wilderness’s Recent Comments

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  two wrongs

  At the risk of oversimplifying things, it seems that the fact that methyl iodide is carcinogenic ought not be used as a rationale for continued use of ozone-depleting methyl bromide, particularly when there are any number of certified organic berry producers doing quite well without either. On EPA may soon approve toxic alternative to ozone-depleting pesticide, despite criticism posted 2 years, 1 month ago 2 Responses

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  GMO or non-GMO?

  I remember being super stoked when I first heard about biodegradeable corn plastics.  However, my enthusiasm was brought down several notches when I looked further into it and discovered that at least some corn plastics are made from genetically modified corn.  In fact, it seemed as if this was a deliberate effort by those that would raise/market/promote genetically modified corn to "green up" their image.  (I don't have the research on hand at the moment, but much of it was available online about a year ago.)  That being said, I hate to tarnish the entire corn plastic industry since there may be some less nefarious outfits not using GMO corn.  However, if it comes down to choosing between petroleum-based plastics and GMO-corn ones, seems like it's time to just cut down on our plastic use entirely, and re-use and recycle what we do use as much as possible.

  (I also seem to remember a lot of hype about biodegradable plastics in the early `90s, but it turned out (if memory serves) that they were held together with non-biodegradable plastic polymers--when the biodegradable component broke down, the plastic polymers were free to leach into the ecosystem.)On Umbra on biodegradable products posted 2 years, 4 months ago 5 Responses

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  pharmaceuticals anyone?

  I'm a little disapointed in the coverage of this since i think it rests on an out-dated assumption, namely that our urine is 'practically sterile'.  While that may have been technically true in a pre-synthetic time, i'd be inclined to doubt that all the chemicals, hormones etc. that pass through us after consuming antibiotics, birth control pills, viagra, zoloft and all the other tasty meds contemporary beach pissers are likely to have ingested are terribly good for wildlife and ecosystems.  

  Since we can never know definitively what the impacts of excreting these partially metabolized compounds will be, i think that in most cases the precautionary principle would suggest peeing and pooing as far away from any body of water as possible, if only to allow the nasties more time to get filtered by the soil etc.  The key is to be mindful of where you're relieving yourself and tinkling as lightly on the earth as possible.

  Anyone have any scientific data to support or negate this theory?  I'd like to know more (eg. the endocrine disrupting properties of synthetics).On Umbra on peeing at the beach posted 2 years, 4 months ago 8 Responses

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  waiting for the tune to change

  ...but then what do you expect from a guy who makes a mint off a limp piece of apathetic re-hash called, ironically enough, "Waiting for the world to change" which is basically just a rip off of 2 soul classics--namely Curtis Mayfield's "People Get Ready" and Marvin Gaye's "Sexual Healing" (play them back to back to back).  Same old same old, just more watered down...kind of like 'light green' if you will.On From pop star John Mayer posted 2 years, 6 months ago 31 Responses