A Sin: Killing Man, Killing Beast

Remember this: It is said there is no sin in killing a beast, only in killing a man. But where does one begin and the other end? ~Gwen Conliffe, The Wolfman~

I am going to say out the gate, this was something else. This phrase has nothing to do with animals in the real world but the inner realm of a human being that can present as good, bad, and neutral. Everyday, we can log onto the internet and see men as beasts in their hearts with the destruction of human life, habitat, cultures, and everything under the sun is in constant threat. The Great Mystery did not make this world for that quality of negativity. Yet here we are. 

Do you ever wonder where you learned long held beliefs? Beliefs about sin, separation of man and animal, Man's dominion over the Earth? Superstition that flies by night? How did Man elevate himself above the World with the support of the Spoken Word, or internal thought? Is it true that to realize God one must look inward but the eyes staring back are of a beast? Or is it something else? Sinister or serene? Is it healthy for the collective to acknowledge the concept of Man and his sin, whatever that may be? Is it the albatross around our necks since birth when we are told "you are corrupt"? If it is said that God is within, then what does it bode when what is inside is less than Godly? Or is it less than Godly? 

When you look at the Global stage today, you see a strange sort of creature that walks. It argues over resources and indiscriminately wounds, tortures, and kills for the sake of a lick-back, dominion, or monopoly. Surely, it is better to be a beast in the forest than a man that is a beast in his heart. Maybe we should come up with a better term. Beasts are honest about their motives, some humans are not. 

I am having a problem using the word beast. Animals are what they are but do we expect better from humans? These are deep seated questions.

Upon pondering this question, the answer can be found in a individual's moral and ethical compass. Determinants of morality in any given action must be considered, as one would following any process. Joseph Rickaby gives us a good layout of considerations to take. Let us review them. 

This is an excerpt from his published work, " Moral Philosophy: Ethics, Deontology and Natrual Law, Section II": 

"1. The morality of any given action is determined by three elements, the end in view, the means taken, and the circumstances that accompany the taking of the said means. Whoever knows this principle, does not thereby know the right and wrong of every action, but he knows how to go about the inquiry. It is a rule of diagnosis.

2. In order to know whether what a man does befits him as a man to do, the first thing to examine is that which he mainly desires and wills in his action. Now the end is more willed and desired than the means. He who steals to commit adultery, says Aristotle, is more of an adulterer than a thief. The end in view is what lies nearest to a man's heart as he acts. On that his mind is chiefly bent; on that his main purpose is fixed. Though the end is last in the order of execution, it is first and foremost in the order of intention. Therefore the end in view enters into morality more deeply than any other element of the action. It is not, however, the most obvious determinant, because it is the last point to be gained; and because, while the means are taken openly, the end is often a secret locked in the heart of the doer, the same means leading to many ends, as the road to a city leads to many homes and resting-places. Conversely, one end may be prosecuted by many means, as there are many roads converging upon one goal. 

3. If morality were determined by the end in view, and by that alone, the doctrine would hold that the end justifies the means. That doctrine is false, because the moral character of a human act depends on the thing willed, or object of volition, according as it is or is not a fit object. Now the object of volition is not only the end in view, but is not only the end in view, but likewise the means chosen. Besides the end, the means are likewise willed. Indeed, the means are willed more immediately even than the end, as they have to be taken first.

4. A good action, like any other good thing, must possess a certain requisite fulness of being, proper to itself. As it is not enough for the physical excellence of a man  to have the bare essentials, a body with a soul animating it, but there is needed a certain grace of form, color, agility, and many accidental qualities besides; so for a good act it is not enough that proper means to be taken to a proper end, but they must be taken by a proper person, at a proper place and time, in a proper manner, and with manifold other circumstances of propriety. 

5. The end in view may be either single, as when you forgive an injury solely for the love of Christ: or multiple co-ordinate, as when you forgive both for the love of Christ and for the mediation of a friend, and are disposed to forgive on either ground separately; or multiple subordinate, as when you would not have forgiven on the latter ground alone, but forgive the more easily for its addition, having been ready, however, to forgive the former alone, but forgive the more easily for its addition, having been ready, however, to forgive the former alone; or cumulative, as when you forgive on a number of grounds collectively, on no one of which would you have forgiven apart from the rest.

6. Where there is no outward action, but only an internal act, and the object of that act is some good that is willed for its own sake, there can be no question of means taken, as the end in view is immediately attained. 

7. The means taken and the circumstances of those means enter into the morality of act, formally as they are seen by the intellect, materially as they are in themselves. This explains the difference between formal and material sin. A material sin would be formal also, did the agent know what he was doing. No sin is culpable that is nor formal. But, as has been said, there may be a culpable perversion of the intellect, so that the man is the author of his obliquity or defect of vision. When Saul persecuted the Christians, he probably sinned materially, not formally. When Caiphas spoke the truth without knowing it, he said well materially, but ill formally. 

