Recycling may be righteous and water conservation keen, but there comes a time when going green simply goes too far.
Waste water is proposed for fake snow on San Francisco Peaks/Ryn Gargulinski
Using sewer water to make fake snow is one of those times. An avalanche of waste water snow has long been planned for Arizona’s San Francisco Peaks, just north of Flagstaff.
Since Mother Nature cannot be counted on to provide enough consistent snowfall to make skiers happy – and the ski resort money – steps need to be taken to ensure the latter.
The Flagstaff City Council had already agreed to sell this waste water to Arizona Snowbowl during the winter, at the rate of 1.5 million gallons per day.
The waste water will be treated, of course, before it is frozen and slathered all over the public land.
But that does not make it any more appetizing, especially for kids who tend to put things – like snow – in their mouths. The Save the Peaks Coalition asserts that the Forest Service did not take children’s penchant for eating snow into account when it put together the Final Environmental Impact Statement.
The San Francisco Peaks also happen to be sacred to the Navajo, Hopi and other American Indian tribes.
Oh well.
At least the longstanding plan has been halted by the equally longstanding lawsuit – Save the Peaks et. al. vs. the U.S. Forest Service – with a new slate of arguments hitting U.S. District Court Monday, July 16.
If sewage snow on public lands is not disgusting enough, a few more equally eco-gross practices can be found in people’s own homes – or sold at their businesses.
Saving the whales is cool - saving toilet paper for reuse is not/Art and photo Ryn Gargulinski
Pennsylvania woman Mary Beth Karchella-MacCumbee, who owns an “alternative cloth family products” company, is on a mission to create a paperless life, according to the Pittsburg Post-Gazette.
While the paperless mom will make some concessions, like allowing for paper plates at a large outdoor party she held for her daughter’s graduation, other paper is pretty much taboo in the house.
Even toilet paper. Rather than a roll of disposable stuff, Karchella-MacCumbee sews cloth wipes using cotton flannel, hemp or cotton velour or bamboo fleece.
The cloth wipes also substitute for paper towels for big messes and tissues for the nose. Used wipes end up in a diaper pail to be washed and used once again.
The same goes for panty liners and menstrual pads, which she also sews out of cloth and sells on her website.
“I’ve gotten three years out of my first set of pads,” she boasted in the Post-Gazette.
She’s not the only one to discover the, um, beauty, of reusable feminine products. One of her friends in Michigan creates reusable panty liners out of cotton, organic velour and hemp, as well as crocheted cotton tampons.
All of a sudden sewage snow has become a tad less disturbing – even if kids are putting the snow in their mouths.
[tnipoll]
Thirsty?/Ryn Gargulinski
Ryn Gargulinski is a poet, artist, performer and TucsonCitizen.com Ryngmaster who is not planning to go green with reusable toilet paper anytime soon – or ever. Her column appears every Friday on Rynski’s Blogski. Her art, writing and more is at RynRules.com and Rynski.Etsy.com. E-mail rynski@tucsoncitizen.com.
BONUS ROUND: Ryn had the honor of writing the weekly TucsonCitizen.com editorial for the Arizona Daily Star this Monday, June 14. Look for it in Monday’s issue of the ADS newspaper – and online Monday on Rynski’s Blogski.
What do you think?
Can going green go too far?
What’s the most grotesque example of recycling you heard about?
Have you ever met green fanatics who get mad when others are not as green as they are?
Ryn Gargulinski is a poet, artist, performer and TucsonCitizen.com Ryngmaster who has never had her purse snatched but once had her wallet stolen. Her column appears every Friday on Rynski’s Blogski. Her art, writing and more is at RynRules.com and Rynski.Etsy.com. E-mail rynski@tucsoncitizen.com.
Nice article Ryn. Living off the grid and making my place cool enough to live out here I use recycled water in my misting system. Folks come out and really like the cool breeze it gives to the Arizona heat until I tell them where it comes from then they jump in there air-conditioned cars and head out. “and brewster” itc
thanks, and brewster!
…i would LOVE to see people’s faces when you break the news they are being gently misted by pee water – hahahhaah.
see, the problem is telling people – if they would take down those WARNING signs about reclaimed water, none would be the wiser and it would not matter one iota (i am KIDDING!)
thanks for comment – you are known to make me laugh!
“The San Francisco Peaks also happen to be sacred to the Navajo, Hopi and other American Indian tribes.”
My guess is that plenty of Navajos, Hopis, etc. have pi$$ed on the sacred mountains while spending time there. Oh, dear!! LOL!!
hahhahaha! excellent point, carmen!
More than pi$$ed, I imagine.
But, I have it on good authority that all the wildlife is extremely sensitive to this issue and they hold it until they are outside of the Kaibab National Forest boundary.
Have you ever swallowed swimming pool water? Just think of all the people that pee in the pool. In fact, if you can honestly say that you’ve never peed in the pool, then you are in an extremely tiny minority. And, when you go into ocean or lake water, you are basically swimming in a fish toilet. Honey is made from nectar that bees regurgitate, so it is essentially bee vomit. Processed food standards allow for all kinds of contaminants, such as insect parts. I won’t even get into the things that consenting adults put into their mouths.
That reclaimed snow doesn’t scare me at all.
“softest formed”
Hey Rynski: Well, there you’ve done it again! Gone and brought a tear to ‘ole Ferrari Bubba’s eyes.
One of the family traditions that my late father, Hermann the German, passed down to me was the solemn tradition of peeing into a major body of water as we passed over it. Hopefully while waving to the friendly natives as I am performing the task.
So far it’s been must of the major rivers in North America, plus the St. Laurance, both the Pacific and Atlatic Oceans, the Thames, Rhone, Seine, Rhine, Danube, Oder, and Po rivers in Europe, to the cheers of the untermench.
I was wondering if anyone else out there had any heart-warming family traditions they’d like to share.
When der Frau and I visited Brussels Belgium, we found a statue of a little boy just off the City hall square that I fell in love with at 1st sight. It was what my life was all about. Has anyone seen it? It’s world-famous.
Yer pal, Ferrari Bubba
Hey Rynski:
Maybe you should do a little research before you blast Snowbowl for using reclaimed water.
http://www.arizonasnowbowl.com/news/snowmaking_hydrology.php
Oh cool, a link instead of a comment! Easier to disregard.
The crap-sicles must be safe, just check out the warning signs at your local municipal park.
Hi Rynski! It appears there is some discrepancy between the green folks and snowbowlers as to the edible qualities of pee-snow. 😉
All I can say is that doin’ a face-plant into this stuff takes on a whole new set of worries.
If they try this at Roosevelt lake, I’m done water skiing. 🙂
It amazes me how the Native American Tribes in AZ will fight against any growth in certain parts of AZ claiming sacred ground, but keep their own reservations in horrid conditions. Some parts of Blackwater and Sacaton in Pinal County are third world country like. The tribes complaining about the manufactured snow on SnowBowl need to go clean up their own houses, then maybe we will listen to them about the Pee Snow on Snow Bowl.
It’s a waste of water. Only good it does is provide deep watering for the trees left up on the slopes (if any!)