There was a little boy sitting a table away from mine tonight at the Thai restaurant. He looked about six years old (couldn't have been older than seven), and was sitting across from his younger sister. In between bites, he looked up and asked his mother...
"Do you think there will be a World War III?"
"I don't know," she said.
"Well I hope not," the little boy responded. "I hope I'm not alive when there is a World War III. We'd hear gunshots outside in the streets... and people would be shooting in our windows!!"
The parents seemed unfazed and remained silent. Then his little sister asked when the end of the world was going to be!! Geeze. I couldn't believe that these YOUNG kids were worrying about issues like this. I already never want to have children, but stuff like this makes me REALLY never want to have children. Unless a miraculous awakening happens in the year 2012, all the problems we shrug off because it's not happening in most of our backyards, like contaminated soil or lack of clean water, are problems that the next generation is going to be forced to deal with. :( I hope the latter scenario doesn't materialize, but that's where it seems we are headed. This month-long-plus oil spill + ocean dumping + drying of seas + overfishing + overpopulation + wastefulness, especially of water + the current mass production of plastics is going to catch up to us REAL FAST.
Showing posts with label environmental. Show all posts
Showing posts with label environmental. Show all posts
Sunday, May 30, 2010
Monday, May 24, 2010
BOYCOTT BP
"Sarah Palin urged the country to 'trust the oil industry' and to continue to pursue offshore drilling initiatives in light of the Gulf Coast oil spill when delivering a speech in Missouri over the weekend. The Kansas City Star reports that Palin called the massive oil slick 'tragic,' but defended drilling as a viable energy solution when speaking to a mostly Republican crowd."source: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/05/03/sarah-palin-says-trust-th_n_561660.html
Sarah Palin's husband works for BP. Of course she's telling you to "trust the oil industry" despite there being a oil slick the size of Maryland and Delaware COMBINED floating in the Gulf Coast. DON'T SUPPORT OFFSHORE DRILLING and boycott BP.
FYI: BP earned 6.4 billion dollars at the begining of this year... why the hell aren't they using that money now to contain this disaster?!
FACT: BP refused to build a shut-off valve when building the rig. This catastrophe could have been avoided.
What a f-ing nightmare.
Photos of the oil spill.
Saturday, September 6, 2008
McCain proposes 100 new plants in the U.S.
Published: June 23, 2008 12:00AM
Nearly three decades after the Three Mile Island disaster, Sen. John McCain is proposing an American nuclear renaissance.
As part of a weeklong focus on energy security, the presumptive Republican presidential nominee said Wednesday that he wants 45 new nuclear plants to be built in the United States by 2030 and another 55 in later years.
Currently, there are 104 reactors in this country, and they supply a fifth of the nation’s electricity; many of the new plants proposed by McCain would replace existing ones. That’s because no new nuclear plants have been built in the United States since the 1970s, and many of the facilities still operating are nearing the end of their useful lives.
As are a growing number of Americans, McCain embraces nuclear power as a clean, safe alternative to traditional energy sources that emit greenhouse gases. It’s an unqualified enthusiasm that brings to mind Homer Simpson’s memorable prayer thanking God “for nuclear power: the cleanest, safest energy there is. Except for solar, which is just a pipe dream.”
If McCain is elected president, he will attempt to end a long-standing American aversion to nuclear generated power, which sets this country apart from the rest of the world.
In contrast with the United States, France gets nearly 80 percent of its power from nuclear plants and has a robust building program, as do Japan and Finland. Britain is encouraging companies to build new reactors, and Italy recently lifted the ban on nuclear plants it imposed after the Chernobyl meltdown in the former Soviet Union two decades ago. Across the world, more than 100 new plants are either in the planning or construction stages, roughly half of them in rapidly developing nations such as China and India.
The United States should be in no rush to join the parade. Despite McCain’s glowing assessment and the urgent need to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, nuclear power still has serious shortcomings.
Modern nuclear plants are certainly safer than their Chernobyl-era predecessors, but accidents remain a problem. The Union of Concerned Scientists recently reported that 41 U.S. reactors have been shut down at least 51 times for more than a year because of safety problems.
While security has been improved since Sept. 11, nuclear plants remain worrisome targets for terrorists. They are also sources of waste that can be used to create weapons-grade plutonium.
Meanwhile, the question of how to dispose of the radioactive waste from existing U.S. reactors, much less the new facilities proposed by McCain, remains unanswered. Radioactive waste from nuclear plants can remain highly toxic for thousands of years, and no permanent storage facilities have been built in the United States — or anywhere else in the world. Congress long has struggled to build a U.S. disposal site at Yucca Mountain in Nevada, but relentless opposition by Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid promises to delay its opening for another decade — and perhaps longer.
It’s also unclear that nuclear power can play a timely role in fighting climate change. Because many of the new nuclear plants proposed by McCain would replace existing ones, it would take many more than the 45 new plants that he proposes by 2030, or the 100 he proposes in the long term, to achieve major reductions in emissions of greenhouse gases.
Nuclear plants also take large amounts of time and money to build. Current licensing and testing requirements would delay construction for at least five years, and new nuclear plants require investments of between $5 billion and $10 billion — investments that Wall Street is unlikely to make without huge federal taxpayer subsidies.
