Pollution of the mind

in #environment6 years ago

We all hold onto various inconsistent beliefs that are in incompatible with each other but, when viewed separately, they do not bring to mind a conflict at all.

One of these I have mentioned earlier is how we view separate media stories. We will quite easily spot the errors in a story we have experience with and then turn the page and read an article on something we do not hold a lot of information on, and believe it without considering that an expert would identify errors.

None of us can be experts in everything but with the constant flood of information pouring in and the feeling we should stay 'up to date', there is a lot of poor information we can hold. This can be used against us and is daily.

One interesting inconsistency I find is how often people discredit the words of banks, corporations and governments as spreaders of FUD directed at fulfilling their agendas but then support their views on various other aspects.

One that comes to mind for me is climate change. So many of the people I have talked to don't trust the banks and mega corporations to do what is right by us yet, when it comes to climate change, they are skeptics. Don't get me wrong, there is nothing wrong with being skeptical however, based on what information?

From my perspective, the conversation about global warming was not the original conversation at all as originally, it was about pollution which, may lead to climate changes. As I see it, this conversation has been hijacked by those who incur loss from dealing with pollution and have turned it into a conversation where doubt can be brought to the table. The D in FUD.

They also add a fair amount of F saying things like if we clean up, the costs will be astronomical to industry and cost jobs, and no one likes job losses do they? Yet, how can both be true? Yes, jobs may be lost in some areas but the astronomical costs include many, many more jobs in new areas. When it comes to where jobs are created, it is in new industries, not old, as the old industries are already optimized and nearing capacity and saturation points.

But, that is not the only argument against global climate change as there is U uncertainty if it is a thing at all and for every 97 scientists who say, it is, there is three that can be found that says it isn't. And, they often have links to large, pollutive industries who finance their research papers. By chance of course.

Surveys of the peer-reviewed scientific literature and the opinions of experts consistently show a 97–98% consensus that humans are causing global warming.source

What this means is that while people are arguing about the legitimacy of climate change, the pollution keeps pouring into the rivers, seas skies and land that we require to live with. Humans have a very narrow band of potential for life on this planet and the last few billion years have led to this point where for the last 2 million, we are okay but, that seems to be changing rapidly.

This paper's findings suggest that an arbitrary Chinese policy that greatly increases total suspended particulates (TSPs) air pollution is causing the 500 million residents of Northern China to lose more than 2.5 billion life years of life expectancy.source

Sure, that is in China but, the funny thing about this world is that everything is really connected. That 5 years decrease in life is going to increase and spread, as to are the health problems associated with all of the pollutants we put into the air. As well as the water.

Oysters that were exposed to microplastics readily ingested particles that were similar in size to the phytoplankton and, after two months of exposure, produced fewer and smaller oocytes (cells from which ova grow) and slower sperm, compared with those that weren't.source

Yeah, we aren't oysters but, the toxins and rubbish we pour into the ecosystem end up in our food sources also ad they are going to have a host of effects on how our bodies function. People talk about fluoride in the water and the effects it can have yet, many of the same don't seem to care too much about the massive amounts of chemicals getting pumped into the air.

The thing is that to deal with all of these things is going to take a massive shift in not only thinking, but also business activity which the mega corporations, the oil, car, cosmetic industries don't want to do. We don't want to do because to make the changes necessary, it is going to take all of us to sacrifice our current positions for an improved future. Who wants change and who will change are two different things.

The real issue is not whether climate change is happening or if it is man-made, it is, do we want to live in a world filled with our own waste, a world where the air we breath and water we drink is killing us. I don't think there is a scientist on earth, even the ones sponsored by the mega corps and banks, who will be able to shill polluted air as not a problem with a straight face.

Now, the next thing is this. If we want to live in a a world where people can actually flourish, it is going to take clean energy, not just for the health aspect but, for the decentralization of our reliance on the large energy providers today. The only way clean energy can realistically happen is if there is investment into it, investment into the uncertainty.

The banks aren't going to seriously threaten the businesses of their largest customers so are unlikely to really put a great deal of investment into cleantech solutions. It seems to be a similar thing with the pharmaceutical industry as the cure industry is not very well funded. There is plenty available for gaming startups though.

The world is an interesting place filled with inconsistencies that we have created and hold within us. We want one thing, act toward another, say this, do that. We don't trust these people as far as we can kick them but then, support their businesses and the FUD they spread. We hear drain the swamp and clap while the swamp is filled with toxicity.

From my view, a lot of this is engineered, conspiratorial, manipulative FUD to maintain power for those who have it and divide us without to make sure we cannot threaten their laws, actions and shackles.

