Aquariums being outlawed or severely regulated? What does the future hold for us?

[ZoWhat]

Read this plz:

California bans gas-powered lawn equipment and other 'small off-road engines'

California will ban “small off-road engines” (SORE) primarily used in gas-powered lawn equipment, such as leaf blowers and lawnmowers, in...

electrek.co

The reality of our hobby is we house living creatures and we consume a tremendous amount of Energy in the form of electricity.

We also use a lot of water and throw a lot of waste water down the sewage lines.

But we pay hard earned money to have this luxury

But some non reefers may have the strong opinion we are heavy consumers and we're not sustainable and we need regulated.... We're small in number (750,000) but use a tremendous amount of consumable resources

QUESTION: Do you see our Hobby being banned or severely regulated in the future bc its not "green"???

Two years ago my answer was "not really, relax" ...but after reading this article I think our Law Makers may come after us eventually

I could see regulations where you can have an Aquarium of a certain size ONLY IF you are sustainable with Solar Panels to draw your own electricity.

Sounds crazy? Crazy is mainstage in our Country.

Let's discuss....


.

 

[LiveFreeAndReef]

I think we're safe, although CA reefers will be the first ones hit with the ban hammer. Another great reason to move out of CA!

 

[James_O]

I think this is sort of like the "no gun" law that its trying to be passed right now. They may ban 'em, but they're gonna to have to come and get 'em.

 

[LiveFreeAndReef]

I think this is sort of like the "no gun" law that its trying to be passed right now. They may ban 'em, but they're gonna to have to come and get 'em.

"You can pry my reef out of my cold, dead hands"

 

[Roli's Reef Ranch]

Read this plz:

California bans gas-powered lawn equipment and other 'small off-road engines'

California will ban “small off-road engines” (SORE) primarily used in gas-powered lawn equipment, such as leaf blowers and lawnmowers, in...

electrek.co

The reality of our hobby is we house living creatures and we consume a tremendous amount of Energy in the form of Electricity.

We also use a lot of water and throw a lot of waste water down the sewage lines.

All in the name of "personal entertainment" that's not very sustainable.

We're small in number (750,000) but use a tremendous amount of consumable resources

QUESTION: Do you see our Hobby being banned or severely regulated in the future bc its not "green"???

Two years ago my answer was "not really, relax" ...but after reading this article I think our Law Makers may come after us eventually

I could see regulations where you can have an Aquarium of a certain size ONLY IF you are sustainable with have Solar Panels to draw your own electricity.

Sounds crazy? Crazy is mainstage in our Country.

Let's discuss....


.

As far as these people are concerned, we are the Carbon. They want to eliminate the carbon. "You'll own nothing, and you will be happy." - World Economic Forum

 

[mdb_talon]

It would not shock me. Largely because the industry is not really large enough to have much much political weight(ie lobbyists handing out buckets of cash).

 

[James_O]

"You can pry my reef out of my cold, dead hands"

 

[WVNed]

LOL
Banned

Not banned

I wonder how many lawnmowers would be the equivalent to one of these warming up, taking off and leaving Ca airspace or where they will get the power during the rolling blackouts for the electric cars and lawn equipment.

It is a shame our RODI filters warp the waste water into space to never be used again.

I find it almost impossible to have a discussion about anything because people don't have a basic grasp of things.
Once you accept their silly ideas about things all further discussion is couched in silly.
It may be very serious silly but it is still silly.

 

[Wasabiroot]

Need to be careful not to apply the slippery slope argument here. 2 cycle engines are egregious polluters and contribute far more smog and pollution during operation than a car. Their reduced useage has a direct, measurable impact on improving air quality and personal health. It's much harder to "prove" what's using electricity in a personal home. If the argument is they're wasteful, of course they are. They're a luxury, but they're in a different category. It's like saying there's a speed limit so soon California will start making people eventually go one mile per hour everywhere. That's obviously not going to happen. There's nothing wrong with not being a fan of regulation, but people sometimes spend far more energy worrying about imaginary scare policies than the actual plans.

Also: we don't seem to be doing much about population growth. Many resources aren't infinite. At some point we need to start thinking about alternatives and ideas.

 

[jfoahs04]

I actually think they'd come at it from an animal cruelty angle before they come at it from a "green" angle.

