Cameras in the wilderness! A good thing?

In general, I am not a big fan of the Federal government. I consider it a bloated and ill beast that often causes more loss than gain. However, on rare occasions, there is something to be said for a few of its departments and one of them is the Corps of Engineers.

The CoE is a U.S. federal agency under the Department of Defense and a major Army command made up of some 37,000 civilian and military personnel, making it one of the world's largest public engineering, design, and construction management agencies. That government to civilian connect makes it rather unique, in my view. Unlike the Bureau of Land Management which is a complete cluster fuck, the CoE actually can get some good things done and one of them would be to help us all keep an eye on our public forests, parks and wilderness areas.

The problem that needs addressing are the small yet growing number of miscreants that like to use our public lands as their personal dump sites. These are often the same group of individuals who often pooch game illegally, cook drugs in secluded spots and generally leave a trail of trash where ever they happen to wander. In their small minds, they get away with this form of misconduct because there's nobody around to watch them. I'd like to propose we change that!

My plan is really quite simple and would be a great benefit to many groups. What I would propose is that the CoE embark on a project like 'Operation Lookout' that would allow them to place surveillance cameras in random areas in select locations that could be changed from time to time. These cameras would be linked to the Internet and would be available 24/7 for public view. This kind of arrangement could benefit all sorts of groups including land owners, parks, animal lovers, etc. More importantly, such an arrangement would pose a great deterrent to people who make trashing our landscape a lifestyle.

Such an operation could be funded from numerous sources form Federal, State and local resources. The cameras could be placed high enough to cover large swaths of ground and, (just like in a grocery store), would act as a potential deterrent to evil doers everywhere. The only downside I see in such an endeavor would be objections by people who might accuse the agencies involved in spying on them. To that I have no answer other than to say we live in a far different world than that of our grandparents and must weigh our privacy issues carefully before we implement any potential solution.

Thoughts about water and plastics

America’s crumbling water distribution system

Back in the mid 1800’s heavy cast iron pipes with a life expectancy of 125 years were being laid. Then, around twenty five years later a newer process was developed that resulted in thinner pipes at cheaper cost. These had a life span of about one hundred years. Fast forward another twenty-five years and yet even better manufacturing processes resulted in even thinner pipes with a lifespan figured at 75 years. As you might guess, the end of the usefulness curve for all these millions of miles of water pipe will be occurring shortly. Over the next twenty years, repair and replacement could easily run in the trillions of dollars. My question is, how many politicians have you heard talking about this issue? Maybe none or less? The problem is the pipes run underground and no elected official will benefit if a pipe is named after them. Water distribution issues have about as much popularity as a foot with a fungus infection and as a result nothing has been or is being done to head off what could easily blossom into a National disaster overnight. (Just think how your life would be effected if your water was cut off and then you were told you’d have to get it out of a nearby river or stream)? Think about this happening to a whole city! I bet some heads would role. But, that’s just what is happening even as I write this.

Water Bottle Waste (WBW)

While the water distribution system crumbles underneath our feet, American’s are blithely adding millions of tons of waste daily to landfills. Empty plastic water bottles alone are added at the rate of 50 million per day! Other common items like beverage cans add another 200 million to the pile. TV dinners, even small ones as shown here contribute a third of their weight as landfill material. In addition, the plastic bottles and trays also consume million of gallons of oil to produce yearly. All of which ultimately contributes to toxic waste later on.

While much of the aluminum is thankfully recycled, the same cannot be said at this time for plastics. As a country and as a peoples, we must learn to conserve and to protect our environment if we hope to pass on a clean country to future generations.