factbat.com

The following article takes excerpts from a collection of signs I read on a recent trip to visit family over the holidays. One of the signs is pictured below.

  Owning and sailing a boat, while typically considered to be a pristine pastime, is nothing short of subjecting one’s self to navigating a fetid sewer of toxic waste when attempting to do so in the San Francisco Bay area.

Renting slips around San Francisco Bay for over a year, and frequently spending afternoons sailing there has occasionally manifest what appears to be persistent and nagging biological assaults from what now appear to be the result of a myriad of pathogens.

Newly developed sinusitis, unexplained fatigue, dizziness, general lack of well-being and even deaths of fellow mariners have begun to send up red flags. Especially since salt is a perfect vehicle for many human-interfacing toxins and pathogens.

As the surface water begins to evaporate, inherent salt crystals in the ocean are then released as microscopic identifiers which assist in the body’s natural ability to assimilate various consumables. Whether they be the air we breathe, the food we eat or the water we drink.

Furthermore, the absorption of various chemical compounds within the atmosphere and environment we inhabit is also a critically significant factor of human consumption.

Remarkably, the Associated Press has seen fit to castigate a major building block of life on this planet - carbon dioxide - indicting anything which produces it as if it were some insidious purveyor of poison which is allegedly acidifying the planet’s oceans. A recent article on their website even goes so far as to name the Bay Area of California as a major hub of this alleged CO2 generated acidification, while completely ignoring the mountains of data which clearly expose the fact that the bays are being literally inundated with massive amounts of treated and partially treated sewage.

Much of the sewage dumped into the bays, estuaries, canals and deltas is highly toxic and full of acidifying compounds such as ammonias, sulfurs, treatment chemicals and heavy metals. Not to mention the alarming levels of pharmaceuticals including antibiotics, psychosomatics, anti-depressants, ACE inhibitors, re-uptake inhibitors, antiviral drugs, estrogen and heart medications. Moreover, scientific evidence suggests that even small amounts of these substances may adversely affect all manner of marine habitats and aquatic species.

Recent demands for information under the Public Information Act have revealed that none of the major municipalities discharging directly into the Delta are even testing for presence of pharmaceuticals in their wastewater.

Furthermore, it was a 2008 investigation by the Associated Press which exposed the high levels of pharmaceuticals in over 40 percent of the nation’s municipal water supplies, exposing that they certainly know full well how such toxins are finding their way into the drinking water. If for any reason they intend to claim that they are not aware of such, then they indict their own self of slipshod research, disingenuous reporting, and substandard principles and policies.

It is quite likely that the AP now see’s fit to accept kickbacks and ad monies in exchange for spreading misinformation and out-right lies to a citizenry who has come to trust them for legitimate news.

While accusing carbon dioxide of acidifying the nation’s oceans, the Associated Press has simultaneously ignored the following facts…

The Sacramento region is far and away the biggest polluter and is permitted to discharge over 181 million gallons of partially treated sewage each day, and this wastewater they are discharging contains high concentrations of ammonia. On a monthly basis Sacramento alone contributes 123,000 gallons of ammonia to this fetid crisis, and mostly dumps this sewage into the Delta Canal which supplies over 20 million people’s drinking water. Furthermore, the chemicals being released are believed to have a significant impact on local wildlife and endangered species.

In addition to Sacramento and Stockton, there are another dozen municipalities which each day flush over 200 million gallons of treated sewage directly into the heart of the Delta, and these infusions of toxicity have been increasing unchecked over the past 30 years with local development.

The Stockton wastewater plant has been repeatedly cited for illegal discharges of toxic contaminants, and a recent lawsuit filed by environmentalist groups identifies over 1,500 sewage spills in Stockton in the past five years. These spills are of untreated and partially treated sewage and greatly endanger human life and vastly affect wildlife and the static environment they rely upon.

Another 500 million gallons of treated sewage is permitted to discharge everyday by some 300 additional communities upstream of the estuary and its habitat.

Despite the availability of new and more astringent sewage treatment methods, Sacramento and other wastewater treatment plants still have yet to implement the newer and better technologies. This refusal to protect the citizenry from health risks are likely a direct result of the costs that may be incurred and the change in facilitators that must occur across the board in such an environment.

Once again, it is glaringly obvious that those businesses and bureaucracies currently enjoying various contractual agreements and government subsidized incorporations within this nation are hell bent on circumventing the supreme law of this land in an effort to continue operating outside of the people’s best interest.

The United States Constitution expressly prohibits any corporation or entity from engaging in any activity which intends to flout the life, liberty and pursuit of happiness of those around them, and it is high time that this law be extolled and engaged by this nation's private citizens with the full intent of discouraging any and all of the many illegal activities by corporate and government conglomerates which incessently pollute our beautiful land.

Let us once again set this nation aright.