As a retired RN who spent 25 years in public health I am surprised not once have I heard about what will actually happen if Line 5 ruptures. What will the 40,000,000 million people who rely on the Great Lakes for their drinking water do to get drinking water? A rupture occurs and suddenly the problem of supplying clean drinking water to millions will need to be handled. Three to five days is all the human body can endure without water. There will be deaths by dehydration. That sounds absurd but, really, where will a sustainable amount of water come from in a very short time to take the place of the Great Lakes?
Thank you, Jeffrey. Your argument is clear and insightful. I enjoy the Emerson quotes too. But I'm not sure your essay would persuade many people who favor Line 5.
Maybe the paradox is that we want to unsettle people who disagree with us--but in a way that settles them also. It's the art of rhetoric . . . man, it's hard.
Maybe, and it IS hard, but Emerson says that "that around every circle another can be drawn; that there is no end in nature, but every end is a beginning; that there is always another dawn risen on mid-noon, and under every deep a lower deep opens"!
What an insightful article! Reading this has spun my view of Line 5, which I was already acting against, 180 degrees! Yes, this approach makes perfect sense, a necessary and moral case for leaving our Earth more alive and intact than it will be if we refuse to change our lifestyles and priorities. Our children and grandchildren as well as the whole Earth community, deserve a future! Thank you, Jeffrey Insko.
As a retired RN who spent 25 years in public health I am surprised not once have I heard about what will actually happen if Line 5 ruptures. What will the 40,000,000 million people who rely on the Great Lakes for their drinking water do to get drinking water? A rupture occurs and suddenly the problem of supplying clean drinking water to millions will need to be handled. Three to five days is all the human body can endure without water. There will be deaths by dehydration. That sounds absurd but, really, where will a sustainable amount of water come from in a very short time to take the place of the Great Lakes?
Thank you, Jeffrey. Your argument is clear and insightful. I enjoy the Emerson quotes too. But I'm not sure your essay would persuade many people who favor Line 5.
I suspect you’re right; people do wish to be settled…
Maybe the paradox is that we want to unsettle people who disagree with us--but in a way that settles them also. It's the art of rhetoric . . . man, it's hard.
Maybe, and it IS hard, but Emerson says that "that around every circle another can be drawn; that there is no end in nature, but every end is a beginning; that there is always another dawn risen on mid-noon, and under every deep a lower deep opens"!
What an insightful article! Reading this has spun my view of Line 5, which I was already acting against, 180 degrees! Yes, this approach makes perfect sense, a necessary and moral case for leaving our Earth more alive and intact than it will be if we refuse to change our lifestyles and priorities. Our children and grandchildren as well as the whole Earth community, deserve a future! Thank you, Jeffrey Insko.
Nothing like taking chances with one of our largest sources of fresh water. Who wouldn't want that? Almost all of us wouldn't.