8. In looking at the means taken and the circumstances that accompany those means, it is important to have a ready rule for pronouncing what particular belongs to the means and what to the circumstances. Thus Clytemnestra deals her husband Agamemnon a deadly stroke with an axe, partly for revenge, partly that she may take to herself another consort; is the deadliness of the blow part of the means taken or only accompanying circumstance? It is part of the means taken. The means taken include every particular that is willed and chosen as making for the end in view. The fatal character of the blow does make to that end; if Agamemnon does not die, the revenge will not be complete, and life with Aegisthus will be impossible. On the other hand, the fact that Clytemnestra is the wife of the man whom she murders, is not a point that her will rests upon as furthering her purpose at all; it is an accompanying circumstance. This method of distinguishing means from circumstance is of great value in casuistry. 

9. It is clear that not every attendant circumstance affects the morality of the means taken. Thus the blow under which Agamemnon sank was neither more not less guiltily struck because it was dealt with an axe, because it was under pretence of giving him a bath, or because his feet were entangled in a long robe. These circumstances are all irrelevant. Those only are relevant which attach some special reasonableness or unreasonableness to the thing done. Thus the provocation that Clytemnestra had from her husband's introduction of Cassandra into her house made her act of vengeance less unreasonable: on the other hand it was rendered more unreasonable by the circumstance of the dear and holy tie that binds wife to husband. The provocation and relationship were tow relevant circumstances in the case. 

10. But it happens sometimes that a circumstance only affects the reasonableness of an action on the supposition of some previous circumstance so affecting it. Thus to carry off a thing in large or small quantities does not affect the reasonableness of the carrying, unless there be already some other circumstance attached that renders the act good or evil; as for instance, if the goods that are being removed are stolen property. Circumstances of this sort are called aggravating—or, as the case may be, extenuating—circumstances. Circumstances that of themselves, and apart from any previous supposition, make the thing done peculiarly reasonable or unreasonable, are called specifying circumstances. They are so called, because they place the action in some species of virtue or vice; whereas aggravating or extenuating circumstances add to, or take off from, the good or evil of the action in that species of virtue or vice to which it already belongs.  

11. A variety of specifying circumstances may place one and the same action in many various species of virtue or vice. Thus a religious robbing his parents would sin at once against justice, piety, and religion. A nun preferring death to dishonor practices three virtues, chastity, fortitude, and religion.

12. The means chosen may be of four several characters:—(a) A thing evil of itself and inexcusable under all conceivable circumstances; for instance, blasphemy, idolatry, lying.(b) Needing excuse, as the killing of a man, the looking at an indecent object. Such things are not to be done except under certain circumstances and with a grave reason. Thus indecent sights may be met in the discharge of professional duty. In that case indeed they cease to be indecent. They are then only indecent when they are viewed without cause. The absence of a good motive in a case like this commonly implies the presence of a bad one.(c) Indifferent, as walking or sitting down.(d) Good of itself, but liable to be vitiated by circumstances, as prayer and almsgiving; the good of such actions may be destroyed wholly or in part by their being done out of a vain motive, or unseasonably, or indiscreetly

13. It is said, "If thy eye be single, thy whole body shall be lightsome." (St. Matt., vi., 22.) The eye is the intention contemplating the end in view. Whoever has placed a good end before him, and regards it steadily with a well-ordered love, never swerving in his affection from the way that reason would have him love, must needs take towards his end those means, and those only, which are in themselves reasonable and just: as it is written: "Thou shalt follow justly after that which is just." (Deut. xvi., 20.) Thus I am building a church to the glory of God; money runs short: I perceive that by signing a certain contract that must mean grievous oppression of the poor, I shall save considerable expense, whereas, if I refuse, the works will have to be abandoned for want of funds. If I have purely the glory of God before my eyes, I certainly shall not sign that contract: for injustice I know can bear no fruit of Divine glory. But if I am bent upon having the building up in any case, of course I shall sign: but then my love for the end in view is no longer pure and regulated by reason: it is not God but myself that I am seeking in the work. Thus an end entirely just, holy, and pure, purifies and sanctifies the means, not formally, by investing with a character of justice means in themselves unjust, for that is impossible,—the leopard cannot change his spots,—but by way of elimination, removing unjust means as ineligible to my purpose, and leaving me only those means to choose from which are in themselves just

14. With means in themselves indifferent, the case is otherwise. A holy and pious end does formally sanctify those means, while a wicked end vitiates them. I beg the reader to observe what sort of means are here in question. There is no question of means in themselves or in their circumstances unjust, as theft, lying, murder, but of such indifferent things as reading, writing, painting, singing, travelling. Whoever travels to commit sin at the end of his journey, his very travelling, so far as it is referred to that end, is part of his sin: it is a wicked journey that he takes. And he who travels to worship at some shrine or place of pilgrimage, includes his journey in his devotion. The end in view there sanctifies means in themselves indifferent.