McCain’s Democratic opponent, Sen. Barack Obama, has a more realistic and safer view of nuclear power. While he acknowledges nuclear power may prove necessary to meet aggressive climate goals, he says it should not be expanded until the challenges of cost, safety, disposal and nuclear proliferation have been addressed.
Nearly three decades after the Three Mile Island disaster, Sen. John McCain is proposing an American nuclear renaissance.
As part of a weeklong focus on energy security, the presumptive Republican presidential nominee said Wednesday that he wants 45 new nuclear plants to be built in the United States by 2030 and another 55 in later years.
Currently, there are 104 reactors in this country, and they supply a fifth of the nation’s electricity; many of the new plants proposed by McCain would replace existing ones. That’s because no new nuclear plants have been built in the United States since the 1970s, and many of the facilities still operating are nearing the end of their useful lives.
As are a growing number of Americans, McCain embraces nuclear power as a clean, safe alternative to traditional energy sources that emit greenhouse gases. It’s an unqualified enthusiasm that brings to mind Homer Simpson’s memorable prayer thanking God “for nuclear power: the cleanest, safest energy there is. Except for solar, which is just a pipe dream.”
If McCain is elected president, he will attempt to end a long-standing American aversion to nuclear generated power, which sets this country apart from the rest of the world.
In contrast with the United States, France gets nearly 80 percent of its power from nuclear plants and has a robust building program, as do Japan and Finland. Britain is encouraging companies to build new reactors, and Italy recently lifted the ban on nuclear plants it imposed after the Chernobyl meltdown in the former Soviet Union two decades ago. Across the world, more than 100 new plants are either in the planning or construction stages, roughly half of them in rapidly developing nations such as China and India.
The United States should be in no rush to join the parade. Despite McCain’s glowing assessment and the urgent need to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, nuclear power still has serious shortcomings.
Modern nuclear plants are certainly safer than their Chernobyl-era predecessors, but accidents remain a problem. The Union of Concerned Scientists recently reported that 41 U.S. reactors have been shut down at least 51 times for more than a year because of safety problems.
While security has been improved since Sept. 11, nuclear plants remain worrisome targets for terrorists. They are also sources of waste that can be used to create weapons-grade plutonium.
Meanwhile, the question of how to dispose of the radioactive waste from existing U.S. reactors, much less the new facilities proposed by McCain, remains unanswered. Radioactive waste from nuclear plants can remain highly toxic for thousands of years, and no permanent storage facilities have been built in the United States — or anywhere else in the world. Congress long has struggled to build a U.S. disposal site at Yucca Mountain in Nevada, but relentless opposition by Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid promises to delay its opening for another decade — and perhaps longer.
It’s also unclear that nuclear power can play a timely role in fighting climate change. Because many of the new nuclear plants proposed by McCain would replace existing ones, it would take many more than the 45 new plants that he proposes by 2030, or the 100 he proposes in the long term, to achieve major reductions in emissions of greenhouse gases.
Nuclear plants also take large amounts of time and money to build. Current licensing and testing requirements would delay construction for at least five years, and new nuclear plants require investments of between $5 billion and $10 billion — investments that Wall Street is unlikely to make without huge federal taxpayer subsidies.
McCain’s Democratic opponent, Sen. Barack Obama, has a more realistic and safer view of nuclear power. While he acknowledges nuclear power may prove necessary to meet aggressive climate goals, he says it should not be expanded until the challenges of cost, safety, disposal and nuclear proliferation have been addressed.
Wednesday, July 23, 2008
PLEASE READ
i've added new entries to my environmental blog: End Second Hand Smoke.
Please check them out!!
Thanks,
Jena
Please check them out!!
Thanks,
Jena
Saturday, March 22, 2008
HAPPY EARTH DAY/THREE NEW POSTS
HAPPY EARTH DAY!!!!
three new posts have been added to my environmental blog: END SECOND HAND SMOKE. check em out!!
three new posts have been added to my environmental blog: END SECOND HAND SMOKE. check em out!!
Wednesday, March 19, 2008
I'VE LAUNCHED A NEW BLOG!!
i am starting a new blog called "end second hand smoke" that focuses on global environmental issues and solutions to environmental problems. i will continue to maintain this personal blog but invite you to suscribe to my new blog as well as i am sure you will find the content interesting and important. please read my introduction below:
ABOUT ME AND MY INTENTIONS: although i love blogging about my work/whereabouts/photography, my main concern and passion has and always will be our environment. i'm creating this blog as an attempt to identify, educate and hopefully help solve ongoing environmental injustices which occur daily on this planet. it's about time we accept responsibility and correct the damage we've done. i hope you join my crusade and help create the social/political/environment changes we so desperately need. we all caused these environmental disasters (or "stresses" if you want to feel less of a villain), therefore we should all make an effort to lessen the harmful impact we place on our earth.
ABOUT THE NAME: i am calling this blog "end second hand smoke" because i view air, water and land pollution as second hand smoke -- harmful vapors and chemicals emitted by polluters, consumers, businesses and the government that we are being forced to ingest. how long are we going to allow them to contaminate us???
