Firefighting foam leaves toxic legacy in Californians’ drinking water • Hacker News Board

Re: Firefighting foam leaves toxic legacy in Californians’ drinking water

#121

Post by [deleted] » Tue, Oct 08, 2019, 9:06 PM UTC

StreamBright wrote: post #120

trockbort wrote: post #109

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The US government is the biggest polluter of them all. The US government does not care about human health or environmental preservation. Yet Americans in general cling to some deep belief that their government cares for them, despite overwhelming evidence to the contrary.

This is the argument that I use against more taxation. If you pay more taxes it will be spent by these guys who as many example shows will commit enormous crimes against humanity without real consequences.

[deleted]

Re: Firefighting foam leaves toxic legacy in Californians’ drinking water

#122

Post by aledalgrande » Tue, Oct 08, 2019, 9:07 PM UTC

trockbort wrote: post #109

aledalgrande wrote: post #85

How can people in the US live with this level of poison in the water? I would think that the government would pick up on it and get it fixed. It is an essential element for life. Even before we start talking to damage to the environment.

The US government is the biggest polluter of them all. The US government does not care about human health or environmental preservation. Yet Americans in general cling to some deep belief that their government cares for them, despite overwhelming evidence to the contrary.

Is that why most people are inactive in showing their opinion to the government? There have been nice developments in the last years, but there probably should be more initiatives.

Re: Firefighting foam leaves toxic legacy in Californians’ drinking water

#123

Post by ddingus » Tue, Oct 08, 2019, 9:16 PM UTC

gurumeditations wrote: post #107

twblalock wrote: post #102

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Cleaning all that stuff up is an opportunity for growth. Entire industries will need to be involved in order to pull it off.

That’s like saying poisoning is good for people because the sicker people are, the more hospitals and doctors you’ll need. The money has to come from somewhere. There is no profit in cleaning up messes, just loss reduction. The money, trillions of dollars just for climate change alone, has to come from somewhere. If past generations had not been so greedy, that money would be in our pockets. Instead, it will be burne…

No, it is saying that it is worth it to clean up after ignorance and folly.

And there are eventually gains to be had.

Those clean areas are worth more, the money paid to labor means demand, growth, etc...

Re: Firefighting foam leaves toxic legacy in Californians’ drinking water

#124

Post by gurumeditations » Tue, Oct 08, 2019, 9:22 PM UTC

ddingus wrote: post #123

gurumeditations wrote: post #107

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That’s like saying poisoning is good for people because the sicker people are, the more hospitals and doctors you’ll need. The money has to come from somewhere. There is no profit in cleaning up messes, just loss reduction. The money, trillions of dollars just for climate change alone, has to come from somewhere. If past generations had not been so greedy, that money would be in our pockets. Instead, it will be burne…

No, it is saying that it is worth it to clean up after ignorance and folly. And there are eventually gains to be had. Those clean areas are worth more, the money paid to labor means demand, growth, etc...

It takes a lot of money to fix all the disasters they’ve created. It takes trillions of dollars out of our pockets. It’s a loss because they were greedy and stole from us to fund their lifestyles. That’s trillions of dollars that could’ve gone to paying for healthcare and college for generations. Instead it’s picking up the toxic mess that older people have left for us to deal with.

Re: Firefighting foam leaves toxic legacy in Californians’ drinking water

#125

Post by ddingus » Tue, Oct 08, 2019, 9:33 PM UTC

gurumeditations wrote: post #124

ddingus wrote: post #123

Earlier quoted context omitted.

No, it is saying that it is worth it to clean up after ignorance and folly. And there are eventually gains to be had. Those clean areas are worth more, the money paid to labor means demand, growth, etc...

It takes a lot of money to fix all the disasters they’ve created. It takes trillions of dollars out of our pockets. It’s a loss because they were greedy and stole from us to fund their lifestyles. That’s trillions of dollars that could’ve gone to paying for healthcare and college for generations. Instead it’s picking up the toxic mess that older people have left for us to deal with.

We can still do those things.

Perhaps we need to value things differently.

Instead of what could have been, we can and need to focus on what can be.

Longer term, that is the better play.

We all live here and are going to do that for a very long time yet.