15. As a great part of the things that we do are indifferent as well in themselves as in the circumstances of the doing of them, the moral character of our lives depends largely on the ends that we habitually propose to ourselves. One man's great thought is how to make money; what he reads, writes, says, where he goes, where he elects to reside, his very eating, drinking and personal expenditure, all turns on what he calls making his fortune. It is all to gain money—quocunque modo rem. Another is active for bettering the condition of the laboring classes: a third for the suppression of vice. These three men go some way together in a common orbit of small actions, alike to the eye, but morally unlike, because of the various guiding purposes for which they are done. Hence, when we consider such pregnant final ends as the service of God and the glory of a world to come, it appears how vast is the alteration in the moral line and coloring of a man's life, according to his practical taking up or setting aside of these great ends

16. We must beware however of an exaggeration here. The final end of action is often latent, not explicitly considered. A fervent worshipper of God wishes to refer his whole self with all that he does to the Divine glory and service. Yet such a one will eat, drink, and be merry with his friends, not thinking of God at the time. Still, supposing him to keep within the bounds of temperance, he is serving God and doing good actions. But what of a man who has entirely broken away from God, what of his eating, drinking, and other actions that are of their kind indifferent? We cannot call them sins: there is nothing wrong about them, neither in the thing done, nor in the circumstances of the doing, nor in the intention. Pius V. condemned the proposition: "All the works of infidels are sins." Neither must we call such actions indifferent in the individual who does them, supposing them to be true human acts, according to the definition, and not done merely mechanically. They are not indifferent, because they receive a certain measure of natural goodness from the good natural purpose which they serve, namely, the conservation and well-being of the agent. Every human act is either good or evil in him who does it. I speak of natural goodness only.

17. The effect consequent upon an action is distinguishable from the action itself, from which it is not unfrequently separated by a considerable interval of time, as the death of a man from poison administered a month before. The effect consequent enters into morality only in so far as it is either chosen as a means or intended as an end, or is annexed as a relevant circumstance to the means chosen. Once the act is done, it matters nothing to morality whether the effect consequent actually ensues or not, provided no new act be elicited thereupon, whether of commission or of culpable omission to prevent. It matters not to morality, but it does matter to the agent's claim to reward or liability to punishment at the hands of human legislators civil and ecclesiastical.

18. As soul and body make one man, so the inward and outward act—as the will to strike and the actual blow struck—are one human act. The outward act gives a certain physical completeness to the inward. Moreover the inward act is no thorough-going thing, if it stops short of outward action where the opportunity offers. Otherwise, the inward act may be as good or as bad morally as inward and outward act together. The mere wish to kill, where the deed is impossible, may be as wicked as wish and deed conjoined. It may be, but commonly it will not, for this reason, that the outward execution of the deed reacts upon the will and calls it forth with greater intensity; the will as it were expands where it finds outward vent. There is no one who has not felt the relative mildness of inward feelings of impatience or indignation, compared with those engendered by speaking out one's mind. Often also the outward act entails a long course of preparation, all during which the inward will is sustained and frequently renewed, as in a carefully planned burglary." ( Rickaby 31-40)

Is this true?

When you consider the relationship between Man and beast of the wilderness, the difference is humans are held to a higher standard with a ethical, spiritual and moral dilemma. The animal are perceived to be held without moral perception and act on instinct and are undeserving. 

Here the beast is that inner world of the human that is not equal or has similarities with animals. This gets into the realm of the human soul and being made in the image of divinity, making murder a sin while consuming animals for sustenance. So thereby, the animal is not the beast in this moniker. The moniker for the darker part of the soul could be referenced as a beast. The line begins with moral accountability, rational thought, and prohibition but when you turn the mirror onto the eyes of the Man and he sees the beast within him, there under the surface could be brewing a creature that is terrifying, boundless, and unreliable. 

Here you could use the phrase, "the punishment should fit the crime". So when asked, "It is said there is no sin in killing a beast, only in killing a man. But where does one begin and the other end?", it really depends. What did the beast within the human do? What standards do we hold against the beast within to measure its wake? Do we judge and pass sentence on a human creature that when over the bounds of its moral and ethical compass? If so, do we leave the door open for it to fail and do more damage? After seeing the outcome of its horrible endeavors, should we let it live?

After, in biblical passages humans are the only creation that is rebellious. Does this mean that God's nature is rebellious? 

I think we should go dig around in the Jungian World for an expansion plan on this. The answer to this question is in the duality of man and the beast within. Let's go! 

Photography by Ps. Studio21

Just reflect. Grab some snacks.

~Courtesy of the AOFH~

Pickled Earth: A Tad Bit Salty

 

Remember this: What was, will be once again. 

I am reading an episode in The Post and Courier/Pee Dee newspaper I grabbed from the hospital. The title of the article is "Hunting for hidden Ghost forests: What SC's spectral woodlands tell us about the future" and is written by Jonah Chester in the March 19-April 1, 2026 distribution.

Jonah Chester goes on to bring up the concept of spectral woods and ghost forests that give birth from coastal shores, estuaries, and tidal rivers. Fits my mythos of creepy southern forest with whispers and hoots of spooks. Is this a tale of dire warning? Most likely.