HOW YOU CAN HELP: at the end of each article i post that addresses a particular envionmental issue, i will post ways you can make a difference. i am hoping YOU will make an attempt to contribute to the cause because i certainly will be. by posting productive counter-actions, i hope you will realize the vital impact they have on society. if you need further proof that one person can make a difference, go watch Norma Rae. that movie ALWAYS inspires me. :)
WORDS TO LIVE BY:
"This we know: the earth does not belong to man, man belongs to the earth. All things are connected like the blood that unites us all. Man did not weave the web of life, he is merely a strand in it. Whatever he does to the web, he does to himself." ~Chief Seattle, Chief of the Suquamish Indians
PLEASE ADD ME TO YOUR BOOKMARKS: http://endsecondhandsmoke.blogspot.com/
ABOUT ME AND MY INTENTIONS: although i love blogging about my work/whereabouts/photography, my main concern and passion has and always will be our environment. i'm creating this blog as an attempt to identify, educate and hopefully help solve ongoing environmental injustices which occur daily on this planet. it's about time we accept responsibility and correct the damage we've done. i hope you join my crusade and help create the social/political/environment changes we so desperately need. we all caused these environmental disasters (or "stresses" if you want to feel less of a villain), therefore we should all make an effort to lessen the harmful impact we place on our earth.
ABOUT THE NAME: i am calling this blog "end second hand smoke" because i view air, water and land pollution as second hand smoke -- harmful vapors and chemicals emitted by polluters, consumers, businesses and the government that we are being forced to ingest. how long are we going to allow them to contaminate us???
HOW YOU CAN HELP: at the end of each article i post that addresses a particular envionmental issue, i will post ways you can make a difference. i am hoping YOU will make an attempt to contribute to the cause because i certainly will be. by posting productive counter-actions, i hope you will realize the vital impact they have on society. if you need further proof that one person can make a difference, go watch Norma Rae. that movie ALWAYS inspires me. :)
WORDS TO LIVE BY:
"This we know: the earth does not belong to man, man belongs to the earth. All things are connected like the blood that unites us all. Man did not weave the web of life, he is merely a strand in it. Whatever he does to the web, he does to himself." ~Chief Seattle, Chief of the Suquamish Indians
PLEASE ADD ME TO YOUR BOOKMARKS: http://endsecondhandsmoke.blogspot.com/
Thursday, August 16, 2007
showering is overrated.
YOU USE 20-35 GALLONS OF WATER EVERY 5 MINUTES YOU SHOWER!!!!
for the past week, i've actually had reasons not to shower - which is always a plus. i dunno why, but sometimes my best friend and i feel like showering is a chore, especially in the summer.
situations when it's okay not to shower for a few days:
1. when you're at the beach (X)
2. after you've been tattooed (X)
3. when you're camping ( )
4. when you're in college ( )
when we were on vacation, my cousin and his girlfriend would shower before they went to bed, before they went to the beach and after they got back from the beach. in that amount of time, i would shower 0 times. we got there saturday (after not showering), and my mom and didn't shower until late sunday night. our logic: you wake up and just go back to the beach anyway... so why shower before getting all sweaty and sandy??? at the pinnacle of my un-showeredness, i actually washed under my arms with hand soap. outside. with a hose. hahaha!! just thought i'd share. but that is what the beach is all about... nobody cares what you look like. people walk in stores directly from the beach, most of them still in bathing suits. you can get away with wearing short shorts and an unmatching top... anything goes.
funny clip: men vs. women in the shower.
facts that will (hopefully) make you wanna conserve water...
An American family of four uses up to 260 gallons of water in the home per day by:
Tap running for two minutes: 3 – 5 gallons
Flushing toilet once: 5 – 7 gallons
Showering, five minutes: 20 – 35 gallons
Full bathtub: 60 gallons
Automatic dishwasher: 10 – 20 gallons
and if you care more about money than our water supply, here are statistics that may stir your interest and make you want to conserve water too...
Water Conservation provides benefits welcome in every household by saving money three different ways:
1. Water Conservation will lower water bills.
2. Water Conservation in the winter will lower your annual sewer charge.
3. Conservation of water saves you energy costs for heating that water.
what really bothers me are sprinklers that water the sidewalks instead of the lawn. californians (who live in a state with an endangered water supply), should REALLY be more concerned about conserving water.
Did you know that up to 50% of the water used in the summer is for your lawn?
• Water the lawn and garden at dusk when the day is cool, watering during the heat of the day can account for up to 60% evaporation loss.
• Mulch the garden to retain moisture in the soil.
• Use a bucket of suds to wash the car and only rinse with the hose using a nozzle.
• Sweep walks and driveways instead of hosing them.
source: www.rcgov.org/pubworks/water/facts_about_water_use.pdf
for the past week, i've actually had reasons not to shower - which is always a plus. i dunno why, but sometimes my best friend and i feel like showering is a chore, especially in the summer.
situations when it's okay not to shower for a few days:
1. when you're at the beach (X)
2. after you've been tattooed (X)
3. when you're camping ( )
4. when you're in college ( )
when we were on vacation, my cousin and his girlfriend would shower before they went to bed, before they went to the beach and after they got back from the beach. in that amount of time, i would shower 0 times. we got there saturday (after not showering), and my mom and didn't shower until late sunday night. our logic: you wake up and just go back to the beach anyway... so why shower before getting all sweaty and sandy??? at the pinnacle of my un-showeredness, i actually washed under my arms with hand soap. outside. with a hose. hahaha!! just thought i'd share. but that is what the beach is all about... nobody cares what you look like. people walk in stores directly from the beach, most of them still in bathing suits. you can get away with wearing short shorts and an unmatching top... anything goes.
funny clip: men vs. women in the shower.
facts that will (hopefully) make you wanna conserve water...
