The Loss of A Great Environmentalist

[Ariadne]

I'm just reeling from this news ... did anyone else know him?

"The 33-year professor [Dixon Thompson, 64] of environmental science at the University of Calgary's faculty of environmental design had scaled mountain peaks around the world, but it was a freak mishap that led to his death.
...
"The focus of his life was to ensure other people got to enjoy the wilderness."
Thompson's passion for climbing took him on treks to peaks around the world, including a Mount Everest expedition in 1988.
Friend Mel Wilson said Thompson dedicated his life to protecting the environment and to supporting his students, many of whom are now practising his teachings in private industry or the public sector.
"He was a man who simply wanted to make the world a better place," Wilson told dozens of colleagues and friends who attended the memorial."

http://www.canada.com/vancouversun/....html?id=a89f489e-336d-4ecb-865d-6cbe403cd043

 

[tamarin]

Amazing story! And a real tragedy. Makes you wonder if we all do have a time and one day it just arrives. The incident leading to his death makes me think too if he had bathed the scrape shortly after he had received it if that would have made a difference. Or, as many would do, applied a little hydrogen peroxide, if that would have sufficed. To die after a scrape! Given his background, he'd had plenty. Still would a little simple prevention have worked in this case?

 

[Ariadne]

Amazing story! And a real tragedy. Makes you wonder if we all do have a time and one day it just arrives. The incident leading to his death makes me think too if he had bathed the scrape shortly after he had received it if that would have made a difference. Or, as many would do, applied a little hydrogen peroxide, if that would have sufficed. To die after a scrape! Given his background, he'd had plenty. Still would a little simple prevention have worked in this case?

This guy was amazing. His brother was a medical doctor (passed away a couple of years ago). He had a phd in chemistry but growing up on a farm, may not have taken cuts seriously. I'm wondering whether it started in his left shin, where there were a lot of dead nerves from reconstructive knee surgery ... that maybe he didn't feel it until it got a good hold on him. Definitely a little prevention should have worked ... what a loss. Here's a little more about him: http://www.ucalgary.ca/oncampus/weekly/feb4-05/dixon-thompson.html

 

[L Gilbert]

Cool guy, mid-sixties is too young.
Um, H2O2 does wonders. Everything from cankers in my mouth (gone within 2 days) to scratches and scrapes. Won't use soap on my cutting board so I pour some H2O2 on it, rub it in a bit, then wipe it all down. No soapy taste on food and, like "Raid", it kills bugs dead. It's also one of the ingredients to get rid of skunk odor.

 

[Ariadne]

Cool guy, mid-sixties is too young.
Um, H2O2 does wonders. Everything from cankers in my mouth (gone within 2 days) to scratches and scrapes. Won't use soap on my cutting board so I pour some H2O2 on it, rub it in a bit, then wipe it all down. No soapy taste on food and, like "Raid", it kills bugs dead. It's also one of the ingredients to get rid of skunk odor.

He and I bumped heads quite a few times, but he was a good guy. He was rather meticulous, even in his own home, so I don't think he made any big mistake in caring for the cut. The only possibility is that he was in the middle of a move and maybe was tired and ignored it, or didn't feel it, and it got the better of him. This is a guy that wore ironed khakis.

Part of me is thinking "internationally reknowned environmentalist killed by common strep bacteria", or "death by moving box", because I can't help but joke about difficult emotional things.

 

[L Gilbert]

Yeah, I know what you mean. I almost commented in my last post about a firefighter I knew would think nothing of wandering into a blaze. Died while out water skiing. Took a tumble and a ski hit him in the head. Always kinda expected him to go into a blaze and end up being a crispy. Water , water everywhere, but fire wasn't the problem.

 

[Ariadne]

Yeah, I know what you mean. I almost commented in my last post about a firefighter I knew would think nothing of wandering into a blaze. Died while out water skiing. Took a tumble and a ski hit him in the head. Always kinda expected him to go into a blaze and end up being a crispy. Water , water everywhere, but fire wasn't the problem.

