GREAT LAKES Waters are Overdue for a Cleanup
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VIRUS ALERT
Meanwhile, on dozens of hot days over the summer, disappointed beach goers in Chicago and elsewhere have been met by swimming bans.
A host of viruses that can sicken swimmers, dangerous toxins such as mercury and asbestos, and other threats lurk in or beside the lakes, scientists say. Episodes of people sickened by contaminated drinking water may go unreported.
At beaches in larger communities, swimming areas are routinely tested for the presence of E-coli, a bacteria that is a marker for other pathogens. By midsummer, Chicago had ordered 34 swim bans.
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Everyone I know has started to think I'm a downer because I always say things like "Isn't that just so F*ed up?" I mean, people in general have accepted a decline in the quality of so many aspects of our lives. Some might believe that we now just know more and therefore the problems were always there and we were just unaware but Water? not just any water but the largest supply of available fresh water in the world!! and we have screwed it up SO BAD that there are times when you shouldn't touch it. WE'RE MADE OUT OF IT! and we can't touch it? Are we as a society so depraived in our thinking that it seems like a good idea to destroy the largest supply of the most essential compound in existence for some money so that we don't have to pay an additional $15 each in taxes to build better wastewater plants. SO that we can buy $15 in gasoline or replace our wallpaper. (don't get me started on the uselessness of wallpaper). There needs to be a reallignment of values in American culture. The silly part is that as a culture we KNOW the problem and we know what must be done to fix them but we are too stubborn and incompetent to do it. It would be nice to be able to swim in the Great Lakes and drink the water while you swim....not just nice but it would be natural. But now we can't because we dump our poop there and it will make us sick.
It appears to me that we've accept the distruction of just about anything in the name of the $$$$$. So many animals and plants are endangered. An article appeared recently about the critical danger the gorillas are facing. Bud, maybe you can attach the link for that article I sent you. I would refer in terested readers to a book "Ishmael" that Steve first introduced to me.It's quite a poingant commentary on the horrible way we treat our habibtat and how what effects and one organizm on the planet affects all. Alice
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