Curing Pollution Leads to America's Revival as a World Leader

If you accept that any pollution caused by man through manufacturing or through other artificial processes that create pollution is a negative, it's because pollution degrades the environment and ecology, and, is a hidden levy, an unjustified one, on our health.

If you believe that the cause of most cancers and disease is pollution of the environment and because of the scientifically established link between pollution of air, food and water through chemicals added to the environment through manufacturing, construction, energy generation, farming, and other causes, then we must stop polluting. These chemicals react with cellular structures to cause free radicals, among other things, which, in non-technical terms, cause cells to die, fail to reproduce, or divide in harmful ways. Free radicals can also interact with other chemicals present in cells or present in naturally generated chemicals designed by body processes like thyroid glands, lymph glands, bone marrow, and in a thousand other processes like the digestive process.

In addition, increases in background radiation at ever-higher levels through the growth of broadcast radiation from radio, television, microwave, satellite, mobile, military, institutional and others, and the increases in signal strengths being transmitted, evidences further proof of radiation of all types impacting our cellular structures, including DNA. Hundreds of thousands more transmission sites delivering an ever-increasing variety and strength of "radiation."

While there are other types of background naturally caused radiations, uranium, radon to name the two biggest, we're talking about the man-made forms.

Free radicals, the cellular functions gone awry, are believed to be directly related to cancer. We don't need all of the thousands of individual studies that have been performed by reputable government and medical facilities to accept the causative relationship between pollution and the growth of disease in the U.S. and worldwide.
The Macro Effect, the cumulative weight of all the evidence, is that pollution is killing us, our families and children, our communities, our society, our environment, our ecology.

Basically, it's this: The growing numbers and kinds of diseases and cancers correlate specifically with the growth of a modern industrial society, and the way it manufactures foods and millions of products for everyday living, communicates, and creates a "society," not just in the U.S. but in the entire world.

Chemicals in the air, food, and water, ingested in our foods, designed and manufactured purposefully in hopes of helping man, and delivered through the processes of manufacturing, building, and living in our modern society have led us to our current circumstances, which are worsening by any definition.

Similarly, our background radiation,achieved through all the technology of modern communications we have been able to develop, was limited just a generation or two ago, but now encompasses thousands of communications channels, using hundred of frequencies and methodologies, and at every-increasing strengths, needed to break through the "clutter."

Mobile, television, Wireless Cable, satellite, even power transmission; used for Military, government, institutional, individual, commercial, fire, police. and many other applications has immersed us in some harmful radiation from multiple sources and directions; TV towers, Mobile Cellular, private Industrial, Commercial, Government and Institutional Broadcasting systems.

More is expected as the FCC considers wholesale re-allocation of some existing frequency spectrum capacity to enterprises who want to increase the strength and reach of transmission to facilitate Internet and Mobile growth, and help the adoption of Convergence technologies to enable more and better use of the Internet as a backbone for Electronic Commuting, Health, and Education among other applications.

Here's the theory, by some estimates not really a theory, but a reality, evidenced and proved by the results apparent to all just be reading and looking around and "putting two and two together."

Chemicals in air, food, and water, delivered by food and product manufacturing processes, and "pollution" alone or in combination with other factors, "triggers" metabolic and mutagenic changes in cells through the actions of Free Radicals and other processes, and cause cancers and other diseases. Free radicals cause cells to go awry from their mission, their function, by damaging their processes.

Also, Scientists know that certain wavelengths of radiation cause cancer, Glaucoma, blindness and more, proven many times. We're using more and more Wireless, including Mobile, for voice, data, Internet and Power Transmission. The increases in broadcast "radiation" in all it's forms-frequency and strengths ( wave length determines the capability of the radiation to ionize or otherwise affect cellular structure and DNA) means that more and more radiation is reaching into and onto our bodies and environment every day, and it's growing rapidly. There may be interaction between the chemicals and pollutants-pollutants being just other chemicals, really- and various radiations, a "perfect storm" of negative potential.

