Not to ignore the democracy problem but solely on the localized health issue, if you can afford a Berkey Water Filter, get one.
Buying Berkey is overpaying for brand and marketing.
U.S. drinking water widely contaminated with 'forever chemicals': report
181–190 of 413 posts
Re: U.S. drinking water widely contaminated with 'forever chemicals': report
#182can anyone confirm whether consumer grade filters like Brita help filtering these things out?
Yes, activated charcoal filters them.
Re: U.S. drinking water widely contaminated with 'forever chemicals': report
#183Earlier quoted context omitted.
I think democracy was always problematic. Its original form, direct democracy, was vulnerable to the tyranny of the masses. Representative democracy, long described as the solution, really isn’t. Representatives are self-interested, just like everyone else, and so we cannot expect them to be purely faithful executors of their respective mandates. What we did not expect, and perhaps are now beginning to, is that human…
> I think democracy was always problematic. Its original form, direct democracy, was vulnerable to the tyranny of the masses. Who deemed that a problem? The elites wanting specific decisions out of the masses.
Rule by elites is a problem for 99 percent or the people (though presumably when things get too lopsided, the masses rise up, so elites still need to keep a decent percentage in their favor).
Democracy is a problem for 49 percent of people.
Re: U.S. drinking water widely contaminated with 'forever chemicals': report
#184Apparently there are now technologies available to remove PFAS from water: https://cen.acs.org/environment/persistent-pollutants/Foreve... but it is going to be expensive to deploy everywhere that it is needed.
I think britAs and the like work somewhat at removing pfas. They’re large organic molecules and they excel at removing those.
"Both granular activated carbon (GAC) and reverse osmosis (RO) filters can reduce PFAS substances. Both systems provide less water flow than a standard water faucet."
https://www.michigan.gov/pfasresponse/0,9038,7-365-86510_871...
Re: U.S. drinking water widely contaminated with 'forever chemicals': report
#185It is insane. I've been looking at water quality over the past year. Look into EPA superfund sites. We only have so many permanent underground aquifers that are disconnected from each other. The industrial age of the 1950s with basically unchecked regulation really ruined our country's permanent aquifers.
Re: U.S. drinking water widely contaminated with 'forever chemicals': report
#186It is constantly amazing to me that "cover up the existence of poisonous chemicals in your drinking water" is a viable position for a democratically-elected officeholder to have. What a world we live in.
Democracy is mostly a facade anymore, unfortunately. Don't get me wrong, we haven't gone completely south to a dictatorship--there are many protections in place to keep things from falling apart but nonetheless I feel as though we're in the decline in the respect of being democratic. The underlying failed assumption in our representative democracy was that representatives would represent their constituents' interests…
I generally think we are seeing the the sunset of a “representative” democracy in the United States.
Fake News and propaganda is unchecked and rampant. Public intelligence and understanding is at an all time low. Income inequality is at an all time high. Which leads to millions of Americans making their mind up based on emotions and not facts.
“Build a Wall” is not a logical decision.
“Abuse of power is not impeachable” is not a logical decision.
“Socialism is evil” as you collect your Social Security check and rely on Medicare is not a logical decision.
I fully expect another decade or more of racial unrest and outright politically sanctioned violence in the US as mass migrations pick up due to climate change and unrest caused by a resurgence of Nazism and “not one of us” movements.
Re: U.S. drinking water widely contaminated with 'forever chemicals': report
#187Earlier quoted context omitted.
Democracy is mostly a facade anymore, unfortunately. Don't get me wrong, we haven't gone completely south to a dictatorship--there are many protections in place to keep things from falling apart but nonetheless I feel as though we're in the decline in the respect of being democratic. The underlying failed assumption in our representative democracy was that representatives would represent their constituents' interests…
america uses a first past the post voting system. Please don't assume that every form of democracy has the same problems. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/First-past-the-post_voting
Absolutely! Other forms of voting systems have new and unique ways of failing.
Re: U.S. drinking water widely contaminated with 'forever chemicals': report
#188Earlier quoted context omitted.
Democracy is mostly a facade anymore, unfortunately. Don't get me wrong, we haven't gone completely south to a dictatorship--there are many protections in place to keep things from falling apart but nonetheless I feel as though we're in the decline in the respect of being democratic. The underlying failed assumption in our representative democracy was that representatives would represent their constituents' interests…
I think democracy was always problematic. Its original form, direct democracy, was vulnerable to the tyranny of the masses. Representative democracy, long described as the solution, really isn’t. Representatives are self-interested, just like everyone else, and so we cannot expect them to be purely faithful executors of their respective mandates. What we did not expect, and perhaps are now beginning to, is that human…
To be fair, this issue was much debated at the creation of democratic rule in Greece. Their solution to the problem of ambition and resource guarding is “sortition”, which is a lottery in which a large fraction of the democratic body is chosen by chance rather than by popular election, skill or ambition. This was meant to be a check on the development of the type of permanent ruling oligarchy we see developing in the US.
Re: U.S. drinking water widely contaminated with 'forever chemicals': report
#189This problem has been brewing for a long time, and is likely worse than any of us can grasp. Here's an enlightening read: (warning: it's long) https://highline.huffingtonpost.com/articles/en/welcome-to-b...
FYI (since I couldn't find this information anywhere in the article itself) the Huffington Post piece was published August 27, 2015.
Re: U.S. drinking water widely contaminated with 'forever chemicals': report
#190Earlier quoted context omitted.
I think democracy was always problematic. Its original form, direct democracy, was vulnerable to the tyranny of the masses. Representative democracy, long described as the solution, really isn’t. Representatives are self-interested, just like everyone else, and so we cannot expect them to be purely faithful executors of their respective mandates. What we did not expect, and perhaps are now beginning to, is that human…
> Representative democracy, long described as the solution, really isn’t. Representatives are self-interested, just like everyone else, and so we cannot expect them to be purely faithful executors of their respective mandates. That’s irrelevant isn’t it? You elect based on your own self-interest and expect your candidate to follow theirs. There isn’t a single “what’s best for society” anyway so the pull between compe…
> What we did not expect was political parties
The founding fathers did. They saw how political factions brought about the bloody English civil wars, and many feared they'd tear the new nation apart. But some people like Jefferson saw them as a part of human nature, a necessary evil.
As of our second president (1797) we had a two-party system. But by 1812, the Democratic-Republican party gained control of both Congress and the presidency, and effectively destroyed the Federalist party, giving us effectively one party control of government (the "Era of Good Feelings" in which nationalism flourished in the afterglow of the war of 1812). But in 1830 the new Democratic Party gained control, and we've had two since then.