Slog
News & ArtsThursday, July 16, 2009
Enviro "Less Penile Volume"
Posted by Dan Savage on Thu, Jul 16, 2009 at 6:34 AM
We'd do something about it if Osama bin Laden declared war on America's junk, says Nicholas D. Kristof. But since Osama hasn't declared war on America's penises, and since expressing the least bit of concern about the environment is a pansy-assed thing to do, we'll just let the chemical companies shrink our kids' cocks and hang fake ballsacks from the backs of our pickup trucks.
America, fuck yeah!
1
If we're lucky this will lead to mass infertility in men someday. Gotta get that population down somehow.
2
I would be beyond delighted if every plastic bag & bottle somehow magically disappeared. This seems more likely than outlawing them or even limiting their use. People have hissy fits of epic proportions when one suggests their lives might be made a teeny bit less convenient. Every time I see a plastic bag tangled in a tree, I want to yell.
Bunadoon, Australia has just banned the sale of bottled water. & some cities have banned plastic bags, which I've seen talked about on Slog, but that's gonna be slow going.
Bunadoon, Australia has just banned the sale of bottled water. & some cities have banned plastic bags, which I've seen talked about on Slog, but that's gonna be slow going.
3
Nature will have it's ultimate will. If a species overwhelms the planet and destroys the ecosystems, the healing process eliminates the problem. We are on the way to being eliminated, one way or another.
4
"James Yager, a professor of toxicology at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, agrees that there are huge uncertainties but says that pregnant women and children should be cautious. “When my wife was pregnant, we worried about drinking or smoking,” Professor Yager said. Now, he said, he would be more focused on exposure to chemicals such as phthalates in baby bottles."
does this mean he takes concern about drink/smoke for granted or that he thinks phtalates are more dangerous than drink/smoke?
does this mean he takes concern about drink/smoke for granted or that he thinks phtalates are more dangerous than drink/smoke?
5
@3:
Good point. Most humans assume "the end of the world" means - the end of the WORLD. What they don't take into account is that planet earth has survived much more cataclysmic events than anything a single species - even one as rapacious as our own - can throw at it.
Human beings may pollute themselves out of existence, and take a lot of other species with us in the process, but the planet will eventually return to a state of climatic and environmental equilibrium again. Might take a million years or so to get itself back in good running order, but that's a drop in the bucket for a self-correcting system that's been chugging right along for some four billion years.
Good point. Most humans assume "the end of the world" means - the end of the WORLD. What they don't take into account is that planet earth has survived much more cataclysmic events than anything a single species - even one as rapacious as our own - can throw at it.
Human beings may pollute themselves out of existence, and take a lot of other species with us in the process, but the planet will eventually return to a state of climatic and environmental equilibrium again. Might take a million years or so to get itself back in good running order, but that's a drop in the bucket for a self-correcting system that's been chugging right along for some four billion years.
6
Here is an interesting question: Which kind of civilization-destroying cataclysm is worse, a manmade one (global warming) or a natural one (the eruption of Thera) ?
7
Um. Just to reassure you all... my anogenital distance is huge. Like, really big. Super virile. Yeah.
8
Pjthalates are also very common in cheap sex toys. There is something highly disturbing about a product that causes problems with genitals, which is used on guess what...genitals.
9
@6 I have pondered this. Civilizations last as nature wills. Every so often there were natural disasters that destroyed civilizations. Generally they lasted as long as their infrastructure could withstand what that disaster was. Earthquakes could be outlasted. Tsunamis not so much. Volcanoes completeley devestated. But something eventually came along that challenged the building ability of that society. I think this is why it was so easy to say "they were wicked and God destroyed them". But if you have man made destruction it depended on the form of destruction. Rome set about destroying Carthage once. Carthage came back and in the second punic war Rome leveled Carthage for good. Rome also silted in it's most valuable harbors by clear cutting it's forests. This had a slowly destructive effect.
But destructive no less. My opinion is man made destruction of the world's ecosystems will have a slow total destructive effect.
But destructive no less. My opinion is man made destruction of the world's ecosystems will have a slow total destructive effect.
10
@8
I definitely agree with your sentiment re: cheap sex toys and pthalates. Be forewarned: if your vibrator or dildo or butt-plug smells like a chemical breeze of new shower curtain when you take it out of the package, those are pthalates. If it says jelly, jelly rubber, or sila-gel, it's gonna have pthalates. Play safe with your hidey holes and either put a condom on those toys or pitch 'em in the trash!
I definitely agree with your sentiment re: cheap sex toys and pthalates. Be forewarned: if your vibrator or dildo or butt-plug smells like a chemical breeze of new shower curtain when you take it out of the package, those are pthalates. If it says jelly, jelly rubber, or sila-gel, it's gonna have pthalates. Play safe with your hidey holes and either put a condom on those toys or pitch 'em in the trash!
11
Mr. Kristof admits there is little evidence to support his assertion that pthalates are harmful to humans. He says, "One of the conundrums for scientists and journalists alike is how to call prudent attention to murky and uncertain risks, without sensationalizing dangers that may not exist?" He does not answer the question, but continues his irrational attack.
Real science has been done and concludes there is no harm. http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story…
Mr. Kristof's unsubstantiated assertions are no different than the assertions of creationists.
Real science has been done and concludes there is no harm. http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story…
Mr. Kristof's unsubstantiated assertions are no different than the assertions of creationists.
12
I agree, Earth will survive. I think it is likely that when enough of the polar ice melts, this wll greatly impact the ocean convery belt. Without the ocean providing a bulk of our oxygen, and the predicted resulting cold temps reducing the ability to grow crops in Europe and North America, the ever widening desert along the equator, etc., I'm not convinced that humans can adapt enough to survive. The plant will likely recover, as it has throughout its history, but humans may not be around to see it and learn from it.
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