There are literally thousands of "incidents and events"-large, like Chernobyl, Asbestos, Mercury, Lead, and other small events and incidents, local in scope, like Love Canal, Huntsville and literally thousands each year, each with effects. Some are accidental and couldn't have been prevented, nor will similar accidents not happen in the future.

What to do?

Could we actually stop creating pollution overnight; stop manufacturing processes that create pollutants; energy generation, food manufacturing, farming, communications, stop "living"and therefore polluting? Would that reverse the damage already done. No.

Prevent most new damage. Yes.

How then, to correct the problem? We can reduce or eliminate much of the chemical pollution ingested by design, or "accidentally," through food, water and air. We get rid of pollution by not creating it in the first place; product alternatives where possible, organic farming, treatment of air and water discharges to "zero" levels of pollution, end-to-end recycling of all materials and waste generated by those processes. ( As a note here, what, except our own failure to manage, gives any company, institution or government the "right" to pollute; the right to manufacture products, build roads, plants and shopping malls, produce chemicals, undertake any activity that produces pollution?).

It's one thing to say we didn't have the knowledge then. But, we do now, and ignorance is no longer an excuse.

Business and Government ,individual and commercial "rights" to pollute stops at their intersection with the environment and our ecology.

It is humanity's rights which control; our natural rights to clean air and water, rights to chemical and pollutant-free foods. How many people would want to give milk or food to our children, knowing for certain that the chemicals used in manufacturing or processing the products were harmful? Those "rights" can't be negotiated away through "licenses", through empty regulation, through lobbyist-driven "favorite son" legislation which grandfathers polluters because they already exist, through ignorance, professed or hidden, of the overwhelming accumulation of evidence that industrial society pollutes, and hurts us and future generations.

It's unlikely that such widespread and costly changes in our industrial society will happen overnight, but they must happen, even if over an extended period. Some, like "zero pollution" for new plants and facilities, can happen almost immediately; other changes, for existing plants and facilities, depending on the complexity of the industry and it's processes, could take longer; five, ten even fifteen years to complete.

But, it can be done.

Existing plants and buildings would be given a newly-issued, permit-based license to operate, conditioned on a Plan to reach Zero Footprint within the time period necessary to remodel, rebuild, or install necessary treatment equipment and processes, and done very quickly.These License applications would be due within one year of Program approval, along with the Remediation Plan, which would be part of the License Application. Politics aside, simple evaluations can determine what a plant or industry needs. A re-designed EPA would be up to the task.

Besides the positives from effects on health, "change to zero" standards will mean tremendous employment and business opportunities. Up to ten million or more directly related jobs could result, and literally a million or more new businesses. These new opportunities, like the Energy Revolution, would require higher levels of knowledge and training, leading to better compensation for workers and business, a plus for the economy and society.

Along the way we get to re-invent American industry-once the world's leader- and take back our leadership position, along with the millions of higher-paying jobs that would provide, as well.

America represents just five percent of the world's population, but 25% of the world's standard of living. If we could resume our leadership in the manufacturing and processes that satisfy our standards, we could again become the world's leading society, in more ways than just consumption-our Gross National Product (the value of all the goods and services we produce within the U.S.) would triple.

Other societal changes like Cloud Commuting for work-fifty million job potential in U.S. alone, Cloud Education-60 million plus students and three million plus coach/mentors, and Cloud Health could impact virtually everyone.

Huge reductions in pollution, road and infrastructure costs, recycling of office and commercial buildings, institutions, and more. Rapidly increasing achievement levels in education, astounding increases in worker (associate) satisfaction and efficiency, stress reduction and productivity at all levels would come from these changes.

America can prosper, grow, learn and achieve at levels the rest of the world and our children will envy; levels we wouldn't have thought possible just a few years ago.

We don't have to pollute to accomplish this. Less pollution, better health, more and better jobs, less stress, more "family," better education...what's not to like?