April 16, 2005
Lessons
Heavily restricted in the United States since 1972 and a declining problem for eagles, osprey and other predatory birds, DDT continues to show up in alarming levels in nonmigrating songbirds. Does that spell trouble ahead for these still-healthy species? Are humans at risk? No one knows. But one lesson seems clear: Beware of what you put into the environment, because it can be extraordinarily difficult to remove.
Another lesson might be to beware what you put into other people's environments -- for example, hundreds of tons of radioactive munitions. If not only because it can be extraordinarily difficult to remove, if not only because "no one knows" how much trouble it spells ahead for the environments' inhabitants, if not only because it's (presumably) a violation of the Golden Rule; then because it's likely to "blow back" at you.
So, when Osama finally figures out how to release toxic materials into our environment, what, exactly, are we going to say?
Posted by Eddie Tews at April 16, 2005 09:02 PM
Comments