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Environmental damage on Earth seen from shuttle
Reuters ^ | August 4, 2005 | Jeff Franks

Posted on 08/04/2005 8:07:09 AM PDT by goarmy

HOUSTON (Reuters) - Commander Eileen Collins said astronauts on shuttle Discovery had seen widespread environmental destruction on Earth and warned on Thursday that greater care was needed to protect natural resources.

Her comments came as NASA pondered whether to send astronauts out on an extra spacewalk to repair additional heat-protection damage on the first shuttle mission since the 2003 Columbia disaster.

Discovery is linked with the International Space Station and orbiting 220 miles above the Earth.

"Sometimes you can see how there is erosion, and you can see how there is deforestation. It's very widespread in some parts of the world," Collins said in a conversation from space with Japanese officials in Tokyo, including Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi.

"We would like to see, from the astronauts' point of view, people take good care of the Earth and replace the resources that have been used," said Collins, who was standing with Japanese astronaut Soichi Noguchi in front of a Japanese flag and holding a colorful fan.

Collins, flying her fourth shuttle mission, said the view from space made clear that Earth's atmosphere must be protected, too.

"The atmosphere almost looks like an eggshell on an egg, it's so very thin," she said. "We know that we don't have much air, we need to protect what we have."


TOPICS: News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: anthrreasontoditchit; astronuatesspms; badlogicalert; blahblahblah; discovery; earth; environment; greenschmeen; idiotsavant; jewishmomspacequeen; liberalyapfodder; rocketsciencenut; shuttle; sierracluborgasm; whoaskedyou
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To: goarmy

Is there really anyone here that doesn't agree with protecting resources and using them well, as she said? Do we have to be so paranoid about politics that our knee jerk reaction to environmentalism is that it's completely unnecessary?

I'm sure she's not even speaking of the US, who have been the first to ensure reforestation after logging, and the first to care about our impact on the planet and cleaning up polluting industries. No.... when she looks down and sees a perspective none of us have seen.... I don't feel too threatened by her noticing that from there, the world seems like a beautiful delicate place where in some parts, human influence on it is visible from afar and not always good.


61 posted on 08/04/2005 8:28:32 AM PDT by HairOfTheDog (Join the Hobbit Hole Troop Support - http://freeper.the-hobbit-hole.net/)
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To: Lazamataz

You know that will end up somewhere on the Internet, under the heading of "The Truth Is Revealed: What FReepers Secretly Want to Do to Our Environment!"

LOL!


62 posted on 08/04/2005 8:29:05 AM PDT by scott7278 (Before I give you the benefit of my reply, I would like to know what we are talking about.)
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To: One Proud Dad

So, we actually have enough to bottle now! We could make a mint!!!
:)
susie


63 posted on 08/04/2005 8:30:02 AM PDT by brytlea (All you need as ID to vote in FL is your Costco card...)
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To: goarmy

She must've talking about North America. Certainly the rest of the World is in fine shape and they respect nature. Besides, Bush causes natural disasters and globull warming, along with the Jooos.


64 posted on 08/04/2005 8:31:05 AM PDT by Dallas59 (" I have a great team that is going to beat George W. Bush" John Kerry -2004)
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To: goarmy

Yep.

We probably shouldn't have mined all that metal ore to build your ship and fuel tanks, processed all those hydrocarbons to build your space suits and electrical wiring insulation, utilized all that energy to machine all those machines that moved your spacecraft to its launching pad....

Yep. We definitely need to terminate NASA. It's killing the Earth.


65 posted on 08/04/2005 8:31:28 AM PDT by StoneGiant (Power without morality is disaster. Morality without power is useless.)
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To: brytlea

It's all Big Air's fault. They are keeping us dependent on foreign Oxygen.


66 posted on 08/04/2005 8:32:27 AM PDT by Go_Raiders ("Being able to catch well in a crowd just means you can't get open, that's all." -- James Lofton)
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To: clee1
"We would like to see, from the astronauts' point of view, people take good care of the Earth and replace the resources that have been used," said Collins...

WTF?

Is this flight to be forever known as the "Idiot Flight"?
Who is "we"? Does she have a mouse in her pocket or is she condemning her fellow astronauts?
I hope eventually she will be more specific.

One would think that an exquisitely educated and trained individual would know that, with the exception of some spacecraft, ever bit of matter which existed a million years ago is still here.

Matter can be neither created nor destroyed.
Matter can be transformed but not eliminated.
No trash disposal company I have ever heard of shoots trash, garbage, refuse and recyclables into the sun.

WHAT AN IDIOT STATEMENT!

