Thursday Open Thread 9-7-2017
Morning. Many of our conversations have focused on providing high quality food to nourish ourselves and stay healthy. Growing, purchasing local and cooking more from scratch is one part of the cycle of reliance. Another part is what is being returned to the earth as byproducts of daily living.
Plastic is in the clothes we wear, bedding for sleep, furniture for sitting, carpets and shoes for walking. We almost wrap ourselves in plastic.
The amount produced keeps growing.
Microfibers are showing up in our drinking water.
Mahon said there were two principal concerns: very small plastic particles and the chemicals or pathogens that microplastics can harbour. “If the fibres are there, it is possible that the nanoparticles are there too that we can’t measure,” she said. “Once they are in the nanometre range they can really penetrate a cell and that means they can penetrate organs, and that would be worrying.” The Orb analyses caught particles of more than 2.5 microns in size, 2,500 times bigger than a nanometre.
Microplastics can attract bacteria found in sewage, Mahon said: “Some studies have shown there are more harmful pathogens on microplastics downstream of wastewater treatment plants.”
How microplastics end up in drinking water is for now a mystery, but the atmosphere is one obvious source, with fibres shed by the everyday wear and tear of clothes and carpets. Tumble dryers are another potential source, with almost 80% of US households having dryers that usually vent to the open air.
Landscaping preferences in our commercial and residential areas contribute to overall pollution.
Today, American lawns occupy some 30-40 million acres of land. Lawnmowers to maintain them account for some 5 percent of the nation’s air pollution – probably more in urban areas. Each year more than 17 million gallons of fuel are spilled during the refilling of lawn and garden equipment—more than the oil that the Exxon Valdez spilled.
Homeowners spend billions of dollars and typically use 10 times the amount of pesticide and fertilizers per acre on their lawns as farmers do on crops; the majority of these chemicals are wasted due to inappropriate timing and application. These chemicals then runoff and become a major source of water pollution.Last but not least, 30 to 60 percent of urban fresh water is used on lawns. Most of this water is also wasted due to poor timing and application.
Pharmaceuticals effecting the environment is not simply due to agricultural practice. Antidepressants are showing up in fish and effecting behavior.
Antidepressant drugs, making their way through an increasing number of people's bodies, getting excreted in small amounts into their toilets, and moving through the wastewater treatment process to lakes and rivers, are being found in multiple Great Lakes fish species' brains, new research by the University of Buffalo has found.
Researchers detected high concentrations of both the active ingredients and metabolites — byproducts of the parent drug — of popular antidepressant pharmaceuticals including Zoloft, Prozac, Celexa and Sarafem in the brains of fish caught in the Niagara River connecting Lake Erie and Lake Ontario.
Farm Report
The first forest fire smoke was the beginning of August. I was starting to believe the air was getting better since the smell of smoke no longer greeted me whenever a door was opened. MarilynW provided a link showing the smoke patterns. Still in the heaviest range of smoke concentration. The inside of the house must be saturated with smoke fragrance. Snow is what will probably extinguish the closest fires.
The plums should have been ready 1st or 2nd week of August. Their development slowed when the smoke arrived and are just now becoming edible. The plum in front of the bunch made a good snack.
The maple leaves are skipping the yellow, reds and oranges stage, changing straight to brown.
Natures way to store some feed for winter. Green grasses grown with too much nitrogen are not palatable to the livestock. The cattle and sheep avoid the cow pie patches (in picture) and the grass growing in the fertilized water overflow from the neighbors fields. However once it has been frozen and dried it becomes a preferred grazing food (November through February).
Comments
Good morning, SOE ~~
We have a lot of smoke here in New Mexico. People are finally beginning to suffer mild effects. Every day is hazy. We got rain last night, so I'm hoping some if the smoke cleared. I'll see when the sun comes up. It has been a red ball of late, both rising and setting.
Since we live in a rural area, I do prepare most of our meals, which I know keeps us healthier. The fellow I buy fresh eggs from is moving, so we're moving his chickens into our abandoned coop. It will be nice to have them again.
Have a beautiful day, folks!
"The “jumpers” reminded us that one day we will all face only one choice and that is how we will die, not how we will live." Chris Hedges on 9/11
Nice - no waiting for the chicks to grow up before eggs
I am probably a better cook because I an too impatient to drive to the fast food joint and can not find a Chinese restaurant I like locally.
Still yourself, deep water can absorb many disturbances with minimal reaction.
--When the opening appears release yourself.
From 115 to 66 and raining in Cloverdale ... that was fast
North Coast grape growers confront muggy weather, worry about fruit rot after heat spike
It is wine-grapes as far as the eye can see around here, and raining. Don't say lightning. Wine was a 900 million dollar industry last year, soo close to their brass ring. Outdoor cannabis growers have challenges too, same same. Hope it passes quickly and buds grow in to the golden trichomes of peace and prosperity everyone is expecting to descend upon us next year.
The fire danger has dropped dramatically, yay?
good luck
Good morning all
Last year we were in the fire zone at this time. This year it was 48 degrees this morning and 1.5 inches of rain two days ago (and no telling about Irma's effect next week).
Already have fall crops in - lettuce, collards, spinach, kale, and so on. Still have sweet potatoes to dig next month.
Wishing all of you safety in the fires. floods, and storms!
“Until justice rolls down like water and righteousness like a mighty stream.”
56 this morning from the 100s still on Tuesday . . .
Good morning all!
Cool front came in yesterday, but didn't get much work done outside taking care of teenager stuff. Those kid activities are fun, though. Got to get out there now, as I will be out of town a couple of days.
SOE . . . could you get snow already this month?
I will check back later to read other news and comments. Glad some are getting rain and the heat is subsiding for you folks out west.
Marilyn
"Make dirt, not war." eyo
Started raining 20 minutes ago - yeah
Just before I sent out to start the irrigation pump. I will let the big sprinklers in the sky take care of today's watering and clear some of the smoke.
Have experience snow hear every month of the year except August. Snow most likely will not arrive until October or later.
Still yourself, deep water can absorb many disturbances with minimal reaction.
--When the opening appears release yourself.
Good Morning
This young lady is awesome.
The individual has always had to struggle to keep from being overwhelmed by the tribe. If you try it, you will be lonely often, and sometimes frightened. But no price is too high to pay for the privilege of owning yourself. - Friedrich Nietzsche -
You can't argue
There is no such thing as TMI. It can always be held in reserve for extortion.
Heh, that was fun.
That, in its essence, is fascism--ownership of government by an individual, by a group, or by any other controlling private power. -- Franklin D. Roosevelt --
LOL Valley Girl
Moon Zappa Valley Girl
Lord God King BuFu 2020
good luck
quick edit: Obnoxious frame size, YouTube interface not my favorite.
Good mornng, SOE. Temps down from a week of
record highs, but still pretty warm. It was 67 at 7:00 am and is headed for 75.
We're winning against microbeads [ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Microbead ], but fibers will be tougher, as will be abraision generated micro-pollutants.
That, in its essence, is fascism--ownership of government by an individual, by a group, or by any other controlling private power. -- Franklin D. Roosevelt --
Open Thread date is 9-1-2017
Third time's a charm? I mean this is my third comment in the thread and I just noticed. Sorry.
good luck
Thanks - corrected
The dyslexia is showing. Between it, auto-correct and typos I can keep those around me confused.
Still yourself, deep water can absorb many disturbances with minimal reaction.
--When the opening appears release yourself.
My vision is terrible
Pat Benatar - Red Vision -Live Portland, OR 1986
keep going