My feeling is that at the end of the day, it would be in all of our benefit if we just said "To hell with it" and did all we could to do all we can. Yeah, the costs are high but the funny thing is, it is only money, and the money they control might not have too much value in the future.

Life always has value and health is wealth.

Taraz
[ a Steemit original ]

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Was talking about how the narrative changed on pollution the other day. The topic of Wag The Dog politics came up and how a simple change in narrative could completely change the how things are viewed almost overnight.

Hi Taraz. Couldn't have said it any better. Businesses don't care, they care about their image though and they care about sales. The only way to fix this is to boycott these companies and get them interested. There is no way back if they are not on board. Money is worthless if you can't enjoy it. If you are constantly ill whats the point.
There was an article I read many years ago. The water in London has been through the system something like 5 x. the knock on effect is young girls having their periods at a much younger age and is dropping all the time. The oestrogen cannot be removed from the water and after 5 cycles god knows how many female hormones are being consumed. This small thing is shocking and taken an average age of a period down from 13 to I think around 9 or 10 years of age. this is just an example of what is happening but don't know what side effects are happening to us now. i just feel sorry for my grand kids and their kids.

There are so many things that affect our health yet, we just keeping developing more, pumping more, consuming more thinking that we aren't going to break our various body systems. Humans are the smartest idiots invented so far.

Very true mate. We really are our own worst enemy and blindly consume consume consume and at the end of the day we are consuming what we are consuming our own futures to nothing. Makes me think of our ANC in South Africa doesn't it.

The problem with climate change is not that the data are inaccurate, but the propaganda surrounding the interpretation of said data. Both industry and academia are guilty of peddling exaggerates claims focusing on incomplete context, and thus, proffering ridiculous "solutions." You have described the foolishness of industrialists who claim pollutants they dump into our living quarters are harmless, but do not mention the ludicrous claims of academics, pontificating from their ivory towers, divorced from reality.

Consider the hasty changes in terminology when discussing global pollution. First, it was global warming that was to melt the glaciers and drown coastal cities within 10-years with sea water. Then, the term conveniently morphed to climate change when the fluctuations in global temperatures did to concord with their apocalyptic hypothesis.

The attack on fossile fuel industries and promoting alternative energy for "reduction of carbon emissions" is equally asinine. Petrol products are used in virtually every manufactured product in the civilized world. Unless the plan of the academic leftists is to collapse our current civilization technical matrix to that of Medieval technical achievements, complete with high infant mortality, monumental deaths from infections, starvation subsistence, etc. then the academics have no viable solution to the current environmental problems.

Since human beings' very existence produces the pollitant the academics so dread, carbon dioxide, the only permanent solution to our environmental crisis, according to the academic framework, would be to liquidate 90-95% of humanoids that inhabit this planet. From this perspective, humanity ought to be cheerful that the Syrians are dying in droves, and the atheist Marxist bureaucrats who wiped out 100 million souls are heroes of environmentalism.

The problem of myopia plagues both sides of the environmental debate equally.

You have described the foolishness of industrialists who claim pollutants they dump into our living quarters are harmless, but do not mention the ludicrous claims of academics, pontificating from their ivory towers, divorced from reality.

I see them as one and the same, cut from the same cloth.

Consider the hasty changes in terminology when discussing global pollution.

I think this was engineered

First, it was global warming that was to melt the glaciers and drown coastal cities within 10-years with sea water. Then, the term conveniently morphed to climate change when the fluctuations in global temperatures did to concord with their apocalyptic hypothesis.

The game is played without consideration of the board, or other players.

very existence produces the pollitant the academics so dread, carbon dioxide,

this is only one facet of the argument.

You seem very bitter these days, even more so than normal. You okay?

Thank you for your concern. I will be more cheerful next time. Bitterness can rapidly lead to resentment that quickly turns to vengefulness. That is a path no man ought to travel.

Just hope all is okay mate. take care.

Arnold Schwarzenegger said that he spent his health to gain his wealth and had to about face and start spending wealth to regain health. We really aren't the smartest at what matters the most are we? How much of what you need the most will you sacrifice for what can be lost in a second?

Thought food

From a very young age my school taught me to take care of the environment and that was like an estimated 18 years ago and today I still have that same teaching. With regard to China is the most polluting country in the world for its consumption of coal and as you say that the people of China are cutting many years of their lives, we do not affect what happens to them but in the long term it will harm us not to us but to our decency. As you well say that one day we will live without toxicity to the planet earth and I am in agreement with you as the technology advances too possibly the same Chinese are the ones who find the solution to all its contamination. Greetings from Venezuela

With regard to China is the most polluting country in the world for its consumption of coal and as you say that the people of China are cutting many years of their lives, we do not affect what happens to them but in the long term it will harm us not to us but to our decency.

