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Index of Subjects This is a multi-part message in MIME format. ------=_NextPart_000_448A_01D0158B.76EC75F0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="Windows-1252" Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable Hi Paul & All, =20 Yes. Your essay is well worth reading. In the case of Naturens it = may be preaching to the converted but none-the-less worth reading.=20 In our Grade something reader (6?) we had a page or two from the = Deserted Village but I had forgotten that passage until I saw your use = of it. The 18th century was, like many of the earlier ones, a tough time = in the UK, especially Scotland. Poor weather for several successive = years combined with impoverished soil held in common led to several = severe famines. Brothers fighting sisters in the street for a crust of = bread, parents selling their young into slavery for a few pence so the = young might at least have something to eat. Robbery was so common and = want was so great that no man could be punished for stealing food = provided he could carry it. [by memory from The Social life of Scotland = in the Eighteenth Century, Henry Grey Graham, 1901].=20 This 536 page book is also worth reading because it gives a detailed = account of how the average person managed to survive or no survive under = conditions of dire want. Our future, on the current trajectory, will = likely be far worse. Yt, DW, Kentville From: Paul Ruggles=20 To: naturens@chebucto.ns.ca=20 Sent: Thursday, December 11, 2014 8:21 PM Subject: Re: [NatureNS] Canada's position on at-risk species = 'unprecedented' In response to DW and the quote from Oliver Goldsmith.=20 Some may wish to read my op ed piece that uses the same quote. My essay was in the Herald last April. It's theme was our ignorance = or selfish disregard for the realities of ecology. You can google Paul = Ruggles Ill fares the land. Paul On 2014-12-11, at 7:16 PM, David & Alison Webster wrote: Hi John & All, Are you involved in prevention and remediation also or only = monitoring ? There is much to be said for those who produce, using local = resources, goods for which there is an export market. This kind of = primary production is the fuel that keeps all the other wheels of the = economy turning. In the absence of wealth production there eventually = can be no wealth consumption. Shortly after the cod stocks collapsed and the fishery was shut = down, I heard an Economics Prof. being interviewed on the radio. He = explained that Nfld. would be fine. There would still be Education, = Health Care, Police work and Highway Maintenance. However necessary all = of these are they consume wealth. This kind of distorted thinking is still current. The Dec. 22 = Editorial in Maclean's notes that a downturn in the oil and gas sector = is relatively unimportant because it comprises only 6% of GNP. "Health = care, Education and Banking are each bigger; real estate is more than = twice as big." Yt, Dave Webster, Kentville ----- Original Message ----- From: John and Nhung To: naturens@chebucto.ns.ca Sent: Thursday, December 11, 2014 2:10 PM Subject: RE: [NatureNS] Canada's position on at-risk species = 'unprecedented' Excellent rant, David. Agree with most, if not all of it! Re. fur industry-phosphate issue:=20 The monitoring continued this summer and I will be putting = together a report as soon as I can. Time and brainpower both have to be = available. The grandfather period ends January, 2016, but I think = (don=92t know) that farmers have been cleaning up their messes since = even before the regulations were proclaimed. Things were still bad this = summer, but there were hopeful signs. Still, no year is typical so it = will take a few years before we can say that trends have reversed. We = live in hope. Wait for the report. I also think we should be supporting farmers=92 efforts to clean = up their messes and working with the industry to achieve that. Some of = the industry bashing has been excessively gratuitous. That is = counter-productive and I get tired of it. Sorry, got off-topic! I also get tired of Canada=92s = unprecedented shifts on many issues! J! From: naturens-owner@chebucto.ns.ca = [mailto:naturens-owner@chebucto.ns.ca] On Behalf Of David & Alison = Webster Sent: December-11-14 1:11 PM To: naturens@chebucto.ns.ca Subject: Re: [NatureNS] Canada's position on at-risk species = 'unprecedented' Hi Rick & All, I am baffled by the notion that discussion might not be = useful. No doubt it is not possible to flick a switch and correct such = problems. But why avoid discussion ? One rather large hydra has as usual many heads but only one = body; a civil service which has become threadbare as a result of = attrition and, in some cases, never furnished with the necessary = resources to do the mandated job in the first place; a large number of = electric motors with the copper windings removed and sold for scrap. =20 Battles are now lost on a regular basis all for the want of = a horseshoe nail and/or an ounce of common sense and the updating of = regulations that have long since passed their best before date. Amherst, due to public pressure, turned down $500,000 for = disposal of fracking water after being purified to drinking water = standards. Why ? Largely because the public is rightly skeptical of = industry assurances. Without government funded science, which is = absolutely free of any pressure and consequently able to act as a = reliable way to confirm or reject assurances by industry one can expect = mob rule, informed by misinformation, to become commonplace. And this = can only lead to economically destructive decisions. In any case, a back of envelope calculation showed the = potential dilution to be astronomical so there should never have been a = fuss. But when democracy is used to establish the value of pi then 21 = people who prefer 3 will beat 20 who say it is about 3.14159. The same considerations apply to the Alton gas storage project = now stalled, partly because there is a concern about adding Sodium to = the ocean. Huh ?? If the company were to release their water, following = the schedule which they propose, I really don't understand how there = could be a problem. If done by instant feedback, mixing and release or = shutdown could be automated. Once again, objective oversight by = government funded science would avoid these foolish and destructive = shouting matches. About 10 years ago someone on the South Shore developed a way = to trap and use a truly invasive species of crab (Green crab I think and = used for Lobster bait) .He was fined for fishing Green Crabs without a = licence and lost his means of earning a living when he should have been = given some reward. But by the same agency he was denied a l