I guess it's one of the great ironies of life. I'm just thinking about what it is that I am good at so I might anticipate my own method of demise.

 

[RomSpaceKnight]

A tragic loss> We could do with more educators and good examples like him.

I've been in car wrecks, motorcycle crashes and involved in heavy equipment smash ups. Plus survived a heart attack and been attacked by a psycho guy off his meds with a bottle. A paper cut is liable to be my undoing.

All cuts and scrapes should be immediately looked at. At a minimum given a good cleaning with hot soapy water. i carry a scar from being scratched lightly by a turkey. It barely broke the skin and yet got just slightly infected and I now have a white scar on my forearm. I've had worse cuts and scrapes heal just fine with no scarring.

The use or overuse of bleaches and antiseptics is a contributing factor to the creation of superbugs. What does not die from our half arsed attempts to sterilize grows up with immunities to our chemicals. Hospitals are the worst places for superbugs. When I was in hospital for my heart attack I contracted "thresh". It is a fungus that grows on your tongue. It is a weak fungus and can only get a grip when not threatened by other organisms like in a super clean hospital environment. Or so I was told.

 

[L Gilbert]

Chemicals? Everything that isn't some form of energy is chemicals. H2O2 breaks down into water after the extra oxygen wanders off.
But, you have a pount with trying to rid ourselves of bugs entirely. Besides, it's impossible to get rid of them all and part of the ttime ridding ourselves of a bad bug ends up being the demise of a beneficial bug, too.

 

[Ariadne]

A tragic loss> We could do with more educators and good examples like him.

I've been in car wrecks, motorcycle crashes and involved in heavy equipment smash ups. Plus survived a heart attack and been attacked by a psycho guy off his meds with a bottle. A paper cut is liable to be my undoing.

All cuts and scrapes should be immediately looked at. At a minimum given a good cleaning with hot soapy water. i carry a scar from being scratched lightly by a turkey. It barely broke the skin and yet got just slightly infected and I now have a white scar on my forearm. I've had worse cuts and scrapes heal just fine with no scarring.

The use or overuse of bleaches and antiseptics is a contributing factor to the creation of superbugs. What does not die from our half arsed attempts to sterilize grows up with immunities to our chemicals. Hospitals are the worst places for superbugs. When I was in hospital for my heart attack I contracted "thresh". It is a fungus that grows on your tongue. It is a weak fungus and can only get a grip when not threatened by other organisms like in a super clean hospital environment. Or so I was told.

He was a very tough guy and intimidated some of the secretaries sometimes, just by his demanding nature, but in terms of promoting the environment, he was amongst the best. One day we were in the elevator together and he was ranting and raving about some cyclist that was on the slippery, slushy road while he was trying to drive his mercedes (yes, he became more environmentally conscientious about cars since then) to work ... it was me. I could only nod and smile and agree that those bad cyclists shouldn't be on the road in that bad weather.

Children sometimes get thrush because of antibiotics because it kills the natural bacteria that takes care of stuff like that. It sounds like you've survived some of the worst so did you ever watch Dead Like Me? I love that show because of the creative ways they have people die. Perhaps you'll be hit in the head by a toilet seat that fell out of a satellite.

 

[MikeyDB]

Hey Hey Hey there....

There's still a lot of spunk in some of us even later than mid-sixtyish guys!

 

[Ariadne]

Hey Hey Hey there....

There's still a lot of spunk in some of us even later than mid-sixtyish guys!

This guy definitely had spunk. He was driving the mercedes long before he climbed Everest (I think he was still torn between economic status and environment) ... so he was most likely moody that day. He came up to me one day in the middle of the University cafeteria and loudly announced that I was expected at a meeting at 1 pm and Friday afternoon martinis were not on the agenda so ... and then the evil eye. I'm going to miss him ... I already do.