An American family of four uses up to 260 gallons of water in the home per day by:
Tap running for two minutes: 3 – 5 gallons
Flushing toilet once: 5 – 7 gallons
Showering, five minutes: 20 – 35 gallons
Full bathtub: 60 gallons
Automatic dishwasher: 10 – 20 gallons
and if you care more about money than our water supply, here are statistics that may stir your interest and make you want to conserve water too...
Water Conservation provides benefits welcome in every household by saving money three different ways:
1. Water Conservation will lower water bills.
2. Water Conservation in the winter will lower your annual sewer charge.
3. Conservation of water saves you energy costs for heating that water.
what really bothers me are sprinklers that water the sidewalks instead of the lawn. californians (who live in a state with an endangered water supply), should REALLY be more concerned about conserving water.
Did you know that up to 50% of the water used in the summer is for your lawn?
• Water the lawn and garden at dusk when the day is cool, watering during the heat of the day can account for up to 60% evaporation loss.
• Mulch the garden to retain moisture in the soil.
• Use a bucket of suds to wash the car and only rinse with the hose using a nozzle.
• Sweep walks and driveways instead of hosing them.
source: www.rcgov.org/pubworks/water/facts_about_water_use.pdf
Tuesday, July 24, 2007
THE SALTON SEA
on sunday i went to the Salton Sea with the LA polanerd crew (rebecca, lou, drew, kim and bryan). i've wanted to visit the notoriously salty sea ever since i stumbled upon it during a late-night online tangent. the idea of exploring the surrounding desolate area chock full of abandoned buildings really appealed to me.
the Salton Sea is a result of what humans do best... neglect the environment by using shortcuts and insufficiently funding major projects so we are ill-prepared for environmental challenges. you would think environmental disasters due to poor upkeep, like the levies post-hurricane katrina would not still occur, but unfortunately we never learn. pertaining to the Salton Sea, man's biggest mistake occurred between 1905 - 1907 during which the colorado river flooded into the "Salton Sink," a major salt mining site, for TWO years. the result - the Salton Sea: the largest lake in california. today, the maximum depth of the Salton Sea measures 51 feet!!
once described as an "investor's dream," the Salton Sea was a hot spot for water skiers, fishermen and boaters in the 1920s. now high levels bacteria, pesticide runoff, raw sewage, excessively high salinity and algae blooms make the water inhabitable. (the water is more salty than the ocean!!) thousands of dead talapia, the only fish that survive long enough to die, wash up on the shores. the sea grows larger and larger, an average of 1.36 million acre-feet per year, thanks to agricultural run-off and the nasty, dirty New River.
what's the New River? why, it's the "single most polluted river in America."
"The New River is composed of waste from agricultural and chemical runoff from the farm industry irrigation in the U.S. (18.4%) and Mexico (51.2%), sewage from Mexicali (29%), and manufacturing plants operating in Mexico (1.4%). By the time the New River crosses the U.S./Mexico border near Calexico, California, the channel contains a stew of about 100 contaminants: volatile organic compounds, heavy metals (including selenium, uranium, arsenic and mercury), and pesticides (including DDT) and PCBs. The waterway also holds the pathogens that cause tuberculosis, encephalitis, polio, cholera, hepatitis and typhoid; levels for many of these contaminants are in violation of U.S. EPA and Cal/EPA standards by several hundredfold.[2] Fecal coliform bacteria are at levels of 100,000 to 16 million colonies per milliliter at the border checkpoint (possibly more, as this is the measuring capacity threshold), far above the U.S.-Mexico treaty limit of 240 colonies." ~wikipedia
soooo before we embarked on this little road trip, i researched the Salton Sea on wikipedia and flickr. all of the photos i saw were of the infamous abandoned North Shore Motel. i promised myself i wasn't going to over-shoot the motel since so many people have already covered that one spot... but during my Salton Sea adventure, i realized why so many people only have photos of that hotel - it's the first stop. and after stopping there, few want to continue to explore the Salton Sea coastline. to my surprise, there were fewer buildings in the area than i expected. i felt like i was walking around a desolate, post-apocalyptic scene from T.C. Boyle's "After the Plague." judging by the trash and graffiti left behind by past visitors, the majority of intrigued visitors fall into four categories: 1. drunk kids en route to or from coachella. 2. curious photographers (we found empty film boxes and polaroid cartridges). 3. skateboarders. 4. whatever animals eat the plethora of pigeons that roost in the abandoned buildings.
the temperature fluctuated between 95-102 degrees at the peak of the afternoon. that mixed with the smell of thousands of dead fish (and some dead birds too) was not-so-pleasant, but add hundreds of relentless flies and you have borderline-unbearable. it was so filthy that the shoes i wore that day are still being quarantined outside until i disinfect them. this may seem a bit like an overreaction, but after you sink ankle-deep into bacterial-laden barnacles and fish bones that have washed up from a sea of dead fish, you too would not want to track the Salton Sea into your home.
