suburban neighborhood without hearing a cicada, sparrow, or any other natural sound. All due to the rampant and uninformed use of DDT.

It was a brilliant and terrifying book and it led to an eventual ban on the residential use of DDT and limited its use in many other areas as well. Before you write her off as some sort of “green” nutjob, look a little closer. Rachel never advocated a ban on DDT, only a requirement to place responsible limits on its use. She was fully aware of the benefits of chemical pesticides particularly in the fight against insect born diseases such as malaria.

The chemical industry however paints Miss Carson in a different light. They portray her clinging to the lunatic fringe, hysterically demanding a ban on DDT. They also tend to hold her personally responsible for every malaria death in sub-Saharan Africa. According to the pro-chemical crowd, DDT spraying in Africa was stopped because she got DDT banned. That’s not quite the truth. Spraying programs in Africa stopped for the same reasons as any other aid program, a lack of funding and political will. It’s perfectly legal to export DDT to Africa and countries there don’t have the same environmental restrictions we do here.

For those who aren’t familiar with it, DDT is a neurotoxin. It is also a cumulative toxin, which means it is stored in fat tissues and builds up in the system over time. Beyond simple deaths, sub-lethal levels present a more insious hazard. It causes reproductive issues and subsequent developmental problems in the offspring.

But wait, it gets better. It also accumulates in the food chain. One bird eats a thousand bugs. One cat eats ten birds. One fox eats four cats. The fox now has roughly forty thousand doses of DDT in its system. That can’t possibly be a good thing.

But wait, it’s about to get better again. It’s also environmentally persistent. So after you spray, it’s in the water, it’s in the soil, it’s in the air. Oh goody. Now that can’t possibly be a good thing. Eventually, all those little droplets make their way through the environment into the food chain. Once they get into there, it’s only a matter of time until they make their way into you and I.

So yes, I think “Silent Spring” was an important book and Miss Carson did us all a huge service by writing it and putting up with a lifetime of vilification. I don’t know what the world would look like without her work, and but I firmly believe it would have been one hell of a lot quieter……. and not in a good way.

That’s why we should all say, “Thank you Rachel Carson”.

Cheers Winston

Welcome To Pavillion Wyo. Population: Poisoned

On By WinstonIn Environment, Global Issues, Personal Responsibility, Society, Values1 Comment

A story on MSNBC caught my eye today.  For years now, the residents of Pavillion Wyoming have been complaining about their drinking water.  They claim it’s turned black and stinks of gasoline.  Many are claiming serious health issues relate to the problems with the water.  Why am I writing about this?

Well, aside from the genuine tragedy of the situation, there’s a Canadian connection to all of this.  You see, Pavillion sits on a large natural gas deposit.  The only practicable way to get to that gas is process known as “fracking”.

This process involves pumping a mix of water and toxic chemicals under high pressure deep underground to fracture the rock strata and release the gas.  Residents have long been convinced that this is the source of the problems with their water.  Not least because the start of “fracking” and the problems with the water were too close together to seem entirely coincidental.

What does all that have to do with Canada?  Well, as you may know we have a companies here with a lot of experience at pulling fossil fuels out of the ground regardless of the cost.  At least the environmental cost.  One of those is called EnCana.

When the people of Pavillion originally spoke up about their concerns, the company that owned the drilling rights decided it was a good time to cut their losses.  All they needed was a buyer with more cash than ethics.  Fortunately, EnCana fit that bill perfectly.

For years now they have been insisting that the issues with the local aquifer have nothing to do with all the chemicals and toxins they pump into the ground.  I mean really, what are the odds that toxic water pumped into the ground could possibly contaminate the groundwater?

Apparently, they may have miscalculated.  Responding to the ongoing concerns of the residents, the Environmental Protection Agency drilled a couple of deep monitoring wells in the area.  Can anyone guess what they found?

If you said nothing, go buy some EnCana shares.  If you said seriously life threatening levels of exactly the sort of toxins one associates with “fracking”.   These include 2-Butoxyethanol, commonly used in the “fracking” process, fifty times the safe levels of Benzene, Phenois, Acetone, Toluene, Napthalene and Diesel Fuel.  Despite attempts at damage control by EnCana, there were no traces of Nitrates or fertilizers which would have pointed to an agricultural source for the contamination.

Nope, there’s only one source, and in the words of Battlestar Gallactica’s Starbuck, “It’s pretty “fracking” obvious!”

