# One man vs the environment **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [February 2, 2018, 4:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/one-man-vs-the-environment/808040 "2018-02-02T16:02:43Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Delicious](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/dbc845/32.png) [@Delicious](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Delicious)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2018, 4:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/one-man-vs-the-environment/808040/1 "2018-02-02T16:02:43Z")
Say I want to do as much damage as I can to the environment single handedly, what would be the best way to go about it? Let’s assume I’m in my 40s, independently wealthy, have no need to work and no family commitments (the environment killed my family), I’m dedicated to this and will work with robot-like commitment to even the most boring and repetitive tasks to get it done but I don’t want to go to jail. It’s a bit tricky to define damage to the environment so there’s some leeway there, I’d say permanent damage \> spectacular damage that will be fixed in a couple of years, making a species extinct would be pretty good (the bigger the animal, the better), killing off a species that has knock-on effects on all sorts of other species would be even better. I assume, despite my wealth, I won’t be able to get people to help me with the actual attacks on the environment…I might be able to hire some guys to move unlabelled barrels up a hill or crew my nefarious boat HQ but the actual work has to be doable by a single, reasonably fit person. ---
**Author:** ![davidm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/davidm/32/225_2.png) [@davidm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/davidm)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2018, 4:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/one-man-vs-the-environment/808040/2 "2018-02-02T16:16:45Z")
How about genetically engineering a bacteria, insect, or plant? ---
**Author:** ![burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/burpo_the_wonder_mutt/32/365_2.png) [@burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/burpo_the_wonder_mutt)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2018, 4:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/one-man-vs-the-environment/808040/3 "2018-02-02T16:24:32Z")
A series of dirty bombs? ---
**Author:** ![Buck\_Godot](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/buck_godot/32/6573_2.png) [@Buck\_Godot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Buck_Godot)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2018, 4:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/one-man-vs-the-environment/808040/4 "2018-02-02T16:27:21Z")
> [@davidm](#): > > How about genetically engineering a bacteria, insect, or plant? Too much work, and low chance of success. Global distribution of invasive species would be pretty cheap and easy though. ---
**Author:** ![engineer\_comp\_geek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/engineer_comp_geek/32/504_2.png) [@engineer\_comp\_geek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/engineer_comp_geek)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2018, 4:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/one-man-vs-the-environment/808040/5 "2018-02-02T16:27:28Z")
**Moderator Action** This requires a bit too much speculation and opinion for GQ, so let’s try IMHO instead. ---
**Author:** ![Darren\_Garrison](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/darren_garrison/32/92_2.png) [@Darren\_Garrison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darren_Garrison)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2018, 4:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/one-man-vs-the-environment/808040/6 "2018-02-02T16:28:46Z")
Introduce invasive species to new areas. Kudzu, [air potatoes](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dioscorea_bulbifera), Asian carp, zebra mussels, [seaweed](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Caulerpa_taxifolia), [gerbils](https://www.google.com/search?source=hp&ei=lpF0Wsv8JObBjwS6zJPQDg&q=illegal+gerbils&oq=illegal+gerbils&gs_l=psy-ab.3..0l10.1648.4256.0.4336.16.9.0.0.0.0.807.807.6-1.1.0....0...1.1.64.psy-ab..15.1.804.0...0.ghCWpmdK7oI), etc. (I’ve long wanted to try to introuduce some [big-ass weta](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Giant_weta) into my area, but they probably aren’t robust enough to be invasive) ---
**Author:** ![Buck\_Godot](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/buck_godot/32/6573_2.png) [@Buck\_Godot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Buck_Godot)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2018, 4:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/one-man-vs-the-environment/808040/7 "2018-02-02T16:32:34Z")
> [@burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](#): > > A series of dirty bombs? That will deter humans more than it will the environment. People worry about a 10 fold increase in cancer deaths, animals and plants not so much. The area around[Chernobyl](https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2015/oct/05/wildlife-thriving-around-chernobyl-nuclear-plant-despite-radiation)is actually thriving now that all the people left ---
**Author:** ![madsircool](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/madsircool/32/3432_2.png) [@madsircool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/madsircool)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2018, 4:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/one-man-vs-the-environment/808040/8 "2018-02-02T16:41:34Z")
Eat beans 24/7 and pollute the atmosphere with copious amounts of methane. ---
