Fifty Years Ago Today....

[Gonzomin]

Trump's head of the EPA, an industry lobbyist resigned to head off an ethics investigation. This is the best, nothing but the best.

[cawacko]

Too bad there isn't a way around that wouldn't harsh your good mellow on your way there (and back). What all do you guys do? Kayak? Fish? Just zone out? Hike?

I'm a big golfer so that's my greatest joy up there. We have a boat so going out on the lake is heaven squared. Another couple is coming with us and they have two little kids so we'll definitely have our hands full with that. Hiking is always fun there but admittedly not my biggest cup of tea.

[ThatOwlWoman]

I'm a big golfer so that's my greatest joy up there. We have a boat so going out on the lake is heaven squared. Another couple is coming with us and they have two little kids so we'll definitely have our hands full with that. Hiking is always fun there but admittedly not my biggest cup of tea.

Boating and lounging around sounds great anyways! I bet the weather is beautiful too.

[Ralph]

I remember this. I remember my Dad going to Pittsburgh for work conferences and coming home with his white dress shirts gray and stinking from the air.

I remember days in summer when Mom wouldn't let us play outside because the air was so bad.

I remember going to visit the grands in Grand Rapids, Michigan, and being shown the Grand River.... brown and filthy, stinking, with barrels and chunks floating in it as it made its way to Lake Michigan. I remember thinking that my mom must have been making it up that it used to be a nice river where they had picnics next to it.

I remember visiting Lake Michigan's beach near Holland. There were dead fish as far as your eye could see. It stunk. There was a one-legged man (Vietnam War vet?) trying to walk through the sand on crutches, and to avoid stepping on the reeking dead fish.

I remember only seeing wild geese once in my entire first 20 years -- and they were flying up so high the only way to know them was by their honking; I remember my rapture at hearing their calls. I remember that I never saw a hawk, eagle, owl, or any other raptor till I was well into adulthood.

I remember Times Beach; I got my first alcohol drink there before it was bulldozed. It was contaminated with dioxin.

I remember all these things. The act that created the EPA was passed when I was 17 years old. It was signed into law by a Republican president. In that year I was lucky enough to meet Dr. Barry Commoner and shake his hand, at Missouri Botanical Garden. I remember that there was a time when all Americans wanted to change things together. Together we cleaned the air, the water, the Earth.

I want those days again.

If you want those days again...……..VOTE RIGHT. Stop selling your vote for immoral purposes. Read your history actual......it was Republicans that brought you civil rights, minority and female voting rights, that ended slavery, Jim Crow at the federal level as it was Wilson a progressive that introduced JIM CROW to our federal government, reigned in the KKK..etc. Stop believing the BIG LEFT WING LIES and propaganda.

[ThatOwlWoman]

If you want those days again...……..VOTE RIGHT. Stop selling your vote for immoral purposes. Read your history actual......it was Republicans that brought you civil rights, minority and female voting rights, that ended slavery, Jim Crow at the federal level as it was Wilson a progressive that introduced JIM CROW to our federal government, reigned in the KKK..etc. Stop believing the BIG LEFT WING LIES and propaganda.

You're a silly boy, Ralph. Thanks for your hilarious post.

PS -- Check your water for coal ash if you live in coal country.

[Bill]

I'm a big golfer so that's my greatest joy up there. We have a boat so going out on the lake is heaven squared. Another couple is coming with us and they have two little kids so we'll definitely have our hands full with that. Hiking is always fun there but admittedly not my biggest cup of tea.

Yea, prob don't wanna take two kids up Mt Tallac on a hot busy weekend.lol But if you guys wanna take a walk on the wild side a very easy one is "Chickadee Ridge" above Incline, across the lake, @ the foot of Mt Rose... Elevation is almost 9,000 when you get out of the car but the trail is very, very easy, I took a two & four year old w/ no problem plus the kids (& adults) can feed the birds.

THe chickadee have the ppl well trained, merely put a few seeds in their palm, hold it out & they will come down & take them/eat them right out of their hands.. (My adult kids prb loved it more than the kids did)

[Bill]

If you want those days again...……..VOTE RIGHT. Stop selling your vote for immoral purposes. Read your history actual......it was Republicans that brought you civil rights, minority and female voting rights, that ended slavery, Jim Crow at the federal level as it was Wilson a progressive that introduced JIM CROW to our federal government, reigned in the KKK..etc. Stop believing the BIG LEFT WING LIES and propaganda.