The EPA has released the raw data, but to minimize any claims of error, they are holding off publishing findings pending further analysis.  They want to have all their ducks in a row before it all gets tied up in court for the next thirty years or so.

Meanwhile back in Pavillion Wyoming.  EnCana has denied any culpability for the contaminated ground water.  It is an act of pure charity that sees them supplying drinking water to the townsfolk.  At the same time, they are said to negotiating the sale of their local wells to an outfit from Texas.

The previous owners may not have taught them a clean way to get gas out of the ground, but at least they taught them to cut and run when the going gets tough.

Let’s be clear on one thing though.  When I talk about EnCana’s underhanded dealings with the nice folks of Pavillion, I’m not just talking about a greedy CEO or even a greed Board of Directors.  I’m talking about the greedy shareholders who don’t waste a lot of time looking at the ethical stance of the companies in their portfolios.  They just look at the bottom line and congratulate themselves on backing a winner.

If the EPA rules that EnCana and it’s predecessor and probable successor are responsible for the issues in Pavillion, then their stocks should be frozen the moment the handwriting is on the wall.  The people who wanted to profit off the misery of others shouldn’t really be given a chance to sell out.  Maybe losing some money will make them a little more sympathetic to those who’ve lost their health, their peace of mind, their homes and for  some, their lives.  As for the executives and their boards of directors, all of their assets should be seized and turned over to their victims and they should be banned for life from holding such positions of authority and abuse.

Just one person’s opinion.

Cheers, Winston

Happy 40th Greenpeace!

On By WinstonIn Education, Environment, Global Issues, Green Energy, Personal Responsibility, Politics, Society, ValuesLeave a comment
http://www.greenpeace.org

Despite the fondest wishes of so many who opposed it, Greenpeace turned forty this year.  I remember as a child back in the early ’70s listening to all the talk about this group of “hippies” that were interfering with nuclear testing.  Because of the cold war, it seemed pretty obvious to a child like me that if no one could test nukes, maybe they wouldn’t be able to destroy the world with them.  Then I learned a little more.

From my late teens to my mid-twenties, I went through a more conservative phase where I believed they were a menace.  They hadn’t stopped nuclear testing to save me, but to save a bunch of wildlife.  I like wildlife as much as the next person, but let’s get our priorities straight shall we.  Then I learned a little more.

For the past fifteen years or so, I’ve been a dues paying member of Greenpeace.  I’ve watched the world stand by and allow the wholesale destruction of the natural world.  Only one group that I’ve seen has put out a consistent message backed by non-violent action to try an curb that trend.  That group is Greenpeace.

Contrary To Their Commercials, This Is What The Tar Sands REALLY Look Like

Yep, that’s beautiful northern Alberta in Canada.  The company’s that run the oil sands projects have been putting out commercials that make it look all clean and friendly.  (I was going to put a link to the ad here, but can’t seem to find that commercial anywhere.)

Greenpeace has been fighting for years to get some sort of environmentally responsible action from CAPP (Canadian Association of Petroleum Producers).  Activists have occupied sites, caused work stoppages and worked to make the rest of the world aware of this tragic rape of Canada’s wilderness.  It’s a slow process, made more so when the government at every level is on the side of those committing the crime.

They wanted to “save the whales” before it became a catchall phrase to describe anyone who cares about the environment.  They also worked to keep Antarctica free, to stop overfishing on the high seas, to stop deforestation in South America, stop toxic and nuclear waste from being dumped into high seas, to stop our society from creating toxic nightmares by selling our electronic waste to companies that dump it on impoverished, third world shorelines to be manually broken down, recycled and burned in open fires.

Yeah, I can see now why some people think they’re radicals.  Obviously, their opposition to genetically modified crops is just a ploy to cause famine.  It couldn’t possibly have to do with Monsanto and co. owning the genetic rights to an ever increasing slice of the worlds seed crops.   Nonsense, how could that possibly be a bad thing.  It’s not like they can claim the rights to seeds from plants which have been inadvertently been cross pollinated from a neighboring field.  Oh wait.  Yes they can.

So yes, I give money every month to Greenpeace.  I’m not out protesting or organizing or any of that stuff.  That’s not me.  Not at this time anyway.  Who knows what the future will bring.  I think it says enough that right now when money’s kind of an issue, I haven’t missed a payment.   Now I’ve learned a little more.

I’m still a dues paying member of Greenpeace.  Because once you learn some things, they can’t be unlearned.

Cheers, Winston