The energy consumption and water usage of tanks is a relatively out of site/out of mind thing for anyone who isn't running one. Small gas powered tools/equipment are much more widely used, have their fair share of detractors (see: leafblower complaints), and have a growing number of electric alternatives. Meanwhile a nice Gaming PC setup (and a number of other hobbies) can rival a pretty big reef tank in terms of electricity consumption, but nobody's really calling for the end of PC gaming. Many people use more water than reef tanks do running irrigation systems, topping off (and even filling) pools, etc. The level of specificity that would need to take place for actual laws regulating energy consumption for aquariums doesn't seem to me like it would ever happen. More realistically, I could see bigger surcharges/taxes for energy consumption over X kWh or water consumption X gallons per month rather than laws targeting aquariums specifically. That would certainly still hurt reefers (especially those with monster tanks), but I don't think you'd see them being outlawed for those purposes.

But there have long been questions about the ethics of keeping aquariums. Even the best reefs don't replicate the natural environment, fish harvesting from reefs is a questionable practice (at best), and mortality rates in shipment and distribution are really high. Even aquaculture fish have some question marks from an ethics standpoint. While I don't think we'll ever see the level of outrage over mistreatment of fish that we see with animals like dogs and cats, I can see enough outrage to really limit the sale of wild-caught fish and coral. I can also see a level of regulation for aquaculture that would put many facilities out of business and/or raise the prices of livestock to levels that make the hobby prohibitively expensive to anyone on a budget.

I hope none of the above takes place, but I wouldn't be surprised about the latter.

 

[ZoWhat]

It's like saying there's a speed limit so soon California will start making people eventually go one mile per hour everywhere.

Hasn't that been the Highway traffic pattern in LA since 1979?

 

[ZoWhat]

LOL
Banned

Not banned

I wonder how many lawnmowers would be the equivalent to one of these warming up, taking off and leaving Ca airspace or where they will get the power during the rolling blackouts for the electric cars and lawn equipment.

It is a shame our RODI filters warp the waste water into space to never be used again.

I find it almost impossible to have a discussion about anything because people don't have a basic grasp of things.
Once you accept their silly ideas about things all further discussion is couched in silly.
It may be very serious silly but it is still silly.

Isn't the true bottom line answer is to ban grass, bushes, trees in California? Nothing that needs routinely cut is to be grown...

But keep growing grapes so Government Executives can still have their $400 bottles of wine. Lol

 

[Wasabiroot]

I actually think they'd come at it from an animal cruelty angle before they come at it from a "green" angle.

The energy consumption and water usage of tanks is a relatively out of site/out of mind thing for anyone who isn't running one. Small gas powered tools/equipment are much more widely used, have their fair share of detractors (see: leafblower complaints), and have a growing number of electric alternatives. Meanwhile a nice Gaming PC setup (and a number of other hobbies) can rival a pretty big reef tank in terms of electricity consumption, but nobody's really calling for the end of PC gaming. Many people use more water than reef tanks do running irrigation systems, topping off (and even filling) pools, etc. The level of specificity that would need to take place for actual laws regulating energy consumption for aquariums doesn't seem to me like it would ever happen. More realistically, I could see bigger surcharges/taxes for energy consumption over X kWh or water consumption X gallons per month rather than laws targeting aquariums specifically. That would certainly still hurt reefers (especially those with monster tanks), but I don't think you'd see them being outlawed for those purposes.

But there have long been questions about the ethics of keeping aquariums. Even the best reefs don't replicate the natural environment, fish harvesting from reefs is a questionable practice (at best), and mortality rates in shipment and distribution are really high. Even aquaculture fish have some question marks from an ethics standpoint. While I don't think we'll ever see the level of outrage over mistreatment of fish that we see with animals like dogs and cats, I can see enough outrage to really limit the sale of wild-caught fish and coral. I can also see a level of regulation for aquaculture that would put many facilities out of business and/or raise the prices of livestock to levels that make the hobby prohibitively expensive to anyone on a budget.

I hope none of the above takes place, but I wouldn't be surprised about the latter.

Agreed - this is a separate argument unrelated to banning 2cycle engines. That's why I think it's a bit silly to compare the two. Maybe one day it might be frowned upon, but it's not going to happen overnight.


Also, jets aren't banned because they carry dozens of people across the world at high-speed despite their pollution. If a jet engine was being used to do lawn care, obviously it wouldn't be allowed... Bob's crappy half dead lawn isn't nearly as important to commerce and business as a jet, lol. However, if they came out with a battery powered jet that performed roughly the same...

 

[Garf]

Can’t BRS just buy the government?

 

[Big Smelly fish]

I don't see it happening anytime soon, as far as livestock goes I can see restrictions as they are already happening in places. This industry is huge and they aren't going down without a fight.

When you really look at the issues it's not us that is causing the problems, it's commercial fish and certain country that are depleting our oceans and creating the majority of pollutants.