67 posted on 08/04/2005 8:32:50 AM PDT by Publius6961 (Liberal level playing field: If the Islamics win we are their slaves..if we win they are our equals.)
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To: brytlea
Good morning.
"We need to start locking it up somewhere..."

They would prefer to tax it and use it in a carrot/stick way to make themselves feel important.

Michael Frazier
68 posted on 08/04/2005 8:34:53 AM PDT by brazzaville (No surrender,no retreat. Well, maybe retreat's ok)
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Comment #69 Removed by Moderator

To: Wolverine
Yeah...it's called The Grand Canyon.

good one. If she did make these ridiculous statements then there was one more use for the duct tape. It should have been put on her damn mouth. She is an idiot. NASA must be infested with leftists. I am really bothered by the politicization of all aspects of Science and most of NASA. Disgusting.

70 posted on 08/04/2005 8:38:43 AM PDT by liberty2004
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To: Individual Rights in NJ

" It's very widespread in some parts of the world," Collins said in a conversation from space with Japanese officials in Tokyo, including Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi. "

Sad part is , Koizumi and his cronies probably believe her !


71 posted on 08/04/2005 8:38:49 AM PDT by sushiman
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To: HairOfTheDog

I think she was talking about the massive deforestation in the Amazon basin and in Indonesia, in the tropics, in other words...replacing forests with range land. It does have an environemental impact. It directly affects the water shed, how much rain an area gets, and what carrying capacity for growing things the land has.

And they aren't replanting and practicing the type of land management that is used in the US.

This is the reality. Humans have always shaped their enviroments in ways that seem good to the do-ers at the time. Sometimes it's good, like how clear cuts actually work better in some types of forests than selective harvesting, and sometimes it works worse, like daming the Nile, or overgrazing marginal areas.

This is the way the world works. Things change.

Those that worship the environment get stupid about it, like sacrificing lots of land where beetles have killed the trees because they don't want any logging at all, and thus the areas burn hot and the soil sterilizes somewhat and the natural plant succession is interrupted, and they end up destroying more than they save.

Those that understand the real science and aren't pushing an agenda sometimes manage to do something about it in positive ways. This is land management. Poor cultures don't do that nearly as much as rich ones. Therefore, the best way to get the world in good land management use is to encourage the economic development of these areas in the tropics, and get them to the point where they can afford to take care of their lands.


72 posted on 08/04/2005 8:39:30 AM PDT by Knitting A Conundrum (Act Justly, Love Mercy, and Walk Humbly With God Micah 6:8)
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To: goarmy

"Commander"...SHUT UP AND FLY.


73 posted on 08/04/2005 8:39:37 AM PDT by rlmorel ("Innocence seldom utters outraged shrieks. Guilt does." Whittaker Chambers)
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To: liberallarry

When poor third world people do it you can bet it is environmental damage. How dare they try to make a living without asking for UN help.


74 posted on 08/04/2005 8:40:05 AM PDT by Casloy
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To: Mind-numbed Robot

Doesn't that just figure with that woman in charge -- had a bad feeling about her and it is turning out to be true. Too many feel good women were promoted in the military under Hillary -- I swear she picked some of these women to push like this environmentalist wacko.


75 posted on 08/04/2005 8:40:10 AM PDT by PhiKapMom (AOII Mom -- J.C. for OK Governor in '06; Allen/Watts in 2008)
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Planet Earth is blue, and there's nothing I can do ...


76 posted on 08/04/2005 8:40:23 AM PDT by vollmond (Head back to base for debriefing and cocktails.)
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To: Colonel_Flagg
Let's get Commander Collins safely back to Earth and then remind her that politics are for the politicians.

If I was the President, I would fire her. It is outrageous the incessant blathering and outright lies of the left.

77 posted on 08/04/2005 8:40:37 AM PDT by liberty2004
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To: freepatriot32

ping list.


78 posted on 08/04/2005 8:40:48 AM PDT by FOG724
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To: Pessimist
I wonder how much "widespread environmental destruction" she's seen in a place like the United States.

Her comment is probably accurate, but what nobody wants to mention is that the most devastating environmental destruction has occurred in Third World sh!t-holes and NOT the United States.

79 posted on 08/04/2005 8:41:22 AM PDT by Alberta's Child (I ain't got a dime, but what I got is mine. I ain't rich, but Lord I'm free.)
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To: goarmy
If this is true, perhaps we should begin by sending no more high-rises through the atmosphere via rocket-propulsion?
Leftist BS.
80 posted on 08/04/2005 8:41:34 AM PDT by Ghost of Philip Marlowe (Liberals are blind. They are the dupes of Leftists who know exactly what they're doing.)
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