We would assume that everything of matter that doesn't have progeny, or flourishes will eventually disappear and die. Letting Nature take its course can  mean in the long run Nature will begin to deteriorate to its fatal end. Whatever lives upon it will move on to higher ground in hopes of a way to maintain its survival and existence. 

Jonah Chester goes on to talk about the rising sea levels that are generated by weather patterns known to the region that push the salt water inland. In walks the University of Virginia with a project that is trying to make a case for dead forest prevalence across South Carolina using artificial intelligence and satellite data. 

One such data point in this study is a 350,000 acreage of land called the ACE Basin that boundaries by the Ashepoo, Combahee, and the Edisto. These dead zone locations are across South Carolina but perfuse near the coast. 

This is where I should point out that South Carolina from the coast to the Sandhills use to be a large coral reef. Deep underground there is history. Divers pull it out the Charleston rivers all the time when they dive for shark teeth fossils. 

When migrating people decide they want to move down for the weather, they need to fact check that location the residence is built on. We love a good subterranean termite especially when they float into the yard during floods to remodel the innards of a house with their form of mud artistry in the beams of the wall. Trust me. They are there.  

Let us see if we can transverse a thought process and compound on Jonah Chester's article.

Yeung and his partners are using AI to analyze imagery that will identify dead tree species missed by traditional methods, confirm cause of death for the trees, consider the widespread impact on individual and collective data point locations, configuring ground truth validations, and collaborations. 

Here in this excerpt, Henry Yeung, a lead author on the project states, "For example, if you have a drought eating the landscape first and it dries off the soil and then a storm surge hits, basically you don't have the groundwater storage to resist against the flooded salt water." (Chester B5)

Now mind you, the human termites have been digging all over the South for the Sands of Time without the thought God put it there, so maybe not remove it. Everyday I think about how the Earth is a structure run off of everything that compromises it. Humans are always uprooting a necessary part of the system and moving said thing somewhere else. All that activity leads to substances trapped in the ground coming to the surface and polluting what is above. 

Now let us ask the current question. If this is an issue with saltwater eroding inland due to ocean acidification, climate change, pollution from a variety of sources, humans being humans with entitlement and the ability to not see their habits/actions are causing a lot of damage, what is going to happen when you slap a data center near that location?

Lets just imagine a textbook photo of erosion from the top of a mountain to the sea. One such event is the flood in North Carolina that took out a large area. This flood brought with it trickle down economics from the casebook in ecological destruction. Anything of a waste product is eroding down the slope. It has to go to the lowest point; river to ocean. Along that path things tend to settle here and there. 

The article points out consistency is the one factor when elevation is plotted against a data set of dead trees. It begins to illustrate lower elevations will appear to have more dead trees than upland stands. In a 2020 study, Chester states, "once coastal forests succumb to the salt, they stop capturing carbon and begin releasing it instead." (Chester B5)

But why? Why does it do this? Salt seems to be a major vulnerability. 

As I read further, here it comes.....

Chester writes, "Yeung said one of the project's goals is to provide a "common language" for policymakers to help address the growing issue. As he notes, it's difficult to come up with solutions when there's not a common data baseline to work from. He said potentially installing flow-control structures or flood gates along vulnerable corridors could help curb the ghost forests' spread." (Chester B5)

It all comes down to Law and Order, loss of land, habitat loss, and freshwater scarcity.  Let's get back to the salt of the Earth on them roots.

When salt intrusion occurs in coastal areas, the ground stores organic compound rather than releasing it. Salt disrupts the soil structure and triggers microbial breakdown of old organic matter. What is the salt doing to the ground?  What happens when all this stored up old organic matter is completely gone? Salt intrusion brings in sulfates. Sulfate-reducing bacteria activate and produce chemicals that dissolve iron-mineral bonds that previously held the carbon secure. Dissolved iron releases the carbon and it decomposes. 

Soil stores carbon aggregates that keep the carbon-eating microbes away from the organic matter that is food. Microbes need detritus to survive and flourish. This is the basics of a forest floor. It needs the composting process of litter, soil humus, flora and fauna. This process gives rise to nutrients into the lower levels and soil. What happens when you have areas where the erosion from high to low is pushed by the tide that brings in the salty brine. 

Pickled Earth. 

Sodium ions replace things like calcium and magnesium from soil particles. This causes soil dispersion where aggregates break apart. These broken aggregates uncover and convert hidden carbon to oxygen. Bacteria and fungi are sensitive to salt. Moderate salinity stress can force them to consume more energy to deal with the osmotic stress of the salt. This results in increased microbe activity leading to higher rates of respiration that turns solid soil carbon into gas that is release into our good atmosphere. 

Coastal environments store carbon because soil is anaerobic with low oxygen, bound to minerals, and it is wet. 

