the church of the enviromentalist wacko

"en·vi·ron·ment Audio pronunciation of “environment” ( P ) Pronunciation Key (n-vrn-mnt, -vrn-)
n.

  1. The circumstances or conditions that surround one; surroundings."

sure?

Another solution for the dumping of nuclear waste might be Australia, who are currently touching the idea [and have been for quite a while] to become ‘the dumping ground’ of the worlds nuclear waste to increase its economy.

From what I understand, they plan to have lead-lined barrels dumped 1-2km underground, deep in the Australian desert.

Sounds reasonable to me and no need for ocean-dumping! …although from what I’ve seen the idea wont be accepted for quite a while, if ever. Its too bad really, I really liked the idea.

W.C.

I’ll show off my science-retardedness here I suppose. Why can’t nuclear waste be destroyed somehow? I mean, shouldn’t there be something you can mix it with or do to it to render it inert?
And this is a ‘religion’ thing, isn’t it? All the good ideas we come up with here, will never come into play because people have this gut “Not in my backyard” or “Nuclear = Bad” thing stuck in their heads. I’m still reeling in shock from the whole DDT thing, and it seems to me like a lot of environmentalism is that way…just a bunch of BS.

Hi Uccisore,

This has kinda drifted off, hasn’t it? I don’t know if it’s religion so much as an issue of the myths behind a ‘green’ utopia. Of course if the myths are strong enough I guess the practice is some sort of religion…

Nuclear waste can’t be made inert any faster than it is making itself inert. It isn’t stable in the first place. The problem is all those gamma rays it gives off and the holes they make in human cells. In nature, the concentration of unstable isotopes isn’t usually high enough to cause problems. With all of our ingenuity we’ve manged to concentrate those isotopes into small, very lethal packages. Actually, it really isn’t waste. we just haven’t the facilities to convert the isotopes into usable forms given the quantities needing processed. Much of these so-called wastes have been piling up since the 50’s. Sort of like not flushing the toilet for a few years… Good fertilizer, but… :laughing:

The DDT thing is part urban myth and actual truth. The hassle is persistent chemical forms that become concentrated through the food chain. A small amount of DDT to kill insects becomes a damaging material as small amounts become concentrated in higher life forms. DDT almost wiped out the raptor populations in the US when the concentrated chemical made it almost impossible for breeding success. (too thin egg shells)

Still, the hyperbole on both sides of the issue keeps us from addressing the issues. No small part of the problem is that we mess with ecosystems that are so complex that we really don’t understand the consequences of our messing around - until its too late.

JT

This made me laugh no end. Thanks willem.

imp wrote:

That’s really funny – I like it. Just one thing though – and I really wish people would stop making this mistake – its the tree of knowledge of good and evil (or good and bad, depending on your translation and interpretation). That is really important, in that, the fall from innocence occurs when man attains the ability to make moral judgements. Think of it as an allegory to a child losing their innocence – which occurs when the child develops a superego; which is what? A knowledge of what is right and wrong, i.e., good and bad, albiet, it is socially imposed. Nevertheless, I resent secularists attacking the bible as being anti-knowledge. Perhaps certain sects of Christianity are, but I would think that any philosopher would be on guard against inductive inferences. Especially one who admires the master of anti-induction himself! :stuck_out_tongue:

you can’t lump all environmetally sensitive people in one bucket.

there are rivers in the world that you cannot swim in, environmentalist did not make up that fact, that is real. there are many more real negative consequences of how human beings currently do things.

so the stereotyping of environentalists as all fucked up is wrong. but the idea taht you describe of likening environmentalists to judeo myth is interesting, and probably true in teh minds of “some environmentalists” but SURELY not all.

also, I care about this planet, and I am not a weirdo. I also consider all sides to issues, and I DO realize that with environmental issues there are MANY grey areas.

I think many dumb and intelligent people bash environemalism in general because they don’t want to do their basic part in trying to be more on the solution side than on the problem side.