The Diatoms
ARE THEY IMPORTANT TO YOU?

#2

by Wallace Tharp

I believe everyone will agree that the most important element keeping us alive is the Oxygen we take from the air we breathe. You might live six minutes without it but would most likely be brain damaged. This, the most important single thing keeping us alive and functioning hardly gets any consideration. It is there! We expect it to be there! However, it might be important that we understand why it is there.

We need food and water to survive, but we don’t just expect it to be there. We think about it and plan to have it when and where we need it. Just give a little thought to the farmer that grows the food and the processor who prepares it, the people who arrange delivery, the thousands of trucks on the highways, scheduled to deliver the food to a place where you can get it when you want it, and the person who prepares it for the table. There are literally hundreds of people dedicated to see that when your belly is empty there will be something available to fill it. Nice! But think about it, suppose something disrupted the delivery system! What would you do if someone stopped the system that allowed you to feed your family?

We all know that plants produce Oxygen. Every blade of grass, every tree, even the weeds that we hate, produce Oxygen—wonderful life giving oxygen! We give little or no thought to Oxygen, it is there where we need it, when we need it, but where does it come from? Scientists have estimated that 30% of the Oxygen that you, the reader, is breathing right this minute is produced by all the land plants on this planet! How would you like to be forced to breathe over three times as fast to get the same amount of Oxygen you need just to be alive?

Remember the little Diatom? It is a little plant so tiny that it must be magnified thousands of times in order to see and study it, but it produces Oxygen! The combined weight of all the Diatoms greatly out weighs the combined weight of all the plants living on land. National Geographic Magazine estimates that the Diatoms of the world produces over 70% of the Oxygen the reader is breathing right this minute. When I first read the statements in National Geographic I got a strong shock in my mid section. It was powerful and was composed of fear and gratitude.

Something I had not known about was making it possible for me to be alive and in pleasant health and I did not even know about it! In the same instant, there was a flash through my brain, reviewing the articles I had read about air pollution, the coal fired plants and the Automobile exhausts and the hundreds of other commercial processes that were polluting the air we must have to live.

Then there was the article about scientists drilling in the Antarctic ice. They brought up samples dating back 10,000 years and were surprised to find that there was twice as much Oxygen in the air than there is now. Then I read the article telling about the Oxygen stations in the big cities of Japan. The air was so bad that people would step in a booth. place a coin in a slot, put a mask over their nose and breath a measured time of Oxygen, then go on their way refreshed for a few more minutes All around the world, Air pollution is so bad that hundreds of people, mostly the very old and the very young die from having our life giving air so polluted that they can not breathe it and live.

Something has happened to our delivery system! Enough pure Oxygen has been produced for centuries and every living thing on the planet has prospered because of it, but now, plants, animals and people are being destroyed because our life giving product has been contaminated and life is not as good. There is also some fear that our source of supply is being damaged and it could be at a point of no return.

Our tiny Diatoms, our very life line to good health, are possibly in serious danger. These plants live in the water and cannot escape it. They did very well for thousands, even millions of years, but now are in danger. Every Agricultural country in the world is pouring millions of tons of toxic chemicals over the land, and the drainage into the rivers are carrying pesticides into our lakes and oceans. The living creatures, both plant and animal cannot avoid these long lasting chemicals and must suffer the consequences, and so do we!

Coral, another of the basic foods for ocean life, according to National Geographic magazine, is being destroyed. It is estimated that 70% of the world’s coral is either dead or damaged, and believe me, there is enough toxic material already in the oceans to take care of the rest of it. Remember, the poor Diatom is also living in the now soupy mixture. It is very obvious that many of them will die, and the results will be very wide spread and serious, and we on land will not escape damage.

Many articles in various magazines and papers, warn pregnant women not to eat tuna fish, as the amount of mercury in the fish could damage the brain of her unborn child. Tuna caught over 5000 miles from land had more DDT in its liver than was legally considered safe. A whale, autopsied to determine cause of death was found to have an amazing amount of toxic chemicals in his body, and they do not normally hang around close to land, they tend to work the deep waters for squid and other deep living creatures. Many fishing banks that had furnished a good livelihood to professional fishermen for many generations have become unprofitable. It is said the cause is over fishing. I am sure that is part of the problem, but it just might be that the waters close to the shores are so polluted by pesticides, herbicides and other industrial chemicals that the Diatoms and other food sources that the fish used to feed on are no longer there in the quantities needed to sustain the fish.

Some years back, it was determined that Lake Erie was totally devoid of life. There was no Oxygen in the water, so, of course, water breathing creatures could not live there. Severe laws were passed, and all industrial dumping of polluting substances was stopped and along with other processes, the lake has finally come back to life. Are we going to turn the oceans and lakes of the world into Lake Erie? If we do, where will we get our oxygen---not to mention our fish? There is a lake in Arizona that represents a wonderful place for families to camp out, fish and hunt, boat and swim. It is a lake with no drainage. What ever comes in stays there. Runoff from farm lands has put so much toxic chemicals in the water that the state has put up large signs warning people not to eat fish or wild life from the area for fear of being poisoned. Smart people do not take their families there any more!

Diatoms are in danger, and that means we also are in danger, but Diatoms also offer several solutions. The next installment will speak on responsibility and solutions. Don’t miss it!

Wallace Tharp CEO
PERMA-GUARD, INC.