we hung around the motel for a long time, each going our seperate ways to find our shots and then meeting back in a small corner of shade and then going back for more, often using each other as "models." lou is an avid pola-portrait photographer so he was busy trying to get us to crouch down in a nasty corner or stand in a shady blue-tiled shower. my favorite part of the motel and yacht club were the abandoned swimming pools. there's just an unnatural appeal about being able to walk on the floor of an empty swimming pool.
after attempting to de-fly drew's vehicle, we headed to Bombay Beach, an interesting off-beat trailor community located near the "marina" of the Salton Sea. for me, this was the most interesting part of the trip. i loved the idea of this little sustainable community out in the middle of the desert. there was a tiny general store, a liquor store and a small garage of a fire station. i headed toward the homes while everyone else was shooting the marina area and i found some interesting things... including a solitary goat living in (under?) an abandoned-looking trailer with fenced-in yard. i would have loved to explore more, but i felt a bit uneasy walking around by myself. my friend hal has been itching to go to the Salton Sea so if and when he does (hopefully when it's a bit cooler outside), i would glady accompany him just to further explore Bombay Beach. i am really interested in the types of characters who live there and you could imagine my delight when i discovered THIS. a documentary about the people who live in Bombay Beach!!!! check out the trailer. the film is only playing in (small) select theatres on certain days and unfortunately i already missed the LA showings and i was all disappointed because i thought i was going to miss one of the upcoming screenings, but as luck would have it, i won't be missing it after all!! THANKGOODNESS. otherwise, i would have had to wait until its dvd release in late september. woo woo, i smell another polanerd get-together!!!! :D
after Bombay Beach, we kept on truckin until we passed an abandoned warehouse conveniently located on the side of the freeway. after over-exploring the motel/hotel/restaurant buildings on the North Shore, i was more interested in the LARGE hay stacks located OUTSIDE in front of the building, away from any disgusting debris. there were two wrecked cars and an old truck behind the warehouse - one car was severly pinned in a ditch. and of course, there were loads of graffiti and fluffy pink insulation littering the warehouse.
undoubtedly, the Salton Sea is an interesting place and i'm glad i got to experience it with the polacrew, because rick and my mother would have really hated it there (and i wouldn't blame them). after driving past Palm Springs, i am reconsidering my strong desire to visit there. i just really want to see all of the kewl 50s architecture. the large dinosaurs (you pass along the way) were a bit of a disappointment. i imagined them being out in the middle of nowhere, not behind a burger king and a gas station. inside the brontosaurus is a small junk shop (that doesn't believe in evolution). you can go inside the t-rex for $2-3... but we didn't. it would have be kewl... but really maybe not, since there isn't much of a view to look at once you are up there.
overall, it's really disappointing and alarming that man has single-handedly caused the environmental disaster known as the Salton Sea. the aftermath is eye-opening. after walking across dead fish carcasses and seeing a body of water THAT LARGE that is completely useless and contaminated, it really makes you fear how badly mankind is destroying our earth and our water supply. if the earth's water were proportioned down to fit in a gallon jug, the available fresh water would be equal to just over a tablespoon. that's a scary statistic. people need to stop being so apathetic to our WORLD'S environmental problems and realize that mother nature can't always magically repair herself. we need to repair our environment before it's too late and the damage we've done becomes irreversible. we need to demand that congress passes environmental laws that will deal with a situation NOW, not in the year 2010 or 2020. we need to conserve water and natural resources and raise children with that same mentality so that it becomes second nature. (i can go on and on, but i will step off of my soap box for now...)
check my flickr for photos.
facts and figures:
during the 1960s: the Salton Sea becomes increasingly salty.
1992 - 1996: a LARGE number of grebes (150,000) and pelicans (unknown how many) die as a result of the bacteria in the water.
INTERESTING ARTICLES ABOUT THE SALTON SEA:
article 1
article 2
the Salton Sea is a result of what humans do best... neglect the environment by using shortcuts and insufficiently funding major projects so we are ill-prepared for environmental challenges. you would think environmental disasters due to poor upkeep, like the levies post-hurricane katrina would not still occur, but unfortunately we never learn. pertaining to the Salton Sea, man's biggest mistake occurred between 1905 - 1907 during which the colorado river flooded into the "Salton Sink," a major salt mining site, for TWO years. the result - the Salton Sea: the largest lake in california. today, the maximum depth of the Salton Sea measures 51 feet!!
once described as an "investor's dream," the Salton Sea was a hot spot for water skiers, fishermen and boaters in the 1920s. now high levels bacteria, pesticide runoff, raw sewage, excessively high salinity and algae blooms make the water inhabitable. (the water is more salty than the ocean!!) thousands of dead talapia, the only fish that survive long enough to die, wash up on the shores. the sea grows larger and larger, an average of 1.36 million acre-feet per year, thanks to agricultural run-off and the nasty, dirty New River.
what's the New River? why, it's the "single most polluted river in America."