They are the largest producers in the world, not the largest consumers. They produce so the rest of the world can consume cheaply. We are the problem as it is a Law of Supply and Demand.

 They are the largest producers in the world, not the largest consumers. They produce so the rest of the world can consume cheaply. We are the problem as it is a Law of Supply and Demand. 

That's what I meant, they are the most carbon-producing country in which they sell to their buyers and the more they produce the more buyers there will be and the more toxic smoke will open up and so on until their double damage to the environment increases.

Faraz, we are all addicts. The word addiction has a negative association, and when one sees the word, drugs often come to mind. An addiction in the broader sense is an action that causes you harm in some way, and despite that harm being apparent to you, you feel the compulsion to partake in that act.

We are an addicted society, and we are addicted to convenience. It is convenient to remain the same even if doing so is not in our best interest. In the same way that a heroine addict pollutes their body with the drug at the cost of their health, wealth and personal relationships, we as human kind are addicted to our way of life and the conveniences that come with it, so we dump toxic waste into our rivers and oceans and we pump all sorts of pollutants into the air we breath. And all of this at the cost of our health amongst many other things.

In my humble opinion, to deal with this challenge we are facing, we need to take focus on the fact that we are addicted, and instead focus on the why. There is always a deeper motivation for all addictions, and exposing the root cause gives you the power to make the impossible a reality.

We are an addicted society, and we are addicted to convenience. It is convenient to remain the same even if doing so is not in our best interest.

absolutely.

There is always a deeper motivation for all addictions, and exposing the root cause gives you the power to make the impossible a reality.

"The root of all suffering is desire"

When it comes to what to believe and what no people usually judge by their emotions. The majority are often biased to the opinion that serves their interests. Others may be biased to the opinions if those who are trustworthy for them. The conseqences are many contradictory concepts that if put beside each others would show much inconsistency.
We can’t claim that banks are lying about everything or honest about everything. If Only facts were considered by people regardless of who is telling what, most of our disagreements would be resolved. And we could start making the required decisions.

If Only facts were considered by people regardless of who is telling what, most of our disagreements would be resolved. And we could start making the required decisions.

Yep. If this happened we can actually do something great yet, each group and faction has only their agenda in mind, regardless of the facts.

Taps into what I said yesterday, if we would rather all build each other up to just above being in need, what will follow is profit so to speak, but as you say, getting everyone on the same page is the tricky part and will man's selfishness allow that ever?

My feeling is that at the end of the day, it would be in all of our benefit if we just said "To hell with it" and did all we could to do all we can. Yeah, the costs are high but the funny thing is, it is only money, and the money they control might not have too much value in the future.

Life always has value and health is wealth.

I am skeptical with the conspiracy theory. And there is a huge topic to discuss ranging from centralization, GMO, fluoride,vaccines, etc that confuse people ...I believe on the power of utilizing clean energy but some people are not motivated to act. Yes, we can pinpoint the problem but we are not doing anything to fix it.

the conspiracy is in the collusion between the players and there is definitely suppression of some content/technologies and drivers for others.

THis is also an interesting side to it. https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/tobacco-and-oil-industries-used-same-researchers-to-sway-public1/

I didn't read it all but the idea is there.

Yes, we can pinpoint the problem but we are not doing anything to fix it.

It is much like here, because people don#t want to cooperate, the potential to act is massively diminished.

From my view, a lot of this is engineered, conspiratorial, manipulative FUD to maintain power for those who have it and divide us without to make sure we cannot threaten their laws, actions and shackles.

The powers that be.

The world is an interesting place filled with inconsistencies that we have created and hold within us. We want one thing, act toward another, say this, do that.

Most of the time, before we get what we want, we are already wanting something else, our inconsistencies are our nail in our knee

If that happens here in the rest of the world, it is like that in the big industries or manufacturing companies, this is a subject that is not taken into account by the great powers and they will only want power and riches, but in some years that will happen? come generations back who want to live and grow in a healthy world and if we continue as we go we will end this world in a matter of years, I think it is too worrying this technology healthy and without much pollution if there is so you have to invest millions of dollars it does not matter is the future of our generations and thousands of living beings is at stake, you started with this great support saying things clear and as they are, I hope God hears you and things will change at some point, greetings brother

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