Let us ask the question about them tree roots. If a tree is sitting in Earth that has a high salt content, what do we expect the tree to be in a state of? The surrounding environment of its roots are hypertonic relative to the cells inside of the tree. I don't know if you have taken a biology or chemistry class but they teach about solutions. Most plants and trees depend on turgor to move fluids in and out. Its like trees have a heart or kidney problem with all that salt. Trees aren't humans, but can you relate?

The salt concentration outside the root is higher than the solute concentration inside the root cell which cause the water to be drawn out of the roots. This water extraction leads to dehydration, water stress, and potential death aka osmotic stress or plasmolysis. Plasmolysis shrinks and pulls away the cell wall causing the cells to lose turgor pressure. You see this in house plants when they appear to wilt. 

The tree experiences a condition called physiological drought. The tree can't access the water even if the soil is wet. This leads to disrupted nutrient uptake, root cell die-off, leaf burn caused by salt uptake that destroys tissues, and reduced growth. Now, go look at your potted plants. Are they okay? Check on your people. 

Trees move, but slowly, and they can't run away fast enough from a spot that is a salt gestapo. The tree's internal environment becomes hypotonic. The solutes are lower relative to the surrounding salty soil. The tree is in a situationship with a hypertonic environment. 

But how? How do you revitalize the trees that are stuck in this type of environment. Some of these areas are in places where isolation is the word. 

I have read the different engineering ideas. It sounds more like the trees affected by being to close to the high salt areas would be swamped and efforts would be on the trees not affect yet. What could be done? Being nosy, I looked into it.

For salt-locked trees elevated/raised planting beds could be implemented. The trees could be elevated by building raised planters or berms which would improve drainage and prevent roots from sitting in saline water. 

Small diversion ditches to redirect the high-salt stormwater runoff could be built to redirect the runoff away from the trees. 

Constructing high-density fencing or plant dense evergreen buffers to block salt spray and high-speed winds from reaching delicate species. This would be eastern red cedar or wax myrtle. 

Soil amendment management which would incorporate organic matter such as compost to improve soil structure, increase nutrient retention and water filtration in sandy, salt-affected soil. Activated charcoal can be used into the soil around the dripline to neutralize some salts.

The dripline is the outer circumference of the tree's canopy and is reduced on the seaward side while the foliage is denser and more developed on the sheltered, landward side. This gives rise to description being windswept or salt-pruned shaped. The tree can present as highly modified, asymmetric and stunted. 

Fresh water can be used to flush or leach the salts out of the root zone periodically if there is adequate rainfall that doesn't occur soon after high exposure events such as a storm surge or heavy road salting. Interject a question here. Can salt poured on the ground in another place work its way out to the coast? Ergo, the salting doesn't happen that often but what about high salted areas when it comes to road salting like up North? What is there coastal forests like?

A system called a Gabion-Break can be engineered where porous woody breakwalls or gabion mats are placed to protect the coastlines and reduce wave energy that allow for health salt tolerant tree growth behind them. 

At the rate that people like to cut down the Mighty Oak during clear cuts on swampy areas out in Charleston near Francis Marion Forest, species that are recommended as a first line solution are Live Oaks, Cabbage Palm, and Eastern Red Cedar. A second line of defense would be Southern Magnolia and Bald Cypress, or River Birch. 

These tree types can be group planted to form a windbreak. Protecting existing root zones by using wood or wire fencing to avoid soil compaction and damage to the tree's dripline. Chemical control which would limit the use of fertilizers and pesticides near salt marshes to prevent runoff damage to the surrounding environment. 

So these are some of "all the things". If anyone has other thoughts and prayers put that out into the Internet Ether.

As you can read, this is a problem. It has been a problem because it affects farmland that becomes barren. The land is returned to a salty marsh or open water. It affects freshwater stores as well. People don't want to believe that climate change is a thing, but everyday conditions show themselves as a loss that someone has to fix before its to late. 

Should the word Climate Change be rebranded? Should it be something snazzy with a one word reference?

Why can't we go to the dessert and plant some trees? Live in bubbles under the sea? No, people want to spend their effort shooting off into Outer Space to live on another planet because they broke this one. I would be salty to Trees. 

The further problem that exists is high salinity can lower carbon dioxide but long term the net effect will be loss of soil carbon stores and and increase greenhouse effects from coastal wetlands and local farmland. The Ghost Forest enters the chat because the freshwater depend trees start to die, the new organic carbon reduces the input in the soil, this in turns causes an upturn in decomposing plant matter that lead to an increase in net carbon emissions. 

I wondered why we could go back to building a oyster bed reef like a barrier island to brunt the storms during high weather seasons for hurricanes. 

This is an involved subject. Knowing this, how do you feel that a group of people running around in the woods is trying to solve our problems?

On behalf of the trees, they are a little salty about this.

~Courtesy of the AOFH~

If you would be interested in a class, click the link: 

https://www.clemson.edu/extension/living-shorelines/training-education/

The Living Shoreline course is designed to teach participants all about living shorelines in estuarine environments, and includes information on site assessment, installation materials and methods, and evaluating performance of living shoreline installations. This "hybrid" course combines online learning from self-paced lecture videos, quizzes, and a final exam with face-to-face learning and hands on activities from the field day. Participants will receive an electronic certificate upon successful completion of the online course. 