"The New River is composed of waste from agricultural and chemical runoff from the farm industry irrigation in the U.S. (18.4%) and Mexico (51.2%), sewage from Mexicali (29%), and manufacturing plants operating in Mexico (1.4%). By the time the New River crosses the U.S./Mexico border near Calexico, California, the channel contains a stew of about 100 contaminants: volatile organic compounds, heavy metals (including selenium, uranium, arsenic and mercury), and pesticides (including DDT) and PCBs. The waterway also holds the pathogens that cause tuberculosis, encephalitis, polio, cholera, hepatitis and typhoid; levels for many of these contaminants are in violation of U.S. EPA and Cal/EPA standards by several hundredfold.[2] Fecal coliform bacteria are at levels of 100,000 to 16 million colonies per milliliter at the border checkpoint (possibly more, as this is the measuring capacity threshold), far above the U.S.-Mexico treaty limit of 240 colonies." ~wikipedia
soooo before we embarked on this little road trip, i researched the Salton Sea on wikipedia and flickr. all of the photos i saw were of the infamous abandoned North Shore Motel. i promised myself i wasn't going to over-shoot the motel since so many people have already covered that one spot... but during my Salton Sea adventure, i realized why so many people only have photos of that hotel - it's the first stop. and after stopping there, few want to continue to explore the Salton Sea coastline. to my surprise, there were fewer buildings in the area than i expected. i felt like i was walking around a desolate, post-apocalyptic scene from T.C. Boyle's "After the Plague." judging by the trash and graffiti left behind by past visitors, the majority of intrigued visitors fall into four categories: 1. drunk kids en route to or from coachella. 2. curious photographers (we found empty film boxes and polaroid cartridges). 3. skateboarders. 4. whatever animals eat the plethora of pigeons that roost in the abandoned buildings.
the temperature fluctuated between 95-102 degrees at the peak of the afternoon. that mixed with the smell of thousands of dead fish (and some dead birds too) was not-so-pleasant, but add hundreds of relentless flies and you have borderline-unbearable. it was so filthy that the shoes i wore that day are still being quarantined outside until i disinfect them. this may seem a bit like an overreaction, but after you sink ankle-deep into bacterial-laden barnacles and fish bones that have washed up from a sea of dead fish, you too would not want to track the Salton Sea into your home.
we hung around the motel for a long time, each going our seperate ways to find our shots and then meeting back in a small corner of shade and then going back for more, often using each other as "models." lou is an avid pola-portrait photographer so he was busy trying to get us to crouch down in a nasty corner or stand in a shady blue-tiled shower. my favorite part of the motel and yacht club were the abandoned swimming pools. there's just an unnatural appeal about being able to walk on the floor of an empty swimming pool.
after attempting to de-fly drew's vehicle, we headed to Bombay Beach, an interesting off-beat trailor community located near the "marina" of the Salton Sea. for me, this was the most interesting part of the trip. i loved the idea of this little sustainable community out in the middle of the desert. there was a tiny general store, a liquor store and a small garage of a fire station. i headed toward the homes while everyone else was shooting the marina area and i found some interesting things... including a solitary goat living in (under?) an abandoned-looking trailer with fenced-in yard. i would have loved to explore more, but i felt a bit uneasy walking around by myself. my friend hal has been itching to go to the Salton Sea so if and when he does (hopefully when it's a bit cooler outside), i would glady accompany him just to further explore Bombay Beach. i am really interested in the types of characters who live there and you could imagine my delight when i discovered THIS. a documentary about the people who live in Bombay Beach!!!! check out the trailer. the film is only playing in (small) select theatres on certain days and unfortunately i already missed the LA showings and i was all disappointed because i thought i was going to miss one of the upcoming screenings, but as luck would have it, i won't be missing it after all!! THANKGOODNESS. otherwise, i would have had to wait until its dvd release in late september. woo woo, i smell another polanerd get-together!!!! :D
after Bombay Beach, we kept on truckin until we passed an abandoned warehouse conveniently located on the side of the freeway. after over-exploring the motel/hotel/restaurant buildings on the North Shore, i was more interested in the LARGE hay stacks located OUTSIDE in front of the building, away from any disgusting debris. there were two wrecked cars and an old truck behind the warehouse - one car was severly pinned in a ditch. and of course, there were loads of graffiti and fluffy pink insulation littering the warehouse.
undoubtedly, the Salton Sea is an interesting place and i'm glad i got to experience it with the polacrew, because rick and my mother would have really hated it there (and i wouldn't blame them). after driving past Palm Springs, i am reconsidering my strong desire to visit there. i just really want to see all of the kewl 50s architecture. the large dinosaurs (you pass along the way) were a bit of a disappointment. i imagined them being out in the middle of nowhere, not behind a burger king and a gas station. inside the brontosaurus is a small junk shop (that doesn't believe in evolution). you can go inside the t-rex for $2-3... but we didn't. it would have be kewl... but really maybe not, since there isn't much of a view to look at once you are up there.
overall, it's really disappointing and alarming that man has single-handedly caused the environmental disaster known as the Salton Sea. the aftermath is eye-opening. after walking across dead fish carcasses and seeing a body of water THAT LARGE that is completely useless and contaminated, it really makes you fear how badly mankind is destroying our earth and our water supply. if the earth's water were proportioned down to fit in a gallon jug, the available fresh water would be equal to just over a tablespoon. that's a scary statistic. people need to stop being so apathetic to our WORLD'S environmental problems and realize that mother nature can't always magically repair herself. we need to repair our environment before it's too late and the damage we've done becomes irreversible. we need to demand that congress passes environmental laws that will deal with a situation NOW, not in the year 2010 or 2020. we need to conserve water and natural resources and raise children with that same mentality so that it becomes second nature. (i can go on and on, but i will step off of my soap box for now...)
check my flickr for photos.
facts and figures:
during the 1960s: the Salton Sea becomes increasingly salty.
