jishica’s Recent Comments

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  sea sponges...and birth control pills

  I've tried sea sponges and found that by squeezing certain muscles you can push them to within reach.  But maybe I didn't have enough up there, as I did have leakage.  Your description doesn't describe how many to use at a time, I was kind of winging it when I tried them.

  Also, to abigoogle, sorry to tell you this, but any time we take a pharmaceutical - even birth control - we pee out the part of it we don't use, it goes into the wastewater, and because pharma products are not regulated in the water quality standards (this will probably change) it gets discharged to rivers or the ocean.  Scientists for years have observed feminized fish and frogs at these points of discharge, caused by this waste, as well as other problems from the other chemicals. Birth control pills result in concentrations of estrogen in the waste-stream.On A review of eco-minded feminine products, part two posted 11 months, 3 weeks ago 22 Responses

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  liberals created dirty cities?

  I am always stunned by the misinformation and inaccuracy fomented about liberals and/or liberal so-called ideology. I'm not even sure what it has to do with any actual issue.

  But for the moment, a brief history of urbanism, for those of you who apparently think that it, too, is a liberal conspiracy.  In fact modern cities exploded as a consequence of the closing of the commons (lands shared by a community, relic of feudalism) found in Europe by industrialists (capitalists) who needed a labor force.  A labor force divested of land that they could use for their own subsistence, to become dependent upon wages to survive.  American cities grew up around industry as well, and received and exploited hungry immigrants.  What is indeed dirty about this is the venal and self-serving attitude of the industrialists who forced this situation.  I suppose if you wanted to be cute, you could call it a liberal conspiracy - compared to the landed gentry, these people were the liberals of their time - BUT those "liberals" were free market capitalists.  

  The people who objected to the squalor and terrible conditions of the working poor, who organized communities and fought to improve the conditions tended to be social reformers and dare I say it, socialists.  Today's liberals are a far tamer bunch then yesterday's socialists, but from listening to conservative talk-show hosts, you'd never know it.    

  But yes, as people have concentrated in cities, they seem to realize that acting out of a common interest spreads the benefits around.  That we don't want to be held responsible for bailing out a few who have manipulated regulations and policy to benefit themselves should not be a shock.  I don't want the nation to collapse either, but now would be a good time for Republicans to hold up their circa-1980 cry for personal responsibility, I certainly want to see accountability, and better policies so that people who are financially vulnerable can remain gainfully employed, have housing, and health & security in their old age.  So says this liberal.  I think it's about decency and responsibility.On Friends of the Earth says anti-regulation approach causes environmental destruction posted 1 year, 1 month ago 25 Responses

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  "unprecedented" decline?

  not exactly unprecedented.  Read King of Fish by David Montgomery.  He chronicles the woeful mismanagement and collapse of salmon fisheries first in the European Atlantic, then in the British colonies and early USA along the eastern seaboard...and then in the Pacific Northwest.  They all had  few things in common:  dams, deforestation, and overfishing (all kinds).  They also a something else in common:  a lack of will to seriously deal with the causes, lack of enforcement when there were laws to protect salmon, lots of fingerpointing, political influence of the industries that are creating the causes of decline, and some seriously half-baked fixes (like hatcheries) that don't deal with causes.  Darwin in his day noted the gravity of the situation in England - he wrote of the confluence of causes for a collapse, only to watch it happen.  That same confluence of causes is here, on our West Coast.  That it may be accelerated by water pumping is one more reason for us to remove dams, limit fishing, restrict water consumption, and put serious money and aggressive effort into restoring salmon runs.  Or someday we'll have fished so far down the foodchain we'll be grilling goldfish, and I don't mean the crackers.   On California's chinook salmon population near "unprecedented collapse" posted 1 year, 9 months ago 5 Responses

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  Conservation vs. Conservation

  The High Country News recently had an excellent piece noting the ways in which water INefficiency at agricultural lands in the Salton Sea area has helped to reestablish marshlands at the Colorado River Delta - which was decimated by the dams the US installed along the River last century.  The current pressure to conserve water by increasing efficiency of irrigation ditches- which is only being calculated in terms of water needed for agriculture (savings to then benefit cities) and not the larger ecological benefits - threatens the Delta in Mexico.  The marshes are nurseries for fish, shellfish, etc, so this too goes back to our food supply.  The article also notes with some irony how these efficiency measures will negatively affect agriculture on the Mexico side of the border as groundwater dries up - and speculates that the consequences can mean more pressure for people to migrate north if they lose their livelihood.On Why Ask Why? Try Everything Dry posted 2 years, 7 months ago 2 Responses