Think I'll leave much of this to my brilliant grandchildren. We don't over-consume, drive effcient cars. I just had a much more efficient a/c unit installed cuz mine was hit by lightening.
My oldest grandson who aced his freshman yr at MIT is looking forward to studying special relativity and electronic music composition next semester. His sister is preparing her portfolio for art school as a senior. My other grandson is severely handicapped by floppy cerebral palsy; he is now 15 and has been doing calculus in his head for years. He will go to GA TECH and who knows what he will do. And so it goes with alll my grandchildren. They are our future for me.
I'm not worried.
I don't like strip mining because it destroys whole ecologies in the here and now.
Idiots sometimes, but not always prevail. I watch elderly neighbors separate out plastic for trash pick-up. I conserve water by never running small loads in the washer or dishwasher--my water bill is covered by my condo complex.
I'm leary of this "fracturing" to pull gas and oil because it probably contaminates water supply and heaven knows what else.
Let us be vigilant and watchful, but also hopeful and joyous.
Well, Jane, the big problem is not really what you or I or anyone else in the US does.
The big problem is: how to you develop the economies of China and India and Brazil and so on, without them rising to the same levels of per capita fossil fuel consumption we have here (or even in Europe, who are considerably ahead of us in conservation efforts). That is frightening.
But hey, not meaning any disrespect, but you and I (and Mr. Rick Perry who's not far apart from us in age) can afford to be joyful, we won't be around to see the worst effects of what is going on.
Hi Templar
The newscasters keep telling us we need more engineers !!! ;)
The big picture is the name of the game. I forgot..................really.
Think I'll leave much of this to my brilliant grandchildren. We don't over-consume, drive effcient cars. I just had a much more efficient a/c unit installed cuz mine was hit by lightening.
My oldest grandson who aced his freshman yr at MIT is looking forward to studying special relativity and electronic music composition next semester. His sister is preparing her portfolio for art school as a senior. My other grandson is severely handicapped by floppy cerebral palsy; he is now 15 and has been doing calculus in his head for years. He will go to GA TECH and who knows what he will do. And so it goes with alll my grandchildren. They are our future for me.
I'm not worried.
I don't like strip mining because it destroys whole ecologies in the here and now.
Idiots sometimes, but not always prevail. I watch elderly neighbors separate out plastic for trash pick-up. I conserve water by never running small loads in the washer or dishwasher--my water bill is covered by my condo complex.
I'm leary of this "fracturing" to pull gas and oil because it probably contaminates water supply and heaven knows what else.
Let us be vigilant and watchful, but also hopeful and joyous.
Well, Jane, the big problem is not really what you or I or anyone else in the US does.
The big problem is: how to you develop the economies of China and India and Brazil and so on, without them rising to the same levels of per capita fossil fuel consumption we have here (or even in Europe, who are considerably ahead of us in conservation efforts). That is frightening.
But hey, not meaning any disrespect, but you and I (and Mr. Rick Perry who's not far apart from us in age) can afford to be joyful, we won't be around to see the worst effects of what is going on.
That was really interesting stuff about horse manure. And I'm sure it was a problem back then.
(Have you ever noticed that, in costume movies, when they have shots of the cobblestone streets of English or American towns in the 18th or 19th centuries, you never see any manure in those streets? They are always perfectly clean. I always find that so amusing.)
So, yes, obviously if you use horses as your main mode of transportation, manure would be a problem.
But, still, the use of fossil fuels didn't solve the problem, did it? Horse manure could be used on the fields as fertiliser, couldn't it? You can't do that with petrol. (Or can you? I wouldn't be surprised if the big oil companies didn't have some way of using their product in people's food.)
I think as far as human quality of life goes fossil fuels are a great improvement over the horse transportation.
Yes you can do stuff with the manure but there was so much manure that you could not really make a dent with it.
Have you ever noticed that, in costume movies, when they have shots of the cobblestone streets of English or American towns in the 18th or 19th centuries, you never see any manure in those streets? They are always perfectly clean. I always find that so amusing.
You'd be surprised actually. The streets of well-to-do areas in England were often quite clean because the tannermen (leatherworkers) used horse manure somehow in their work and would often employ children to go around collecting manure for them.
Horse manure could be used on the fields as fertiliser, couldn't it?
Yes, to an extent. Back when farm machinery was drawn by big drayhorses, it would have been quite common to mix their dung into the soil as fertiliser. What you couldn't do was just leave a sea of horse dung on top of the soil and expect your crops to come up.
You can't do that with petrol. (Or can you? I wouldn't be surprised if the big oil companies didn't have some way of using their product in people's food.)
Not petrol itself but a quick Google says that certain petrol by-products are sometimes used as fertiliser.
He who oppresses the poor shows contempt for their Maker, but whoever is kind to the needy honors God. ~ Proverbs 14:31
That was really interesting stuff about horse manure. And I'm sure it was a problem back then.
(Have you ever noticed that, in costume movies, when they have shots of the cobblestone streets of English or American towns in the 18th or 19th centuries, you never see any manure in those streets? They are always perfectly clean. I always find that so amusing.)
So, yes, obviously if you use horses as your main mode of transportation, manure would be a problem.
But, still, the use of fossil fuels didn't solve the problem, did it? Horse manure could be used on the fields as fertiliser, couldn't it? You can't do that with petrol. (Or can you? I wouldn't be surprised if the big oil companies didn't have some way of using their product in people's food.)
Not to worry, What humanity does is a fart in a hurricane.
Every few centuries a catastrophic volcanic eruption occours and the global temperature drops a few degrees and a minature ice age happens. It happened in 1815 with Tamboro, it'll happen again.
I'd welcome that. It may be the only way to get my kohlrabi to grow properly.
We're between Ice Ages, eventually those glaciers will chase us all to the tropics!
For those who have faith, no explanation is neccessary. For those who have no faith, no explanation is possible.
St. Thomas Aquinas
If one turns his ear from hearing the Law, even his prayer is an abomination. Proverbs 28:9
Here is another cause for optimism - because I am annoying and pollyana-ish that way:
Matt Ridley
On an average wage today, half a second of work will pay for an hour of light. In 1950, the average wage earner worked eight seconds to run a conventional filament lamp; in 1880, 15 seconds of work was needed for a kerosene lamp; and more than six hours of work for an hour of light by tallow candle in the 1800s. In 1750BC, your average ancient Babylonian needed to work more than 50 hours to get an hour of light from a sesame oil lamp. That 43,200-fold improvement, says Ridley, signifies "the currency that counts, your time."