1992 - 1996: a LARGE number of grebes (150,000) and pelicans (unknown how many) die as a result of the bacteria in the water.
INTERESTING ARTICLES ABOUT THE SALTON SEA:
article 1
article 2
Saturday, May 5, 2007
my good deed of the month.
our apartment complex has been chopping down all of its trees. every day. early in the morning. so far, they cut over 80 trees total. there are three trees right by our bedroom windows marked with orange dots, waiting to be cut. so naturally i got all hot and bothered over it.
#1 because if those trees are taken down, we gain a lovely view of the parking lot and our neighbors' apartments. likewise, our neighbors gain clearer views into both bedrooms.
#2 because it's unnecessary... i was told the trees are being removed because the pine needles kill the grass. we are talking three measly pine trees on a SMALL area of grass between the sidewalks. my mother's house has TONS of pine trees, to the point where all you see is orange pine needles covering the lawn, yet we still have grass.
#3 another reason for cutting down the trees: "because they don't correspond with the new landscaping plan." they cut five or six trees down across from our apartment to clear out a space to build a small putting green. HOW STUPID and (again) UNNECESSARY.
so after rick and i chiseled away the orange dots off the trees by our apartment, i wrote a petition/letter and went door to door collecting signatures. a few pansies were concerned that signing the petition would lead to the apartment complex raising their rents, but regardless, i got a lot of praise and signatures. :) hopefully my petition will spare the remaining trees... if not, at least i tried.
what was your good deed of the month???
#1 because if those trees are taken down, we gain a lovely view of the parking lot and our neighbors' apartments. likewise, our neighbors gain clearer views into both bedrooms.
#2 because it's unnecessary... i was told the trees are being removed because the pine needles kill the grass. we are talking three measly pine trees on a SMALL area of grass between the sidewalks. my mother's house has TONS of pine trees, to the point where all you see is orange pine needles covering the lawn, yet we still have grass.
#3 another reason for cutting down the trees: "because they don't correspond with the new landscaping plan." they cut five or six trees down across from our apartment to clear out a space to build a small putting green. HOW STUPID and (again) UNNECESSARY.
so after rick and i chiseled away the orange dots off the trees by our apartment, i wrote a petition/letter and went door to door collecting signatures. a few pansies were concerned that signing the petition would lead to the apartment complex raising their rents, but regardless, i got a lot of praise and signatures. :) hopefully my petition will spare the remaining trees... if not, at least i tried.
what was your good deed of the month???
Friday, April 6, 2007
richard branson and other evils.
we waste too much money and too much of natural resources for space exploration. people like richard branson need to find better money grubbing gimmicks. by 2009, branson hopes to launch civilians into sub-orbital space on Virgin Galactic. tickets will be $200,000. and the sickening part is that people will pay that. "RICHARD BRANSON is in negotiations with British television networks to launch a talent show for aspiring astronauts." branson built a huge spaceport in upham, new mexico... an area coined as "uninhabited," yet 30 miles away lies a resort spa town with natural hot springs. years from now, the surrounding towns will be scratching their heads, wondering why cancer rates have skyrocketed (pun intended).
"According to the Virgin Galactic website, Branson has plans for orbital space tourism and proposes putting a hotel in space. It is expected that some of the future spacecraft will be able to dock with a space hotel." ~wikipedia
why can't rich people invest in cleaning up the environment instead of producing more waste and garbage on earth and now in space??? i shouldn't tear branson into too many shreds, he did offer a $25 million prize to first person or company who removes billions of tonnes of greenhouse gases from the earth's atmosphere. what a humanitarian!! and he did "pledge" $3 to "fight global warming." a greedy billionaire who owns an airline company and rocket company couldn't possibly want to gain public approval by seeming concerned about the environment, could he??? and he certainly couldn't be wanting to promote fuel alternatives to allevate the high costs of gas/diesel so that his companies would be paying less at the pump...
"Branson's $3 billion wasn't philanthropy by any definition: The Virgin conglomerate chieftain promised to invest profits from his transport operations for the next decade in different types of nonpetroleum fuel — especially ethanol, most often made from corn — in the process scooping up hundreds of millions in federal corn-ethanol subsidies, profits, and political advantage. The supposed anti-global warming benefit of Branson's commitment, meanwhile, is false: Distilling ethanol from corn consumes more fossil energy than what's contained in the final bio-fuel product.
Tad Patzek, a professor in UC Berkeley's geoengineering program, has published studies showing that when one accounts for the petroleum used to produce fertilizers, corn seed, transportation, waste-water disposal, and other farming, refining, and delivery tasks, it takes six times as much energy to produce a gallon of ethanol than that gallon creates when it burns in your pistons. And all that excess energy consumption exacerbates, rather than reduces, global warming and U.S. energy dependence." ~matt smith editorial seen here.
i'm all for alternative fuels and cleaner emissions, but what i am concerned with is our water supply. fertilizers and waste-water from the crops alone will significantly contaminate our water supply. i hope scientists are working as hard to develop plans for waste-water reduction as they are for sending tourists in space. demand for clean water already exceeds supply in many countries. at this rate, i bet we will run out of fresh water in our lifetime. some alliance needs to formed between countries to better conserve and protect our water resources. think of this: only 3% of the earth's water is drinkable. our bodies are made of 70% water and there are 6,706,529,744+ people in the world. that's a huge demand. (if you want a better idea of how drastic our overpopulation problem is, go here).
here is a fact that is easier to digest: If all the world's water were fit into a gallon jug, the fresh water available for us to use would equal only about one tablespoon.
water issues aside, biofuel research and production would be great if every one wasn't so damn greedy. right now...