Try it out!

Sources cited: 

Chester, Jonah. "Hunting for hidden Ghost forests. What SC's spectral woodlands tell us about the future." The Post and Courier/ PeeDee, 19 Mar-1 Apr. 2026, p. B5

Confidentially speaking: A New AI Data Center Approaches

Remember this: When the water is high, it is high. When the water is low it is almost gone. I hope the AI isn't thirsty.

Due to the duck hunter noting he thought the duck pond was a tad dry, it got me to ruminating on water availability in the area, be it from the sky, under ground or coursing through as a natural water body. 

Of course, a new fear is unlocked or hope emerges...

Eagle Myra, LLC (Stream Data Centers) has been approved by the county to build a billion dollar data center in my county that plans to use a closed-loop cooling system which uses up to 43,050 gallons of water per day over six buildings. Like all corporations, they were given the discount treatment due to the approval coming via the Fee-in-Lieu of Taxes agreement that include special source revenue credits for covering the costs of infrastructure. 

The system this company is using is called closed-loop cooling. This closed-loop cooling system doesn't require high volumes of water extraction from local environments. My wee brain googled, what could this mean?

I feel like an owl regurgitating a damn pellet of knowledge and questions. Oh that after taste of biblical answers. This is a complex subject to traverse. 

Yet you can not find the details for this plan on the internet to read. It would appears the use of a code name and a Non-Disclosure Agreement (NDA) with the local officials acknowledging limited public information caused concern with the citizens. Appears shady right out the gate and the company hasn't told them the location or the river that it is going to leach off of. 

I wonder what the environmental impact statement is going to read like. Zoning, environmental impact and infrastructure would have to be addressed throughout its phases to make sure it is up to code. Where or what are the bills that will monitor these conditions?

I decided as a concerned citizen on behalf of environmental stewardship, God-given right to water, water availability, and keeping tabs on the local politicians making decisions based around secrecy, it makes me ponder.

The Council held a public hearing on Ordinance #2026-01 (Project Liberty) on 2026/01/22, where community members and the Pee Dee Lynches Riverkeepers raised concerns about the river drainage and water competition. 

I googled the County Minutes. There are more to come. The date for these minutes is February 10, 2026:

"Mr. Anthony Bolner, along with his colleague Santiago Escobar representing the developer of the proposed data center within the Marion County Industrial Park. He stated that the project is still operating under confidentiality. Eagle MYRA1, LLC is backed by a long-standing American Data Center development company with more than 26 years of experience designing, building, and operating data center campuses across the United States. Data Center projects like this one represent long-term local investments with development results that are designed to be quiet safe, environmentally responsible neighbors and strong contributors to the local communities in which they operate. At its core, a data center is a clean and secure facility that supports the digital services many of us rely on every day. Unlike heavy industrial uses, data centers do not involve manufacturing chemicals or industrial discharge, and they operate with very limited daily traffic and staffing. From an environmental and infrastructure standpoint, this project has been intentionally designed to minimize impacts. This facility uses a closed-loop cooling system, meaning there is no daily water consumption for cooling and no cooling-related discharge. Water use is limited to basic domestic needs, similar to a small office building, and there is no impact to groundwater or surrounding agricultural operations. Noise impacts are also minimal. Mechanical equipment is enclosed or screened, emergency generators operate only during limited testing or outages, and the site layout incorporates setbacks and buffers to further protect nearby properties. The developer will fully fund the required electrical infrastructure and utility upgrades, ensuring that no financial burden on existing customers or taxpayers will result from this development. Economically, this project represents a significant long-term investment in Marion County. Each building is projected to contribute at least $12-14 million per year to the County’s tax base, providing meaningful, sustained support for public services while also creating permanent, well paying local jobs. Mr. Bolner stated that Eagle MYRA1, LLC is committed to being a responsible, transparent partner, one that invests in Marion County, protects its natural resources, and delivers long-term economic benefits while remaining a clean, safe, and low-impact neighbor. Councilman Floyd appointed Mr. David Owens to the Marion County Zoning and Appeals Board. Motion was made by Councilman Rogers to appoint the County Administrator, David Crotts, to the Pee Dee Regional Council of Governments Board. The motion was seconded by Councilman Foxworth and carried unanimously. Minutes, February 10, 2026, Page 6 Motion was made by Councilman Foxworth, seconded by Councilman Gilchrist, and carried unanimously, to go into executive session for a legal briefing -Watford vs Marion County/CPST (Capital Sales Tax) matter. Motion was made by Councilman Foxworth, seconded by Councilman Gilchrist, and carried unanimously, to close executive session and reopen the regular meeting. Chairman Tennie stated that no action was taken during executive session called for a legal briefing -Watford vs Marion County/CPST (Capital Sales Tax) matter. Motion was made by Councilman Gilchrist that on February 24th, a meeting will be held at 6:00 pm, and on February 26th, a meeting will be held at 9:00 am, to identify any questions that the citizens may have regarding the data center. Chairman Tennie stated that, as a Council, they came up with two (2) dates. He stated that the County is doing its best to get the information across to the citizens of Marion County about the data center. The motion was seconded by Councilman Foxworth and carried unanimously. There being no further business to discuss motion was made by Councilman Foxworth, seconded by Councilman Floyd, to adjourn the meeting at approximately: 12:53 PM."