**Author:** ![davidm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/davidm/32/225_2.png) [@davidm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/davidm)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2018, 4:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/one-man-vs-the-environment/808040/9 "2018-02-02T16:43:30Z")
> [@Buck\_Godot](#): > > Too much work, and low chance of success. Global distribution of invasive species would be pretty cheap and easy though. And you could engineer that species to be even more destructive than it normally would be. ---
**Author:** ![madsircool](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/madsircool/32/3432_2.png) [@madsircool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/madsircool)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2018, 4:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/one-man-vs-the-environment/808040/10 "2018-02-02T16:45:59Z")
> [@Buck\_Godot](#): > > That will deter humans more than it will the environment. People worry about a 10 fold increase in cancer deaths, animals and plants not so much. The area around[Chernobyl](https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2015/oct/05/wildlife-thriving-around-chernobyl-nuclear-plant-despite-radiation)is actually thriving now that all the people left Its thriving but in a really bad way. [![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/LAywRJiYUec/maxresdefault.jpg "S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Shadow Of Chernobyl (Video Game)") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LAywRJiYUec) ---
**Author:** ![Delicious](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/dbc845/32.png) [@Delicious](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Delicious)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2018, 5:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/one-man-vs-the-environment/808040/11 "2018-02-02T17:43:16Z")
> [@burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](#): > > A series of dirty bombs? I’m fairly sure I’d get arrested before getting the material together, governments monitor that sort of thing > [@Darren\_Garrison](#): > > Introduce invasive species to new areas. Kudzu, [air potatoes](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dioscorea_bulbifera), Asian carp, zebra mussels, [seaweed](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Caulerpa_taxifolia), [gerbils](https://www.google.com/search?source=hp&ei=lpF0Wsv8JObBjwS6zJPQDg&q=illegal+gerbils&oq=illegal+gerbils&gs_l=psy-ab.3..0l10.1648.4256.0.4336.16.9.0.0.0.0.807.807.6-1.1.0....0...1.1.64.psy-ab..15.1.804.0...0.ghCWpmdK7oI), etc. (I’ve long wanted to try to introuduce some [big-ass weta](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Giant_weta) into my area, but they probably aren’t robust enough to be invasive) This might work, sailing around the world redistributing animals & plants could cause all sorts of problems, I like it If I bought loads of weedkiller and sprayed it all over a forest, is that likely to kill many trees? I suppose they’d just grow back ---
**Author:** ![k9bfriender](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/k9bfriender/32/3283_2.png) [@k9bfriender](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/k9bfriender)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2018, 5:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/one-man-vs-the-environment/808040/12 "2018-02-02T17:50:23Z")
Start tossing highly invasive water plants like [the water hyacinth](https://www.invasivespeciesinfo.gov/aquatics/waterhyacinth.shtml) into waterways. Plus side, you don’t need to be wealthy. They are cheap to pick up, and you only need one to grow into multitudes. While you are driving around tossing these plants into lakes and streams, also consider picking up some firewood from the [emerald ash borer](http://www.emeraldashborer.info/) infested areas, and spread that around a bit more. ---
**Author:** ![Darren\_Garrison](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/darren_garrison/32/92_2.png) [@Darren\_Garrison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darren_Garrison)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2018, 5:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/one-man-vs-the-environment/808040/13 "2018-02-02T17:58:20Z")
> [@Delicious](#): > > This might work, sailing around the world redistributing animals & plants could cause all sorts of problems, I like it Yes, [I’ve given this subject some thought](http://file770.com/?p=27149&cpage=3#comment-391804). (I can’t believe that I mentioned wetas then, too.) ---
**Author:** ![Snowboarder\_Bo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/snowboarder_bo/32/229_2.png) [@Snowboarder\_Bo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snowboarder_Bo)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2018, 6:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/one-man-vs-the-environment/808040/14 "2018-02-02T18:49:06Z")
I don’t know why y’all are even thinking about this; it’s unnecessary since [the Earth was destroyed at 7:35:05am UTC on September 10, 2008](https://qntm.org/board). > [@](#): > > The destruction of Earth was first reported by Mr Jonathan Barber of Wisconsin, United States, who spotted that his home-made seismic Earth Detector had ceased to give readings at around 8:00am (2am local time). Several other amateur geocide spotters noticed this at the same time but Mr. Barber was the first to place a telephone call to the IEDAB’s Geocide Hotline (+44 115 09Ω 4127, ask for Other Dave) at which point IEDAB officials performed an emergency check of their own instrumentation and verified Mr. Barber’s report, as well as fixing the exact time of geocide. > > Evidence is still being collated, but preliminary results suggest that the Earth was destroyed pre-emptively by scientists at the Large Hadron Collider at CERN, Geneva, Switzerland, before the commencement of their experiments to locate the Higgs Boson, as a precautionary measure to ensure that the experiment itself could not result in the destruction of the Earth. > [@](#): > > EARTH-DESTRUCTION ALERT LEVEL: RED > > Current Earth-Destruction Status > > A “Red” Earth-Destruction Alert Level (EDA Level) indicates that the Earth has been destroyed. If the Earth had not been destroyed, the EDA Level would be set at “Green”. > > CURRENT GEOCIDE COUNT: 1 > > The Current Geocide Count (CGC) indicates in real time how many geocides have taken place; that is, the number of times the Earth has been destroyed. A value of “1” indicates that at present, the Earth has been destroyed. If the Earth had not been destroyed, the CGC would read “0”. ---