[Cypress]

the issues were already being fixed long before the EPA. As the article explains - the reason this fire was such a big deal is because fires were becoming rare on water - when they used to be commonplace.

The Clean Water Act, the Clean Air Act, and the Endangered Species Act were landmark pieces of legislation that have unequivocally improved the nation's environment in ways that would not have happened with a 50 state piecemeal approach to environmental management. Smart people, and even normal, everyday average people realized that environments do not stop at state borders.

Those pieces of landmark legislation also enjoy enormous public support, which is why the Republican Party never dares to publcally state they are in favor of undermining or overturning those laws.

[ThatOwlWoman]

The Clean Water Act, the Clean Air Act, and the Endangered Species Act were landmark pieces of legislation that have unequivocally improved the nation's environment in ways that would not have happened with a 50 state piecemeal approach to environmental management. Smart people, and even normal, everyday average people realized that environments do not stop at state borders.

Those pieces of landmark legislation also enjoy enormous public support, which is why the Republican Party never dares to publcally state they are in favor of undermining or overturning those laws.

Hear, hear.

I have never understood why those conservatives who claim to be in favor of freedom and the rights of ppl to live as they will are against regulations that will allow those very things. Doesn't "freedom" include the right to have access to clean water, air, soil free of toxins? Shouldn't Mr. Conservative have the right to enjoy the property that he paid good money for free of seeping industrial waste or toxic smog drifting in? Shouldn't his kids be free to play outside and not get sick because the factory a mile away is dumping shit into the water, air, and soil?

[Cypress]

Hear, hear.

I have never understood why those conservatives who claim to be in favor of freedom and the rights of ppl to live as they will are against regulations that will allow those very things. Doesn't "freedom" include the right to have access to clean water, air, soil free of toxins? Shouldn't Mr. Conservative have the right to enjoy the property that he paid good money for free of seeping industrial waste or toxic smog drifting in? Shouldn't his kids be free to play outside and not get sick because the factory a mile away is dumping shit into the water, air, and soil?

I like the way your brain works!

[Bill]

Hear, hear.

I have never understood why those conservatives who claim to be in favor of freedom and the rights of ppl to live as they will are against regulations that will allow those very things. Doesn't "freedom" include the right to have access to clean water, air, soil free of toxins? Shouldn't Mr. Conservative have the right to enjoy the property that he paid good money for free of seeping industrial waste or toxic smog drifting in? Shouldn't his kids be free to play outside and not get sick because the factory a mile away is dumping shit into the water, air, and soil?

Most excellent points.....

[ThatOwlWoman]

Most excellent points.....

Thanks.

It's interesting that conservatives clamor for less regulation and "smaller government," yet enjoy the benefits we all have due to those regulations helping to ensure our food safety, a non-degraded environment, products that don't injure or kill us, etc., isn't it?

[ThatOwlWoman]

I like the way your brain works!

Thanks. It's always a miracle when that happens. lol

[ThatOwlWoman]

Here is some amazingly great news that I think we can all agree on is a very good thing.

"The US generated more electricity from renewable sources than coal for the first time ever in April, new federal government data has shown.

"Clean energy such as solar and wind provided 23% of US electricity generation during the month, compared with coal’s 20%, according to the Energy Information Administration.

"This represents the first time coal has been surpassed by energy sources that do not release pollution such as planet-heating gases."

https://www.theguardian.com/environm...ity-coal-power

[zymurgy]

The Clean Water Act, the Clean Air Act, and the Endangered Species Act were landmark pieces of legislation that have unequivocally improved the nation's environment in ways that would not have happened with a 50 state piecemeal approach to environmental management. Smart people, and even normal, everyday average people realized that environments do not stop at state borders.

Those pieces of landmark legislation also enjoy enormous public support, which is why the Republican Party never dares to publcally state they are in favor of undermining or overturning those laws.

you better figure this out.

It was one thing to run roughshod over the constitution and do away with protections that require a 50 state approach - but this is a global problem - and you have more then 50 states involved

hell - you can't even acknowledge that the war on poverty is why America consumes so much more then the other nations. Fiat currency - and the lack of saving and investment isn't going to end well for the planet.