I don't know whether this has been discussed much, but how can USMS support "going green," promoting and/or being supportive of being environmentally responsible for clean water to swim in as well as to drink?
Open Water swims, of course, are the perfect venues to remind us all to keep our waters clean for swimming. The Boston swim focuses on this; do other Open Water swims promote cleaner water? What do they do?
Can pool Masters swimmers, clubs, LMSCs promote being "greener"? Encouraging people to take shorter showers is one way. What are other ways?
I think it is a fine idea and good opportunity for USMS to promote this particular aspect of the environment. By the way, all the Great Lakes are down several inches, except for Lake Superior (where, at the moment, we don't have Open Water swims...but who knows, in the future???).
Jennifer Parks, Michigan Masters
I wholeheartedly disagree with you that the price of items does not reflect the true cost. This is patently untrue. The price you pay for any item fully takes into account the full cost, production, distribution, disposal. If that isn't enough, the government tosses a tax on top of that item to account for environmental issues, trash collection, etc. Why does a case of tap water at Costco cost $6? It's not because of the water price.
It costs $6 for a case of tap water at Costco simply because people will pay that much. None of that $6 goes to recycling the plastic bottles or loss of space in your landfill. It goes into Costco's bank account to be paid to their suppliers and their shareholders. I would be real surprised if they are actually paying anyone to dispose of those plastic bottles. What makes you think they do?
Similarly, the price of gasoline doesn't currently contain any components which bear directly on the cost of the pollution generated when you burn that gas.
I agree the marketplace can do the job, but only if it can factor in all the costs. It currently doesn't do that.
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I wholeheartedly disagree with you that the price of items does not reflect the true cost. This is patently untrue. The price you pay for any item fully takes into account the full cost, production, distribution, disposal. If that isn't enough, the government tosses a tax on top of that item to account for environmental issues, trash collection, etc. Why does a case of tap water at Costco cost $6? It's not because of the water price.
It costs $6 for a case of tap water at Costco simply because people will pay that much. None of that $6 goes to recycling the plastic bottles or loss of space in your landfill. It goes into Costco's bank account to be paid to their suppliers and their shareholders. I would be real surprised if they are actually paying anyone to dispose of those plastic bottles. What makes you think they do?
Similarly, the price of gasoline doesn't currently contain any components which bear directly on the cost of the pollution generated when you burn that gas.
I agree the marketplace can do the job, but only if it can factor in all the costs. It currently doesn't do that.
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