**Author:** ![burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/burpo_the_wonder_mutt/32/365_2.png) [@burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/burpo_the_wonder_mutt)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2018, 6:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/one-man-vs-the-environment/808040/15 "2018-02-02T18:52:32Z")
^ Kevin’s been messing with the device. ---
**Author:** ![kanicbird](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/5f8ce5/32.png) [@kanicbird](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kanicbird)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2018, 8:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/one-man-vs-the-environment/808040/16 "2018-02-02T20:51:16Z")
As stated the invasive species is most likely the best way to do that. Well that or start a political campaign which discredits/disregards the environmental issues, which is close to one of your disqualifies, though if craftily done does not technically violate it. In order to cause the type of damage you need to consider ‘tipping points’, the point where the old equilibrium is upset, and a new one is being brought about, and point of no return, which is ideally what you want, the inability to ‘tip back’ once your influence is removed. Secondarily even if the tipping point is reversible, that no one will care to put the energy into the system to do so. Either one would produce permeant results, though again passing the point of no return is preferred (such as the extinction of a species). ---
**Author:** ![cormac262](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f14d63/32.png) [@cormac262](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cormac262)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2018, 9:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/one-man-vs-the-environment/808040/17 "2018-02-02T21:00:12Z")
> [@Darren\_Garrison](#): > > Introduce invasive species to new areas. Kudzu, [air potatoes](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dioscorea_bulbifera), Asian carp, zebra mussels, [seaweed](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Caulerpa_taxifolia), [gerbils](https://www.google.com/search?source=hp&ei=lpF0Wsv8JObBjwS6zJPQDg&q=illegal+gerbils&oq=illegal+gerbils&gs_l=psy-ab.3..0l10.1648.4256.0.4336.16.9.0.0.0.0.807.807.6-1.1.0....0...1.1.64.psy-ab..15.1.804.0...0.ghCWpmdK7oI), etc. (I’ve long wanted to try to introuduce some [big-ass weta](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Giant_weta) into my area, but they probably aren’t robust enough to be invasive) Ding ding ding ! Winner. Let existing species do the work for you ! ---
**Author:** ![pool](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pool/32/4152_2.png) [@pool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pool)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2018, 9:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/one-man-vs-the-environment/808040/18 "2018-02-02T21:34:13Z")
Apparently being a chemist is a good way to damage the environment for instance this same man created both leaded gasoline and CFC’s and is believed to have caused more damage to the atmosphere than any ORGANISM period that has ever existed. He was also killed by one of his own many creations. [https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas\_Midgley\_Jr.](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_Midgley_Jr.) ---
**Author:** ![pullin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/c57346/32.png) [@pullin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pullin)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2018, 11:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/one-man-vs-the-environment/808040/19 "2018-02-03T11:28:18Z")
I hear business jets are pretty harmful, at least in the carbon footprint to move one person. Since you’re wealthy, you could use the Gulfstream to run to McDonald’s on the opposite coast. The snarky, haven’t had enough coffee me says: “Mimic Al Gore’s lifestyle as closely as possible.” 😉 [shuffles off to get another cup] ---
**Author:** ![burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/burpo_the_wonder_mutt/32/365_2.png) [@burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/burpo_the_wonder_mutt)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2018, 2:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/one-man-vs-the-environment/808040/20 "2018-02-03T14:46:40Z")
> [@Delicious](#): > > I’m fairly sure I’d get arrested before getting the material together, governments monitor that sort of thing \ And you call yourself an eco-terrorist; turn in your union card! All you have to do is hang around the park until Mr. Burns disposes of another few 55-gallon drums of nuclear waste (but not around the playground–all those bald children are arousing suspicion). [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/one-man-vs-the-environment/808040.md?page=2)