You can always depend on the local county government to either throw you under the bus on issues, address the issues, or the odious but expected sound of crickets. They are the first line of offense to sell out the community with the promise of something greater. 

For future reference this statement says it has a low impact on natural resources as a transparent partner, yet everything is confidential? Side-eyes.

                                          Photography by  Adam Zubek-Nizol

It would appear if you have no educational meetings addressing citizen concern, an online PDF to read about the project, or other tools to address questions and concerns by the locals, it would be expected that the company would have some sort of pushback? Better to educate constituents on the process that the AI data center would be utilizing than to leave them in the dark and expect them to do a trust fall after all the shenanigans of the Government, Federal, state, and local since forever. 

Local citizens are concerned about the AI data center usage versus residential and commercial businesses due to times of drought, competition with agricultural needs, and water table dropping. We still have to deal with the damming of water Upstate since the floods. There is the statement this facility is not suppose to impact residents electric and water bills. We will see.

The burning question here is: If you come to the table with secrecy, an NDA, and claims to be a transparent partner, with no data, how do you expect anyone to greet you with open arms and great expectations? What does this mean for the natural environment and where is your data? Are you collecting impact data? You want to use the land, the river, the water, and that has occupants of Nature that can't speak for themselves. 

We, as constituents, are among those living in this ecosystem that we speak of and can be just as affected by poor water quality, system malfunctions that could pollute the areas and impact wetlands that we go hunting on for duck, deer, hog, alligator, and fish out the rivers where heavy metals are already an issue. Now we have to worry about stormwater runoff impacting water, soil, and air quality in local habitats. Yet, is is implied that this facility is low use but if not managed correctly could impact wetlands and surround communities and farmland. Farmland in itself has become problematic due to real estate agents selling large tracts for cul-de-sac and elderly farmers being preyed upon by those types of people because they see a better vision for the property that doesn't include you living on it. To the nursing home with you.

With new business types such as the AI data centers, new regulations have to be formed to address special considerations for the possible fallout from its existence. One particular legislation is SC HB 4583, which mandates closed-loop systems and required data centers to report surface and groundwater usage for projects impacting sensitive areas. 

Swinging back around to natural habitat impacts and water availability when it comes to the forest, swamp, and byways, what could be so concerning?

Drought vulnerability, ecosystem disturbance and destruction, noise and light pollution and regional context.

We live on a living plane requiring water for living things to flourish. In the face of drought, those creatures and plants can't get the nutrients that feed them and become at-risk species. Animal, plant, fair or foul thing could disappear because we elected to keep our data contained or protected in a structure that shares an environment. Data doesn't care about the outside world. It is data. If there is a considerable uptake of water then that means more fires on the landscape. There may not be enough to grow crops to feed people, or your hunting harvests. You might not be able to buy corn to bait with because its not viable in the face of water scarcity. 

Indigenous people have been screaming and fighting on this topic for years, yet here we are. Mind-boggling.

While we focus on the local struggle, what kind of impact are these centers going to have on the larger area? Now you have to plot the locations of all these data centers by a water source and while they are running simultaneously, collectively what would there impact be?

Considering ecosystem disturbances, stormwater runoff and sediment entering waterways could affect hydrology and water quality. 

Noise and light pollution is to be expected. The cooling fans and security lights could disrupt humans and animals but at this point people are afraid to go with a light source, day or night. The next county over has become so over grown with human habitation that it lights up the sky from fifty miles away and disturbs the constellations in the sky. 

Larger data centers in the state are procuring stricter mitigation plans and required to report for all the incoming data centers.

It is concerning. When you have lived a long time to watch fifty miles one way get mowed down for the sake of industry and growth, you wonder is it all worth it if it is all gone. The green turns to grey and that is sad to think about.

Upcoming Public Meetings in Marion County at the Marion County Administration Building (2523 East Highway 76)

March 26, 2026  Thursday  Regular meeting 7:00 pm

April 14, 2026  Tuesday   Regular meeting 9:00 pm

April 23, 2026  Thursday  Regular meeting 7:00 pm 

There are several bills currently moving through the SC State House to create a state-level permitting process for data centers that are currently being handled by local governance.  

The following are proposed bills:

Proposed Moratorium (H.5286)

Introduced in 3/2026, this bill would temporarily halt final approvals for new data center projects until 2028, to include rezoning and building permits to allow for more environmental impact research. 