It is worth it to make sure living here makes sense, period.

Re: Firefighting foam leaves toxic legacy in Californians’ drinking water

#126

Post by baxtr » Tue, Oct 08, 2019, 9:44 PM UTC

ubertoop wrote: post #54

I grew up approximately 2.5 miles from a major rocket manufacturer. We're talking R&D and manufacturing of jet propulsion and rocket systems since the 80s. They totally polluted the water tables in the area with by-products of rocket fuel and other industrial chemicals used to clean engines. They were fined in the 90s and supposedly worked with local water authorities to setup a filtration system... but decades later…

I wonder: is there any small, analytics device for home usage that will gauge your drinking water and tell you pollutant levels? Is there anything like that? Maybe for air?

Re: Firefighting foam leaves toxic legacy in Californians’ drinking water

#127

Post by asdf21 » Tue, Oct 08, 2019, 9:50 PM UTC

StreamBright wrote: post #120

trockbort wrote: post #109

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The US government is the biggest polluter of them all. The US government does not care about human health or environmental preservation. Yet Americans in general cling to some deep belief that their government cares for them, despite overwhelming evidence to the contrary.

This is the argument that I use against more taxation. If you pay more taxes it will be spent by these guys who as many example shows will commit enormous crimes against humanity without real consequences.

Exactly. It's mind boggling to constantly hear, "The Government does so many bad things! We need to give them more money so they'll stop!"

Huh??

Case in point: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4gI-RbqHEKQ

Re: Firefighting foam leaves toxic legacy in Californians’ drinking water

#128

Post by asdf21 » Tue, Oct 08, 2019, 9:52 PM UTC

mikestew wrote: post #69

jeanvaljean2463 wrote: post #20

Earlier quoted context omitted.

https://kfor.com/2019/09/03/im-just-frustrated-edmond-reside... Where I live people's bills are going from $100 to over $600 a month. I saw someone's post on Nextdoor saying that their bill was $2700. Ours was $963 up from about $270 with no change in usage. I would be thrilled to pay $100 a month for water.

The person in the article said he was watering his lawn for $40/month previously. The fact that it jumped to $250 while maintaining his watering habits does not garner much sympathy from me. Were it $250 so that he might hydrate his children and maintain a reasonable standard of living, well that's another thing. But just so your grass doesn't go dormant? Here, water your grass with my tears. In summary, I think some…

People's overall quality of life matters, and it's nice to have a lawn...

Also, you realize plant life is an important carbon sink, right? Is watering backyard trees worthy of your spite as well?

>Here, water your grass with my tears.

Perhaps you're on the wrong site, with this sort of attitude.

Re: Firefighting foam leaves toxic legacy in Californians’ drinking water

#129

Post by amiga_500 » Tue, Oct 08, 2019, 10:12 PM UTC

twblalock wrote: post #102

gurumeditations wrote: post #101

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Our future has really been stolen from us. Decades of pollution from greed and decadence and excess, as Thunberg says “fantasies of eternal economic growth”, have totally destroyed our future (speaking as a young person). Climate change robs us of a stable world, robots rob us of our livelihoods, and decades of ‘economic growth’ have poisoned our bodies and minds from birth through polluted water, air, and food. Ever…

Cleaning all that stuff up is an opportunity for growth. Entire industries will need to be involved in order to pull it off.

Only on hacker news would your comment be ok and the parent is downvoted

Re: Firefighting foam leaves toxic legacy in Californians’ drinking water

#130

Post by bzbz » Tue, Oct 08, 2019, 10:15 PM UTC

twblalock wrote: post #102

gurumeditations wrote: post #101

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Our future has really been stolen from us. Decades of pollution from greed and decadence and excess, as Thunberg says “fantasies of eternal economic growth”, have totally destroyed our future (speaking as a young person). Climate change robs us of a stable world, robots rob us of our livelihoods, and decades of ‘economic growth’ have poisoned our bodies and minds from birth through polluted water, air, and food. Ever…

Cleaning all that stuff up is an opportunity for growth. Entire industries will need to be involved in order to pull it off.

Sure. That's great. But where are the incentives to promote this "opportunity" to those who want to do so without net loss?