I dedicate the following bad news to Paul Davis, Earth enviromentalist extrordinaire.

Mass Extinction of Freshwater Creatures Forecast

-- a (a@a.a), October 06, 1999

Answers

Why a! I didn't know you cared! ;)

Actually, the real part of this little polemic is in the last line: Ricciardi and Rasmussen note that hundreds of U.S. dams are coming up for federal relicensing soon, providing an opportunity to reestablish natural flows in many rivers.

Ahem. Just pure chance they came out with this at this particular time.

A, most of those dams are either for irrigation or for flood control. You could take down many of the irrigation dams without ill effects on most people, but the flood control dams have to stay. Unless you want the periodic flooding that was pandemic prior to 1937. And BTW, the irrigation dams are often the ones with the worst problems with siltation behind the dam. Taking one out would have to be done carefully, unless you want some really nasty mud flowing downstream. Can anyone think of a use for a billion tons of wet and nasty topsoil, a use that would pay for the cost of hauling it away?

-- Paul Davis (davisp1953@yahoo.com), October 06, 1999.

I thank you for this link. The time has coem for me to put myself on the line. I have been sitting here raging inside about how upside down the US (world?) is.

Im 27 years old, and I just ahve this gut feeling that I should be doing something important. I talk to a lot of people, and they all feel the same way. I feel like im awaking from a long sleep. sleep where i lived in a nightmare world that is run by GREED and people who warship material goods, creating more and more waste to polute our planet.

Im just ab average guy. A computer technician who loves to spend time with his wife and child, go dancing, fishing, jetskiing, car racing and other such normal events. Ive never been an environmentalist or an activist of any kind. I just can't shake this feeling that something is wrong, and that its time for me to figure it out.

Y2K has opened my eyes to many interesting subjects. If nothing else, it has caused me to learn more about the world I live in, than i ever would have without it.

I dont know what will do yet, but first i must find like minded people.

-- Do or Die. (coryh@strategic-services.net), October 06, 1999.

Paul:

It is truly a shame that we can't put it back where it came from.....

Topsoil depletion is yet another of those long term issues waiting for us not too far up the road.

-- mushroom (mushroom_bs_too_long@yahoo.com), October 06, 1999.

Do or Die,

I suggest you start practicing what you are preaching. Those fu--ing Jet Skis are the worst curse our lakes have ever seen. They are noisy, tear up the weed beds where the fish like to hide, and a general all around annoyance. They are considering banning those useless things from the lakes around here.

Have a nice day.

-- (sickofthis@crap.com), October 06, 1999.

Do or Die,

May I suggest a book that will explain why you are feeling this way? It's "Ismael" by Daniel Quinn. You won't feel any better after reading it, but you will understand why you feel uneasy when everything is "happy, happy" (the chant of "mother culture").

Berry

-- Berry Picker (BerryPicking@yahoo.com), October 06, 1999.

Do or Die -

The first step is thinking about what you are doing, so you have started well. If you look for like-minded people, then you will find them. A lot of people are dismayed with the way this world is working, whether for environmental, moral, Y2K, or whatever reasons.

Y2K awareness is waking me up to other things I've taken for granted or have been doing wrong. I am making small changes in my lifestyle - maybe they will add up to something worthwhile. I don't know. I do believe something bad is coming down, not just computer crashes. Stories like the one starting this thread remind me of Revelations - and that the end of the world may just be our own doing.

Feeling gloomy today and looking hard in a mirror . . .

-- Margaret J (janssm@aol.com), October 06, 1999.

Berry Picker has it right - anyone who is wondering about that pervasive feeling that something is amiss should read Ishmael by Daniel Quinn. If you are as upset as I am about the way our society and goverment has cemented its collective head into the sand and refuses to recognize population control as the primary issue facing us, please visit the Society For Human Population Control (SHCP) website. While they advance what I consider an unrealistic political agenda, at least they are making people think about it.

-- jorian (jorian@bewellnet.com), October 06, 1999.

Do or Die, go for it!!! Reading your post gives me renewed hope, which I've had twice before when young adults in their twenties posted here about their awakening to the fact that all is not right, and that much needs to be done to change things. I, too, got that feeling in my youth, and began doing things which were not popular or acceptable to my area's populace, nor to some of my husband's parishioners, but which it seemed I must do to make a difference. Today I look back at many such activities with great satisfaction at age 3-days-short-of-64, and feel pride in having stuck my neck out and made some small changes. My only regret is that I did not do even more. I hope that this is your only regret when you reach my age, and that you will be able to see the changes your presence wrought in a world that sorely needs it. May God bless you as you seek and find those individuals who are like-minded and who will enrich you for knowing, long after you have accomplished your mutual goals, and go separate ways in a mobile society.

-- Elaine Seavey (Gods1sheep@aol.com), October 06, 1999.

Another perspective is that such as above is a product of the rhetoric that promotes the values of "Deep Ecology." This currently permeates our resource management agency culture and academicia, masquerading as "science." Rather, this is a form of religion - the advancement of which by a US government agency or through federal monies is unconstitutional.

We submit for your consideration: Associated Contract Loggers Inc. and Olson Logging, Inc, Plaintiffs, vs. United States Forest Service, Superior Wilderness Action Network, and Forest Guardians, Defendants http://www.snowcrest.net/siskfarm/conlogr.html This suit enjoins the USFS from implementation of management policies that are constrained by certain religious beliefs on the sacredness of trees and other natural flora and fauna as promoted by SWAN and Forest Guardians contrary to the provisions of the 1st Amendment to the Constitution of the United States. Complaint claims damages for failure to provide Plaintiffs, first, with adequate amounts of timber to log under established Available Sale Quantities ("ASQ") limitations, and second, reasonable winter access to timber on lands not owned by the United States of America.

Expect to see more of these types of suits.

-- marsh (siskfarm@snowcrest.net), October 07, 1999.

Our creator has a plan. We cannot know this plan. We all are a part of it. The recognition that there's something you must do, is a big step along your path. You will not know what your part is until it's time, but along the way pay attention, watch and learn. You will be given the things to use when the time comes.

-- BH (silentvoice@pobox.com), October 07, 1999.