Data Center Development Act (S.867)

This bill would establish a new office within the Department of Environmental Services (DES) to oversee siting. It would require

efficiency mandates used for closed-loop cooling systems to recycle water than draw from local sources and ratepayer protections that require data centers to pay 100 percent of their infrastructure costs or prevent residential utility bill increases. 

Data Center Responsibility Act (H.4583)

This is a strict proposal that would require facilities to be energy independent and maintaining $50 million in environmental liability insurance and generating 100% of power on-site. 

Water Usage Transparency (S.724)

This bill requires any commercial data center consuming over 3 million gallons of water /month to report its usage annually to the state. 

After watching what corporations and government has been doing, you can't trust anything, especially the intentions of others. So bring on the regulations I say. 

The world is filled with data and now we have become hoarders of that data. But why?

These are useful links to help you start your AI learning journey.

Useful Substacks

https://samueleburns.substack.com/p/solar-farms-in-marion-county-the?utm_source=share&utm_medium=android&r=6i708h&triedRedirect=true&_src_ref=google.com

Ground Water Monitoring Network

https://des.sc.gov/programs/bureau-water/hydrology/groundwater-program/groundwater-level-monitoring-network

The Pond is Dry and other Conundrums

                                                      Photography by Yulia Gapeenko

 

Remember this: Migratory birds fly for miles. They remember and learn what to avoid. So do I.

Lately, life has been a distraction from my conservation efforts due to other people's health conditions. Today, I sat down and tried to review what the mind should be preoccupied with. 

Basically for me, being nosy and writing.

A duck hunter who previously rented land to peruse stopped me in the local store and informed me that he rented but didn't go on the property because the pond was dry. Its not even migratory fowl season and people are looking for perfection. I thought about this. How would he know if he didn't go on the property? I went on the property and took photos months ago. During the one day snow storm, I trucked back into the woods and took photos of the frozen pond and the water in the duck pond that was frozen as well. The reason for this is to make sure there was a hole in the ice on the sump pond so the gases would not build up in the water and form dire consequences. The ice thawed out in that week so it wasn't a long freeze. 

The concept for most endeavors that I do when it comes to habitat construction and maintenance is to let it take its natural course. I guess people expect me to fill nature's duck bathtub up for them? 

Maybe I should toss in some decoys?

I began to have thoughts on water economy and scarcity. It has been on my mind since I heard about the projected AI data center in my county reported by local news. Ergo, its shroud in secrecy so I expect there to be something else going on in those six buildings. 

Now I got a disillusioned duck hunter, a dry pond, a drought of some sorts, and a data center looming in the distant future. 

Here I was thinking of buying some duck eggs and hatching them. Let no good intention go to pot. 

Its not bad enough I have to see the influx of deer into my county because the county over is so overrun with humans, buildings and their activities that the deer are now trying to hide across county lines. It looks like an alien invasion at night. I feel sorry for the deer because all the hunters do is drive around day and night trying to figure out how they can capitalize on watching a herd of ruminants get jammed up in a small area of farm and woodland. The pressure on them is incredible. Yet on rolls the wheels of progress, right over us all. 

Its a struggle. I am waiting on people to complain we need a killing because the deer are pooping in their yard. I have actually heard this non-sense from a person that was trying to request a permit to snipe them off her property. Wasted meat, what a shame.

Those deer's only crime was existence and having to have a bowel movement. Can you imagine what her thoughts were on human beings. 

It is more of a pain in the posterior when you are trying to manage a location that is a breeding ground for those little 20 lb sukies the hunters with their kids indiscriminating go out an shoot because everyone needs to have an experience. They won't even allow them to have a moments piece with their progeny. Its like the feeling people must have had back in the day when they were smoking bison and stacking them high. I sound so bitter. Guess I am?

                                                 Photography by Hamim Fadillah

I am not even gonna get into the other raging disappoint in my life when it comes to agencies that fall short of grace, character, and valor to be a bunch of punk barney's running around in the woods. All they are about is the bottom line.  

The plan is to go assess the situation and figure out if I can improve it but unless the tears of God fall from the sky, I don't expect a surplus of water to fill a hole in the ground to fulfill another person's expectations.

Holy Punctuation!

Remember this: At the changing of the Guard of the Great Blogger, sometimes you have to watch out for the data running off the rails. 

If you have read my previous posts, you will see it has been littered with poor punctuation, etc. Due to Blogger changing with its updates to the programming and algorithm, there are times the format goes out of correction and turns into a diabolical nightmare for anyone with pet peeves on correct grammar. Even the font has to be sassy. 

So apologies for that. 

Grammar and punctuation ghosts start popping up left and right. Since the Dark Ages of Me on this platform, there are gap years when I fell into Corporate slavery, hunting melancholy, and my life path ran across many states. Those were the Dark Ages along with malicious mystery bad actors that searched for me high and low and branded me a Criminal since the Third Grade! 

As eyes are reading, I am going back to those and correcting them. 

Thank you in advance.

~Courtesy of the AOFH~

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