colormyworld
Brilliant_Rock
- Joined
- Aug 30, 2005
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- 1,172
global warming is real
- Thread starter partgypsy
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Me! We adopted our little byway and clean it up as needed. Don''t get me started about littering. We keep too separate bags. The bag for recycle fill up the quickest.
. On our twice annual clean up we can fill up BAGS.
And, during hunting season, the garbage discarded on the side of the road doubles. Makes me wonder about hunters and their respect for the environment.
How many of you so called "environmentalists" smoke? You are poisioning the air around you - not even to mention the cigarette butts that seem to be home on the side of the road instead of properly being disposed.
This may not directly effect the planet - but goes to intent of one''s surroundings and leaving it clean for others. A HUGE pet peeve are people who don''t place their shopping carts in the correct dispositories. They just leave them in the middle of the parking spot or go through herculean efforts to ditch them on the grass.
To me, it''s all about respect for the next person coming along. Kinda how I view the planet.
Another thing - it seems like in our disposable society - conserving/recycling/getting the most use of things/items, etc is considered cheap. It''s a mind set that has to be changed.
How many of you so called "environmentalists" smoke? You are poisioning the air around you - not even to mention the cigarette butts that seem to be home on the side of the road instead of properly being disposed.
This may not directly effect the planet - but goes to intent of one''s surroundings and leaving it clean for others. A HUGE pet peeve are people who don''t place their shopping carts in the correct dispositories. They just leave them in the middle of the parking spot or go through herculean efforts to ditch them on the grass.
Another thing - it seems like in our disposable society - conserving/recycling/getting the most use of things/items, etc is considered cheap. It''s a mind set that has to be changed.
poptart
Brilliant_Rock
- Joined
- May 23, 2006
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- 1,899
ME! I just got an internship to help with the Earth Day Festival in my city, and after that I am going to work for an environmental agency. I also use energy saving light bulbs and use only a little electricity. Luckily we live in VA Beach, and the insulation is great in our apt, so I haven''t turned on the heat even once this winter! And I''m not a vegan, but I try to cut a little meat out of my diet which is supposed to save energy because it takes less work to transport vegetables than it does to do everything that is needed to get the meat from the farm to the store. I recycle, which is good, but is difficult because we don''t have a recycle bin in our complex so it has to be driven either to my husband''s base or my school. And as soon as it finally warms up again (as in above thirty degrees), my friend and I are going to go back to the beach and pick up the litter that people have left from camping and drinking on the beach. One thing I need to do and am guilty of is not using canvas bags when I go shopping, so I have to use plastic bags, which is not good.
PS Good idea to start this, Storm!
*M*
PS Good idea to start this, Storm!
*M*
- Joined
- Nov 7, 2004
- Messages
- 6,632
Storm, Fire&Ice, and poptart, commend you on various ways to conserve!
Myself, a mixed bag. Both my husband and I live close to where we work, so he often rides his bike to work, and I (1/3 time?) take the bus or walk to or from my job. I want to do this more when it gets warmer out. We only use one car. My husband is working at a restaurant which is uses local ingredients, and we are trying to learn more about that aspect well. Was part of a community garden, but in retrospect a bit of a wash with the amount of work and watering/etc it consumed. Trying to eat less meat. On the down side we have an old house. We have insulated the attic but the house is still leaky as heck.
I definitely don''t want the global warming thing to be a divisive, political issue. If the global warming label is too worrisome, maybe we can all agree that we should help conserve our nation''s natural resources so there will be something left for our children and grandchildren.
Myself, a mixed bag. Both my husband and I live close to where we work, so he often rides his bike to work, and I (1/3 time?) take the bus or walk to or from my job. I want to do this more when it gets warmer out. We only use one car. My husband is working at a restaurant which is uses local ingredients, and we are trying to learn more about that aspect well. Was part of a community garden, but in retrospect a bit of a wash with the amount of work and watering/etc it consumed. Trying to eat less meat. On the down side we have an old house. We have insulated the attic but the house is still leaky as heck.
I definitely don''t want the global warming thing to be a divisive, political issue. If the global warming label is too worrisome, maybe we can all agree that we should help conserve our nation''s natural resources so there will be something left for our children and grandchildren.
strmrdr
Super_Ideal_Rock
- Joined
- Nov 1, 2003
- Messages
- 23,295
Very true.
I grew up in a house where nothing was thrown away until it was beyond any use.
