[Date Prev][Date Next][Thread Prev][Thread Next][Date Index][Thread Index]

Re: Acid Rain

Mach Fukada wrote:
> 
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "Doug Karpa-Wilson" <dkarpawi at indiana_edu>
> To: <killietalk at aka_org>
> Sent: Thursday, May 31, 2001 12:58 PM
> Subject: Re: Acid Rain
> 
> >

In response to my:

> > >Burning high-sulphur fuels probably has some pretty serious effects on
> > >precipitation downwind from it. Of course the world magnitude is utterly
> > >trivial when compared to a major volcanic eruption, but that still
> doesn't
> > >mean some people should have any right to mess up other peoples'
> property.
> > >Arranging proper means of compensation tends to have far better end
> results
> > >than forming up another army of jack-booted thugs to "plan and regulate"
> > >things.
> >
> > And who but the government has the force to ensure this?  

Aha, Doug! You found the true purpose of government that the founders
understood so well, as expressed in the US Constitution. Preventing me from
harming you is exactly *why* we delegate (and should restrict) the right to
initiate use of force to the government. 

It's when we try to "do good" with that force that we invariably get a
tyranny. We solve the "Jewish Problem" or the "Gypsy Problem" or the
"Homosexual Problem," as Hitler did in the 20s and 30s. Mussolini used it to
get the "trains to run on time." [No, Ross Perot didn't invent that
expression. :-)] The whole history of socialism over the past century is a
great example of how using good intentions paves the road to hell. Who likes
how we are solving the "Education Problem?" "Let no child be left behind"
says it all. 

Read the Federalist Papers for a great discussion of the differences. It is
*not* just a democracy, and it is *not* just a republic -- it is a
constitutionally limited government, lest we forget it.

> > As it is
> > compensation virtually never happens.  

Any wonder, when the fox guards the hen house? ROTFL! :-)

> > Also, major volcanic eruptions are
> > one offs which disappate over time, unlike coal plants.
> >
> 
> How about on going in the USA for the past 17 or so years?  Vast amounts of
> Sulfuric acid and hydrochloric acid are being produced everyday that the
> lava enters the ocean in Hawaii...
> MTF

Not to mention countless hot sulphur springs and geysers all along the
Pacific Rim spewing tons of sulphates into the air continuously. This is one
of the very few times in recent history that we *haven't* an active volcano
also working along the Left Coast of the US, BTW.

No. The "acid rain" mythology is a pure tool of politics, and has little
relationship to physical reality. I may think of congress as particularly
brainless, but even they aren't so stupid they will try to regulate Moana
Loa.

Our responsibility, as citizens, is to garner enough understanding that we
can quit admiring the Emperors new wardrobe, once in a while.

The whole environmental movement, particularly since _Silent Spring_, has
been an exercise in increasing government power to "solve the pollution
problem," in the very best of classic fascist style. My fear is just that
the EPA, et al, will do to the whole country what the "War on Poverty" has
done to our inner cities.

In a private communication with Bruce S. (who has a *lot* of expertise on
this subject -- and doesn't agree at all with me on govt's. role), he
reminded me of why we really need to be concerned about the pH of poorly
buffered water. I had just changed water on some wild Bettas and noticed
their water's pH was 3.5, yet they were happily building bubble nests.

Fish don't feel pH very much between about 4 and 10. What they usually feel
is the consequences of the acid chemistry acting on *other stuff in their
environment*. [Barry Cooper has pointed out to me that some species are
susceptible to blood acidosis, but I have not encountered an obvious case of
that.] Heavy metals tend to be soluble in acids. They are usually toxic as
hell. Nitrite is pretty harmless at pH above 6, but deadly as pH goes lower.
[I rarely try to cycle a new tank of soft water with any added peat, to
avoid that problem.] Ammonium starts turning to deadly ammonia as pH starts
to go above 7, and is 50 times as deadly at pH of 9 as at 7.

I once killed a big tank of growing FIL because I let it get a bit acid. I
had a bunch of lead plant anchors in there. I'm not proud of the obvious
deaths from nerve damage that resulted. It was a sad thing to see.

This is what can happen in the Adirondacks where a small addition drop in pH
can leech heavy metals out of the (usually inert) glacial deposits and
poison the native inhabitants. A small addition of cheap limestone could
mitigate the problem in many cases with minimal outside impact, but that
doesn't satisfy the desire of some to shut down all industry in a fantasy
desire for a return to more pastoral times. The road to hell really is paved
with...

Wright

-- 
Wright Huntley, Fremont CA, USA, 510 494-8679  huntley1 at home_com

        "Congress has not unlimited powers to provide
for the general welfare but only those specifically enumerated."
                                      --Thomas Jefferson

                Did you try the quiz at: 

          http://www.self-gov.org/index.html ?
---------------
See http://www.aka.org/AKA/subkillietalk.html to unsubscribe
Follow-Ups: