Features editor Tim Hager: 843-986-5534, [email protected] The Beaufort Gazette | beaufortgazette.com/features | Sunday, July 15, 2007 C

Visit Bolivia, where the largest salt flat Life&Times is located Travel, 6C NEW WEIGHT-LOSS DRUG: A closer look at alli Body & Soul, 1C Has someone blown smoke (while also undressing and Pollution shoving their body) in your threatens face as you TIM HAGER were leisurely our water [email protected] 843-986-5534 reading a book Drugs and household chemicals at the beach? are risks ‘we haven’t fully begun to understand,’ one Washington Global hydrogeologist says. By JOHN DODGE The Olympian warming OLYMPIA, Wash. — It’s a connec- tion that few people make, but the is not just medicines and personal care products that are part of daily life also can be part of the pollution problem. for liberals Collectively called pharmaceuticals and personal care products — PPCPs he Live Earth concert extrava- for short — those items contain thou- ganza came and went last sands of chemicals, which when Tweekend and here we are, excreted from our bodies or washed eight days later, still with global off our hair and skin go down the drain warming and a shrinking ozone layer and into the sewer or septic system. and pollution and apathy and dissen- And if the sewer system includes sion. What a disaster. That concert a wastewater treatment plant that was supposed to solve all the prob- dumps treated wastewater into public lems much like concerts normally do, waterways, chances are those chemi- and charity groups, and telethons. cals to some degree are polluting the Oh, wait, they never do that, do waterways. they? Events like Live Earth or Live “There’s a big risk, but we haven’t Aid — or the Jerry Lewis MDA fully begun to understand that risk,” telethon or groups like the March said Melanie Redding, a Washington of Dimes or the Salvation Army state Department of Ecology hydro- — never have an immediate impact, geologist. no matter how much money they raise. Why? Because a problem big Please see WATER on 3C enough to warrant such a large event is a problem that cannot be solved with one large event. Lewis has raised more than $2 bil- lion for the Muscular Dystrophy Association in the 41 years he has been holding his telethon, and we still have kids with muscular dystrophy. Santa Claus rings a bell for the Salva- tion Army every Christmas, and yet we still have the poor. If organizer Al Gore and the musicians who per- formed at the Live Earth concert are open to critcism, then why isn’t Claus? Gore’s concert, they say, left a huge carbon imprint (the term used to show how much effect one person, or one group, has on our Earth as a whole), did not attract nearly enough Story by AMY RIGARD | [email protected] | 843-986-5537 attention, provided no concrete results and did not have the impact he Illustration by Jes Spivak | The Gazette and others had hoped for. This — like all things, it seems, when dealing with a subject with political undertones — is all about how you look at it. Sure, the event had a huge carbon Do you practice proper imprint — you can’t have a massive concert in eight sites with more than 100 artists and not have an impact — but the organizers paid for carbon KEITH MYERS | Kansas City Star offsets to try and minimize the dam- beach/pool etiquette? A mixing machine keeps age as much as possible. In other numbered balls in motion during words, Live Earth wasn’t as green as it bingo at the American Legion would have been had it not happened, You are not alone; be sure to be courteous Post 370 in Overland Park, Kan. but it was more green than, say, pretty much every other concert, football when sharing space with others game or monster truck rally on the Many still planet, ever. And while ratings for the NBC Sat- urday night telecast were low, 16 mil- hen heading to the HAVE YOU HAD A LESS THAN are drawn lion Americans watched at various beach or pool this GREAT EXPERIENCE? times throughout the day. By the way, Voice your complaints at ratings are always low on Saturday summer, pack a towel, beaufortgazette.com/poolmanners. to the thrill nights. If the Super Bowl was played W on a Saturday it wouldn’t beat out the latest New York Times LEARN A THING OR TWO “Are You Smarter Than a 5th Grad- bestseller, lots of snacks and See a list of guidelines to live by when of bingo er?” for the week. And since when heading for the beach or pool, 4C do people like to watch concerts on plenty of sunscreen. And don’t By TIM ENGLE television? Isn’t that why “The Ed Sul- pertain to their area,” she said. These The Kansas City Star livan Show” is no longer around? forget your manners. include rules regarding littering, alcohol KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Doesn’t The impact of this concert — if consumption, pets, attire, sleeping on everyone have a bingo memory, maybe there ever is one — will not be in The lure of the water on a sweltering the beach and surfing. lodged way back in the kid part of the ratings or immediate results but in summer day in Beaufort is obvious, but What bothers some people about bad brain? spreading the message that every everyone heads to the beach or pool for behavior might not bother others, but I can remember hanging out at a bit counts. Even if you think climate different reasons. Rest and relaxation, Marsch said the best advice is to follow Tupperware party when I was 4 or so. change and global warming are all a quality time with the family, exercise or the Golden Rule, or the ethic of reci- Just something I liked to do. No, actual- bunch of hooey, you certainly can see the views (of not only the water but also procity. Simply stated, treat others as ly, I was dragged there by a baby sitter. the benefit in less pollution and use the beachgoers) can be among the plea- you wish to be treated.“Do unto others And we played bingo. Can’t recall if I of oil and cleaner water and cleaner sures people seek poolside or beachside. as you would have them do unto you,” won any burpable containers. But I do air, right? Can’t we all agree on that at One way to assure that everyone Marsch said. “It is always important to remember that b-i-n-g-o spelled fun. least? enjoys their experience and what they be courteous, and think of others before It still does. Probably not. came for is to mind your manners, yourself because that is the true essence Step into the bingo hall at Dwight The real reason that there is criti- according to Dianne Marsch, director of of etiquette.” Cowles American Legion Post 370 in cism for Live Earth is because we’ve the Etiquette School of the Carolinas in If someone blaring soft rock from their Overland Park, Kan. — look for the allowed global warming to become Myrtle Beach. portable stereo disturbs your quiet time, cannon out front — and it feels instant- politicized. Big corporations are on Etiquette applies in more than formal consider others when you make that ly familiar, even if you’ve never played. one side, feeding the “sky is NOT or professional situations. The casual cell phone call to dish the details of last It also feels like you’ve returned to falling” crowd, while hippie activists setting and attire at the beach or pool evening’s disastrous date. Or think about another era, an impression that might with too much time on their hands do not give people permission to forget how much space your lounging raft come from the haze of cigarette smoke and eager politicians looking for a their manners, Marsch said. “I always with built-in cup holder takes up in the in the room. suggest that people check out the basic Please see GLOBAL on 3C beach laws and pool regulations that Please see ETIQUETTE on 4C Please see BINGO on 4C

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