Ice cream buckets became flower planters, butter tubs became storage and seed starting containers.
Now im a pack rat and it shows LOL
There are a lot of little things that can be done that adds up.
But where I divide out from some is that it also has to be practical.
For example the freon ban was a very good idea but the replacements have been found to be as bad in other ways.
And at them time what do you tell a 80 year old lady when you cant patch her air-conditioner and refill it because the freon isn''t available and she don''t have $700 for a new one? (in that case take up a collection to buy her one but most were not that lucky)
Or a 2 year old freezer went to the dump for lack of freon.
and many other things.
After a while enough recycled freon became available to help solve it somewhat but at the time it hurt a lot of people and the ones most hurt where the ones that could least afford it.
A little more smarts and a little more compassion in how it was implemented would have went a long way towards gaining support for future actions.
Right now you have millions that were hurt by it that will never support another change.
Cehrabehra
Super_Ideal_Rock
- Joined
- Jun 29, 2006
- Messages
- 11,071
I think it has to do in part with looking wealthy... some people wouldn''t dream of planting something in a butter tub lest the neighbors look down their nose... and since you have money - DISPOSE! and buy that french porcelin pot that matches your decor - this year. Next year that will be in the dump or at good will along with the butter tub and a new porcelin pot will be in its place.
This touches on what I brought up a few months ago when I talked about guilt in throwing away stained clothes. Case in point: My boys - their socks are really brown and getting a little threadbare but no holes. I know I can replace them all for less than $20 and I have it no problem to spend... but the socks they have cover their feet, keep them warm, and they work! Their toes aren''t sticking out... but bleach doesn''t work for them anymore... they''re grungy. Every time I do laundry I think geeeez I want to get them some new socks... and then every time at the store I think, they don''t NEED them because the ones they have WORK and anyone who cares about the grungy color of their socks is a superficial twit who doesn''t have a worthy opinion on the subject anyway. When the shirts get holes I don''t mind ragging them.... but the stains bother me - I don''t want to throw them away - they WORK but this other fashion conscious part of me thinks - oh no, must have beautious clean clothing. It is not a money thing. I have other things I waste money on.... but for some reason clothing is the one thing that I just have such a hard time with being a disposable consumer - especially since I know these clothes are likely made by child slaves in other countries. How can I just throw what they''ve given me in their time blood sweat and tears away because it is soiled and more than likely they''d love to have it themselves.
I feel like such a hypocrite at times... I can be very wasteful as well. I hate fashion, I hate consumerism, I hate disposable living... and yet I have paper plates and throw away food that has gone bad in the fridge. The hypocritical part of myself that I hate the most is the part that actually doesn''t hate fashion... I WANT my kids to have clean white socks and be able to throw the grungy ones away without guilt... but it just seems like one little thing I can do to fight off the disposable lifestyle...
hlmr
Ideal_Rock
- Joined
- Oct 21, 2004
- Messages
- 2,872
Littering is lazy, inconsiderate and just plain disgusting! We have an annual neighbourhood clean up in the spring, and the worst offenders by far are the people who fish in our area. They leave their trash everywhere!!! Pathetic! Seeing someone throwing garbage out of a car window makes my blood boil too.Date: 2/7/2007 8:44:49 AM
Author: fire&ice
Me! We adopted our little byway and clean it up as needed. Don''t get me started about littering. We keep too separate bags. The bag for recycle fill up the quickest.. On our twice annual clean up we can fill up BAGS.And, during hunting season, the garbage discarded on the side of the road doubles. Makes me wonder about hunters and their respect for the environment.
It''s really a shame that time and energy needs to be directed towards debating whether global warming actually exists. We certainly can''t do anything about the sun getting hotter, but we can do something about polluting the planet. I will continue to do what I can to be respectful of mother earth and the rest of her creatures. What will come, will come and we will either adapt, or not.
FireGoddess
Super_Ideal_Rock
- Joined
- Jan 25, 2005
- Messages
- 12,145
ME! Haven''t used the heat once this winter....used blankets instead. DH complained but it wasn''t exactly like we froze solid. Yes the house was cold but for the time we''re in it...the blankets and flannels did just fine. I also recycle everything...newspaper, the cardboard rolls from tp and paper towels, all paper and cardboard products, anything plastic that is recyclable, including grocery store plastic bags on the occasions I don''t have my canvas bags in the trunk. I rent, so I can''t do anything about the appliances we have but I do as much as I can with what I can change (lightbulbs, etc). I also carpool whenever humanly possible. I have done litter patrol (beach, roadside) as well. And I try to buy local as much as possible. Every little bit helps.
