Pollution !

There seems no end to the steady march of pollution.  We are seeing it advance on the local scene - on the broad scope of the world's oceans - and now it is encroaching across stellar space.

Subsidence from the " longwall " mining of coal is blamed for damage to the Waratah rivulet which empties into the source of Wollongong's drinking water - Woronora dam.   Cracks are appearing in the rock structure of the rivulet, allowing iron oxide to leach and add a reddish discolouration to the sand at the waters edge, and the main flow is now an opaque green.   The former crystal clarity is long gone !

Plastic in the world's oceans has been steadily increasing and has created what scientists have termed " the great Pacific  garbage patch ".    Current circulation that touches the shores of countries in the Pacific region have collected thousands of tonnes of plastic that is now forming a " raft " in the middle of the ocean.  It is mistaken for food by birds and many sea creatures, leading to their death.   Now we learn that the pristine waters of the Antarctic are accumulating a similar phenomenon.

Even the far reaches of space are not immune.  In the next few days it will be necessary for the International Space station to be moved to avoid a collision with parts of a defunct Russian satellite.   Kosmos 2251 has broken into several large pieces and these will damage the space station if it remains in it's present orbit position.   As more and more countries gain the ability to launch satellites, the question arises of how do we remove space junk when objects in orbit reach the end of their commercial lives ?    As things now stand -  they are simply abandoned - to circle in space forever !

In an ideal world, cleaning up the mess we make would seem to be something that each country would be required to do within the scope of the United Nations.   Unfortunately, the track record of the United Nations would make this most unlikely.    The countries of the General Assembly are famous for disagreeing on political, religious and ideological grounds - on just about every subject that has ever been raised in that chamber.

Perhaps the only segment that might be possible to save from future major pollution - is space.   It might be possible to get the countries of the earth to agree to install a propulsion unit  to return each new satellite launched - back to re-entry and fiery destruction - once it's mission was accomplished.   At least that would be an improvement on just abandoning it in situ.

Which still leaves a problem of cleaning up that great floating garbage patch in the ocean, and achieving a balance between commercial operations and the ecology.    Problems likely to be forever consigned to the " too hard basket " !