‘The adage “out of sight, out of mind” has long summed up humans’ attitude to dumping personal and industrial waste. In a 1974 Scientific American article, the oceanographer Willard Bascom wrote that “the ocean is the plausible place for man to dispose of some of his wastes”. If done “thoughtfully”, he continued, “it will do no damage to marine life.”’
https://theconversation.com/marine-life-in-a-south-african-bay-is-full-of-chemical-pollutants-182791
That was the thinking even beyond the warnings of the first Earth Day in 1970. It was assumed then that man would be good stewards of our oceans and natural resources, that they would thoughtfully do no damage to marine life. Given the corporate greed that led to environmental catastrophes like Love Canal, it is quite beyond belief that any scientist could be so naive. Although Love Canal finally reached a crescendo and identified as a state of emergency in 1978, certainly in 1974 the handwriting was on the wall.
“On January 28, 1969, a well drilled by Union Oil Platform A off the coast of Santa Barbara, California, blew out. More than three million gallons of oil spewed, killing more than 10,000 seabirds, dolphins, seals, and sea lions. As a reaction to this disaster, activists were mobilized to create environmental regulation, environmental education, and Earth Day… Denis Hayes, organizer of the first Earth Day said that Senator Gaylord Nelson from Wisconsin was inspired to create Earth Day upon seeing Santa Barbara Channel 800 square-mile oil slick from an airplane.”
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Earth_Day
Obviously, by 1974 the world should have taken issue with the idea of the ocean being used as a garbage and effluent dumping ground. The world is still pumping “treated sewage” into our oceans. This must stop. What is being dumped cannot even be considered adequately treated.
“There are also three “marine outfall pipelines” that pump untreated sewage – only sieving out larger items – directly from toilets and drains into the ocean via underwater pipelines. As our studies show, then, microbial and chemical contamination from faeces is now widespread around the Peninsula.”
“Ideally, wastewater should go through four treatment steps:
• pre-treatment to remove very large solid materials
• primary treatment for the removal of smaller solids as well as grease, fats and oils
• secondary treatment for the disinfection of the wastewater
• tertiary treatment for the further “polishing” and more thorough removal of chemical compounds and microorganisms…”
“Earth’s oceans are not only full of plastics: they’re also clogged with dumped medications, antibiotics, disinfection products, household chemicals and pesticides, among other products. This isn’t just bad news for the environment and marine life. It harms humans, too. The compounds contained in some of these dumped products cause feminisation and lower the quality of sperm. They can also lead to sexual abnormalities and reproductive impairments in both sea life and humans, as well as causing persistent antibiotic resistance and endocrine disruption.”
https://theconversation.com/marine-life-in-a-south-african-bay-is-full-of-chemical-pollutants-182791
This article explores a research project in South Africa’s Cape Town’s False Bay marine environment. In South Africa and around the globe, sewage is either minimally treated or not treated at all before being discharged into rivers and our oceans. Below is the sewage outfall in South Florida where they are still trying to adequately deal with the problem.
We can’t wait or continue to employ stop gap measures to right the errors in judgement we continue to repeat. For more than 50 years the genius of Julien Koenig (a marketing and advertising giant) and his “Ecology Day,” “Environment Day,” “E Day,” and ultimately “Earth Day” remain to be realized.
We need to work harder. There is nothing more important to do.
© stevendphilbrick 05.29.2022 sr+ sukidawg
SR+ An IngeniousVortex 