{"id":20377,"title":"The Perfect Shitstorm","description":"It was pretty dark on Shanklin beach, and pulling the boat across the sand there was a squish.","content":"

It was a pretty dark evening on Shanklin beach. Pulling the boat across the sand there was a squish. Then another one. Underfoot, a glint of silver in the moonlight, and then thousands of dead fish,\u00a0 washed up 72 hours after the alert that sewage was being pumped into the seaside. Small bodies are less able to cope with toxicity. They\u2019d be gone before the next tide, but not before some get eaten, the pollution bioaccumulating throughout a fragile ecosystem that runs along the shoreline. It starts from our toilets and ends up on our plates.<\/span><\/p>

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\"6fexem6yqha1lorzrcfnblgdnacpgxkjkvu08it4ugyrk1gp.png\"Credit: <\/em>@terrence_the_turd<\/em><\/a><\/p>

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It\u2019s only been a few years since the UK government decided to <\/span>throw EU clean water vision in the bin for something else<\/u><\/span><\/a>: Something about slashing up the Sea of red tape. If by <\/span>slash <\/span><\/em>they meant piss, then maybe we all just got the wrong end of the shitty stick, because our Seaside is now a dumping ground for both. It\u2019s worth talking about how we got here, and how we can get out of it.<\/span><\/p>

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It is a systemic problem. In nature everything is part of the same connected system. The internet is a system too, but it is not in balance. The format fits over simplistic linear thinking and with it comes selective reality, fertile ground for three line politics. If the internet is someone\u2019s only window into the world, they\u2019re looking out of a narrow\u00a0frame that is focused on one thing and also boxes in thoughts. If big issues like sustainability require big picture critical thinking, no wonder we seem to be making slow progress.<\/span><\/p>


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\"gpvo3o1v8uyzzwiqwhlqijxvhd2lsjcd95ivpiuyjh2zzbcg.jpg\"Algal blooms caused by sewage pollution at Lake Windermere. Credit: <\/em>@mattstaniek<\/em><\/a> & <\/em>@lewisjharrison_<\/em><\/a><\/p>

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The consequences are real. \u201cA better deal for the taxpayer\u201d sounds like total sense, but if we said <\/span>sell infrastructure that belongs to the public for private profit at the expense of the environment,<\/span><\/em> the same thing sounds mad. The more words are used to bend reality to the will of the economy, the more it is going to hurt when reality snaps back at us.\u00a0<\/span>
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The \u00a3350m back on the bright Red bus turned out to be a big bill and Brown Beaches.<\/span><\/em><\/p>


The issue is that the internet is about information, but the world is mostly made by making real things. If we step back, almost everything in the way is designed the same linear way. Resources are extracted and turned into products that are designed to be thrown away. But it doesn\u2019t stand up to the reality test. Where is away? In a linear water system, maximising profit means maximising throughput and minimising costs, and that route leads to <\/span>cutting corners on quality<\/u><\/span><\/a>. Regulation can defend against that if powerful enough. But regulation is made by people. If someone realises there is a cost-benefit to getting that regulation out of the way, who regulates the regulator?<\/span><\/p>

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\"xqlxllikz0ij82hdoglsspv2ilpcrqce9c2w0f8ifabzlk4j.png\"Watch<\/u><\/em><\/strong><\/a>:<\/u> untreated sewage flowing onto a Sussex beach<\/em><\/p>


In a system where the cost of pollution isn\u2019t paid, the linear story always ends the same way.\u00a0 Public pollution for private profit.<\/span><\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>


Perhaps deep down we know that. Like how we all know UK political funding is a super shady revolving door of daylight <\/span>corruption<\/u><\/span><\/a>. These days it feels different, perhaps because of the way \u2018the people\u2019 were complicit. When they pitched big Brexit dividends, they weren't lying. It\u2019s just the word\u00a0 dividend was literal, and about profit from privatisation at our expense.\u00a0 Do people feel blocked in, or afraid to speak out because of that life-changing referendum? We do live in a sewer now but <\/span>it\u2019s the will of the people<\/span><\/em>.<\/span><\/p>

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