Personal

Environmental protection didn’t start in 1970 🌎

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The US EPA was created as an administrative agency in 1970 by the Richard Nixon administration as a compromise against creating an executive level environmental agency. While conservation, pollution and public health agencies have been around for some time, uniting them under one banner was seen as a popular initiative in the 1969 into 1970 brought on by the new found interest in pollution, especially on a national sense after the blue globe photos of NASA Moon Mission, greater suburbianizatiom and professionalism of the working professionals.

The thing is conservation, public health and pollution concerns existed long before 1970, though in some ways the science and technology of the 1950s and 1960s made it much easier and practical to control pollution by the 1970s. Yet it’s not like the change was overnight, it took 55 years to get where we are today with pollution controls – which by no means are perfect. I think it’s a mistake to say nobody in society cared about pollution before 1970, and that everything was perfectly controlled there after. Societies evolve slowly.

Good morning, Sunday September 29th 🗓

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At least that’s what the news man is reporting this morning. The sun is shining and there is blue skies as the sun is rising.

Eggs and spinach this morning 🍳, watching as the sun rises over the skies. Laying back in the hammock on this most colorful morning. Heading out later on the mountain bike 🚲 to Little Otter Lake most likely though I could change my mind and do Mason Lake or somewhere else.

Yesterday was a nice day, 🍂 checked out the Moose Festival 🦌 in Indian Lake but didn’t stay long. Rode back to Pine Lake and spent some time sitting by the Hudson River by the old Gooley Club parking and then rode along Chain Lakes Road. Not the most brilliant of autumn colors this year but still nice in many places. Stopped at Indian Lake boat launch on the way back to camp, had a smoke and some dinner, sat by the fire until around 11 pm looking up at the stars. ✨ In the afternoon especially, there was deep blue skies.

Today I plan to be fairly laid back, 😴 as besides that ride and hike, I want to spend some time reading 📖 and relaxing. I need to get my ten monthly books 📚 out of Hoopla before they expire for the month. And just enjoy the beauty of the world ❤️maybe after a toke or two, lol. ✌️ Today is the day to relax before the craziness of tomorrow – you know taking down camp, working until five o’clock at the Lake Pleasant library the driving 🚘 home. Tuesday it’s back to working in person in my office that always smells a bit like sewage treatment plant. 🚻 But then again I have my Tuesday meeting downtown and they always provide lunch. 🌮 That’s always good.

The web advertisers have decided I’m into Schizophrenia and depression and are serving me up lots of ads about medication and mental health treatment again. 💊 Truth is I’m quite fascinated about mental illness and how society views it as it’s so tied into recreational drug use and concepts of policing 👮 and justice ⚖. What are acceptable thoughts 💭 to have in a free society? Can’t we live and let live? I guess for people who are seriously mentally ill maybe treatment helps but it seems like they are pigeon holing a lot of healthy people. 🕊️

A possible dream

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If you don’t take the first step, you will never get there. But I’m so close but not ready to step off the bus.

At one level it seems like the most exceptional year with high interest rates and a booming stock market that swelled my net worth at twice the rate of my salary – which ain’t bad figuring this year I will close out the year with a six figure income for the first time in my life. Which ain’t bad, though six figures ain’t what it once was before inflation. I have a job I love, that is a lot of fun, pays good even if I am staring down another winter my grimy, falling apart mold infested apartment – assuming I’m not evicted. I’ve been looking at houses but none really suit me or the way I want to live anywhere within a reasonable commuting distance from Albany.

Over the past three weeks, I’ve worked 11 days in the office and spend much of the rest of the time working remotely from the woods. At the end of this weekend it will be 8 nights camping in Rennselaerville, the Green Mountains and now the Adirondacks. I am fortunate at least for a few weeks in the autumn every other year, remote work returns from the wilderness then my normal suburban office overlooking the old city dump. I’m. happier out in wilderness. Some day this won’t just be a trip but home. I know it, I can do it as I’m building up the resources and skills to live the life I want to live.

Truth is that there are many alternatives to the vinyl siding and marble counter tops and carpets of suburbia. There are many options for cabins, woodstoves and off grid buildings. There are many rural areas out there where nobody cares if you have fires, burn trash and debris. More and more states are legalizing cannabis and many states have far better gun laws than New York. Many have excellent public lands and forests within a short drive. I’m saving a lot and it’s a dream I can live if not tomorrow then the day after then. My life won’t be over at forty unless I want it over then. But the best is yet to come I believe.

Changes in the shadows 🍂

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One of the things I notice about autumn evenings is how much the sun angle has changed. The sun is lower place throughout in the day but come evening they are most pronounced. It’s kind of a special time, one to embrace before darkness, at least in my mind.

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I was thinking it was almost a year since I was camping up at Canaan Heights in West Virginia. I remember the autumn feel down there in the evening both when doing evening rides on Forest Road 13 and that evening I watched the sun set from Canaan Valley WMA.

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Especially on very clear autumn evenings like tonight with deep blue skies offsetting the autumn colors of the trees. After a warm autumn day… Soon to be chilly autumn evening. How fast time comes and goes.

Stopped a while at the Indian Lake Campground Boat Launch 🏕

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I really don’t get the appeal of campground camping. Who wants to spend time in the woods in a campground bunched up against a whole lot of other people, smelling their smoke and hearing their boombox playing. Really if at all possible, I camp in the wilderness as far away from people as possible.

But then again, buying a house has as much appeal to me as campground camping. Really all the same things apply.

Shots – Health News : NPR

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Pot policy report calls for federal leadership to protect public : Shots – Health News : NPR

More than half of all U.S. states have legalized cannabis, be it for medical purposes, recreational use, or both. The shelves of cannabis dispensaries offer an ever-widening array of gummies, drinks and joints.

Meanwhile, the federal government still considers most types of cannabis illegal.

A new report from the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine, released this week, finds this disconnect between the states and the federal government is leading to fragmented policies, and risks to the public.