ME! we live in wisconsin and well we need to use heat! but even with the below zero we keep our temp no higher than 65 and at night we shut it off. we cover our windows in plastic to try to prevent cold drafts and to keep the heat in. We are reserching "on demand" hot water heaters, and looking into solar pannels.
http://www.citizenre.com/web/index.php
I know i am personally going to join the effort on 4/14, here is a little blip about it and the website!
This April 14th, tens of thousands of Americans will gather all across the country at meaningful, iconic places to call for action on climate change. We will hike, climb, walk, swim, kayak, canoe, or simply sit or stand with banners of our call to action: "to step it up congress, and cut carbon by 80% by 2050"
http://www.stepitup2007.org/
http://www.citizenre.com/web/index.php
I know i am personally going to join the effort on 4/14, here is a little blip about it and the website!
This April 14th, tens of thousands of Americans will gather all across the country at meaningful, iconic places to call for action on climate change. We will hike, climb, walk, swim, kayak, canoe, or simply sit or stand with banners of our call to action: "to step it up congress, and cut carbon by 80% by 2050"
http://www.stepitup2007.org/
poptart
Brilliant_Rock
- Joined
- May 23, 2006
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- 1,899
treysar
Brilliant_Rock
- Joined
- Jun 5, 2004
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- 964
strmrdr
Super_Ideal_Rock
- Joined
- Nov 1, 2003
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anchor31
Ideal_Rock
- Joined
- Oct 18, 2005
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- 7,074
Me! I study ecology and environment conservation... I worked last summer informing people about environmental issues, including global warming, and it was great! I learned loads too.
I reuse and recycle everything... I also compost (yup, in the middle of Montreal... if anyone''s interested in learned of how "city compost", let me know). Since I''m in the city, I prefer using public transportation and don''t own a car; I''m also very conscious of energy conservation.
Something I believe everyone should do, whether they believe in global warming or not, is to let their cars run on idle as little as possible. Wastes gas, money, and is very harmful to the environment (and public health!)... 50 minutes of idle spends one liter of gas and releases one kilo of CO2 in the atmosphere. I don''t have the data for the US, but if every Canadian reduced the time their car ran on idle by 5 minutes every day, it would save 680 million of liters of gas and would reduce CO2 emissions by 1.6 million tons per year, which is the equivalent of 490 thousand cars removed from circulation. Sorry for using the metric system, but it should give you an idea. The data comes from Natural Ressources Canada, if anyone is wondering.
Whether you believe in global warming or not (as a biologist I find it hard to believe that some people still don''t see it, but it''s not my point), everyone should be concerned with the wellfare of our planet and its inhabitants.
I reuse and recycle everything... I also compost (yup, in the middle of Montreal... if anyone''s interested in learned of how "city compost", let me know). Since I''m in the city, I prefer using public transportation and don''t own a car; I''m also very conscious of energy conservation.
Something I believe everyone should do, whether they believe in global warming or not, is to let their cars run on idle as little as possible. Wastes gas, money, and is very harmful to the environment (and public health!)... 50 minutes of idle spends one liter of gas and releases one kilo of CO2 in the atmosphere. I don''t have the data for the US, but if every Canadian reduced the time their car ran on idle by 5 minutes every day, it would save 680 million of liters of gas and would reduce CO2 emissions by 1.6 million tons per year, which is the equivalent of 490 thousand cars removed from circulation. Sorry for using the metric system, but it should give you an idea. The data comes from Natural Ressources Canada, if anyone is wondering.
Whether you believe in global warming or not (as a biologist I find it hard to believe that some people still don''t see it, but it''s not my point), everyone should be concerned with the wellfare of our planet and its inhabitants.
bujiatang
Rough_Rock
- Joined
- Feb 22, 2007
- Messages
- 91
Looking out the window of coffee shop waiting for my wife to get off work (we have 1 car and car pool) because the place where I work closed early for the snow, I can''t help but think of the words "meteorolgical chaos." We didn''t have any snow before Christmas, I mean it did not snow till Christmas, I mean we had a dusting on Christmas, in Minneapolis. My Wife and I went for a Christmas morning ride on our Bicycles for giggles. Now there is a full blown blizzard. the Great Interstate 35 is closed deep into Iowa, so are 90 and 169. Crossing the southern half of the state is now officially impossible except on a snowmobile.