"In Malaysia, the production of palm oil for biodiesel is a major industry. The development of oil-palm plantations was responsible for an estimated 87% of deforestation. In Sumatra and Borneo, 4 million hectares of forest have been converted to palm farms. Now a further 6 million hectares are scheduled for clearance in Malaysia, and 16.5 million in Indonesia. Thousands of indigenous people have been evicted from their lands, and some 500 Indonesians have been tortured when they tried to resist. The forest fires which every so often smother the region in smog are mostly started by the palm growers. Hundreds of thousands of small-scale peasant farmers are being displaced by soybeans expansion. Many more stand to lose their land under the biofuels stampede. The expanding cropland planted to yellow corn for ethanol has reduced the supply of white corn for tortillas in Mexico, sending prices up 400%. In the development of biofuels... they do not pay attention to long-term effects. The economy is broken up into competing units of capitalist control and ownership over the means of production. And each unit is fundamentally concerned with itself and its expansion and its profit. The economy, the constructed and natural environment, and society cannot be dealt with as a social whole under capitalism." you can read the entire article here.
"According to the Virgin Galactic website, Branson has plans for orbital space tourism and proposes putting a hotel in space. It is expected that some of the future spacecraft will be able to dock with a space hotel." ~wikipedia
why can't rich people invest in cleaning up the environment instead of producing more waste and garbage on earth and now in space??? i shouldn't tear branson into too many shreds, he did offer a $25 million prize to first person or company who removes billions of tonnes of greenhouse gases from the earth's atmosphere. what a humanitarian!! and he did "pledge" $3 to "fight global warming." a greedy billionaire who owns an airline company and rocket company couldn't possibly want to gain public approval by seeming concerned about the environment, could he??? and he certainly couldn't be wanting to promote fuel alternatives to allevate the high costs of gas/diesel so that his companies would be paying less at the pump...
"Branson's $3 billion wasn't philanthropy by any definition: The Virgin conglomerate chieftain promised to invest profits from his transport operations for the next decade in different types of nonpetroleum fuel — especially ethanol, most often made from corn — in the process scooping up hundreds of millions in federal corn-ethanol subsidies, profits, and political advantage. The supposed anti-global warming benefit of Branson's commitment, meanwhile, is false: Distilling ethanol from corn consumes more fossil energy than what's contained in the final bio-fuel product.
Tad Patzek, a professor in UC Berkeley's geoengineering program, has published studies showing that when one accounts for the petroleum used to produce fertilizers, corn seed, transportation, waste-water disposal, and other farming, refining, and delivery tasks, it takes six times as much energy to produce a gallon of ethanol than that gallon creates when it burns in your pistons. And all that excess energy consumption exacerbates, rather than reduces, global warming and U.S. energy dependence." ~matt smith editorial seen here.
i'm all for alternative fuels and cleaner emissions, but what i am concerned with is our water supply. fertilizers and waste-water from the crops alone will significantly contaminate our water supply. i hope scientists are working as hard to develop plans for waste-water reduction as they are for sending tourists in space. demand for clean water already exceeds supply in many countries. at this rate, i bet we will run out of fresh water in our lifetime. some alliance needs to formed between countries to better conserve and protect our water resources. think of this: only 3% of the earth's water is drinkable. our bodies are made of 70% water and there are 6,706,529,744+ people in the world. that's a huge demand. (if you want a better idea of how drastic our overpopulation problem is, go here).
here is a fact that is easier to digest: If all the world's water were fit into a gallon jug, the fresh water available for us to use would equal only about one tablespoon.
water issues aside, biofuel research and production would be great if every one wasn't so damn greedy. right now...
"In Malaysia, the production of palm oil for biodiesel is a major industry. The development of oil-palm plantations was responsible for an estimated 87% of deforestation. In Sumatra and Borneo, 4 million hectares of forest have been converted to palm farms. Now a further 6 million hectares are scheduled for clearance in Malaysia, and 16.5 million in Indonesia. Thousands of indigenous people have been evicted from their lands, and some 500 Indonesians have been tortured when they tried to resist. The forest fires which every so often smother the region in smog are mostly started by the palm growers. Hundreds of thousands of small-scale peasant farmers are being displaced by soybeans expansion. Many more stand to lose their land under the biofuels stampede. The expanding cropland planted to yellow corn for ethanol has reduced the supply of white corn for tortillas in Mexico, sending prices up 400%. In the development of biofuels... they do not pay attention to long-term effects. The economy is broken up into competing units of capitalist control and ownership over the means of production. And each unit is fundamentally concerned with itself and its expansion and its profit. The economy, the constructed and natural environment, and society cannot be dealt with as a social whole under capitalism." you can read the entire article here.
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