Snow is expected in Minnesota but for years we haven''t had any major accumulation. This isn''t odd, light years happen. But when weather patterns change then it should deserve notice.
I think it is irrational to expect the world to stay the same as it was, because the world is and was dynamic. However, we do not have such plastic expectations of weather and the sea. We keep seeing more powerful hurricanes, the water levels are changing, Lake Superior is 3 feet below where we are used to it being. Eventually these changes are going to effect the human population.
Snow is expected in Minnesota but for years we haven''t had any major accumulation. This isn''t odd, light years happen. But when weather patterns change then it should deserve notice.
I think it is irrational to expect the world to stay the same as it was, because the world is and was dynamic. However, we do not have such plastic expectations of weather and the sea. We keep seeing more powerful hurricanes, the water levels are changing, Lake Superior is 3 feet below where we are used to it being. Eventually these changes are going to effect the human population.
- Joined
- Aug 12, 2005
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- 19,478
Poptart, did you happen to see the news of PETA''s letter to Al Gore inviting him to become a vegetarian? I saw it on Glen Beck (do not regularly watch him but this story was fascinating to me) tonight...basically PETA''s stance is and has been that much of the greenhouse effect, or global warming, stems from our dependency on eating meat and raising livestock for that reason, worldwide. A little research on anyone''s part will show that autos and their emissions are less of a problem than the livestock industry is, as far as global warming. Anyway, this Beck person said this is the first time he''s ever agree with anything PETA has to say, and even brought up a 400 page study the U.N. came out with last year reinforcing the whole idea that people consuming less meat would be a major help towards the issue of global warming. It''s really very interesting! I''m a vegetarian and had read about this before on the goveg.com website, and it was very satisfying to see this idea brought up in the news. Obviously the issue cannot just be solved by the equation: humans stop eating meat=no more global warming, but it is a thought provoking idea and one that deserves to be looked into by all of us. And honestly, it''s cheap and accessible, much more so than going out and buying a Prius which much of the public cannot afford to do. Vegetables can be grown by anyone with a little dirt and even in small spaces...
poptart
Brilliant_Rock
- Joined
- May 23, 2006
- Messages
- 1,899
Hi Monarch!
I didn''t watch that story, but it sounds interesting. I didn''t know you could invite people to become vegetarian, lol! How did he react to that proposal? I think they should definitely cut back in meat production, as I don''t think we honestly need THAT much meat, since so much food gets thrown out every day. However, speaking of vegetarians and food, I just read an article concerning organic foods. I try to eat only organic, but was reading an article that said it was kind of a catch 22 because it takes more acreage to produce the same amount of food when you don''t use pesticides, so more land is being cleared in order to make the fruits, vegetables, etc. But genetically engineered food makes me pretty nervous...
*M*
- Joined
- Aug 12, 2005
- Messages
- 19,478
It''s funny that first, there is an argument against not using pesticides and producing organic fruits and veggies, and second that the argument is that it takes so much more land, etc., to produce enough organic food...did you know (not just you specifically, Poptart) that the government pays certain "farmers" NOT to grow produce because of the supposed "surplus" in this country? My parents are a prime example. They have 65 acres of land, and the government has always given them a pretty substantial tax break (for the last 22 years out of 28 they''ve lived there) not to grow corn, soybeans, etc. due to there being a surplus. On the surface, the reasoning behind this is so that "real" farmers don''t face the competition of the "amateur" farmer. I don''t know if this is still going on, but I''d be willing to bet it is...
So it has occurred to me now that if there is this argument that growing organic produce somehow takes up more land and isn''t necessarily as profitable, why would the government also continue to give certain landowners a tax break not to farm on their land? Hmmm, I will have to look into this, I think.
So it has occurred to me now that if there is this argument that growing organic produce somehow takes up more land and isn''t necessarily as profitable, why would the government also continue to give certain landowners a tax break not to farm on their land? Hmmm, I will have to look into this, I think.
- Joined
- Nov 7, 2004
- Messages
- 6,632
Thanks for posting the stepitup website. I''ll be one of those participating! To me it all boils down to wondering what kind of world I''m leaving my children, whether we will squander their inheritance, or rise to the occasion to work together to provide a solution. I think it is likely the way we respond (or not) to this threat may very well define our generation (for better or worse).
Heavy. Going to take a break & play with my baby
Heavy. Going to take a break & play with my baby
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