Saving our Planet

Here is our latest contribution to help in saving our planet:

"WASHINGTON (AP) -- The Bush administration, dismissing the recommendations of its top experts, rejected regulating the greenhouse gases blamed for global warming Friday, saying it would cripple the U.S. economy."

So the U.S. economy is not crippled?

It's a classic case of people not wanting to do anything until it's too late. The United States consumes 25% of the world's oil and emits about 25% of the world's greenhouse gases, even though Americans are only about 5% of the global population. Our energy consumption and greenhouse gas emitions are very disporportionate to our population. Americans also own about 30% of the world's cars and an even higher percentage of the world's big cars. Even with gas over $4.00 a gallon, Americans still use an average of more than 880 gallons of gas per driver per year. The average american vehicle gets only 17 miles per gallon and if I remember correctly, that's below the average in a lot of European countries. If that average could be increased to 30 or 40 miles per gallon, think how much fuel we could save and how much we could reduce greenhouse gas output. Another very big source of greenhouse gas emitions are coal and natural gas fired electric powerplants. A coal fired powerplant can emit more than 2,400 tons of greenhouse gases per day! One tree will absorbe about 64 pounds of carbon dioxide a year. It would take about 13,700 trees to offset the carbon dioxide emitions of just one coal fired powerplant and there are hundreds of such powerplants across America. Development of solar and wind energy could help reduce our dependance on fossil fuels for electricity generation and the development of these technologies could create new jobs, which would be helpful to the economy. I think if it's done right, the development of alternative energy could actually help the economy long term. Another thing that would help our economy in the long term is to make credit less easily availible. The easy availibility of credit is one of the major reasons for the collapse of the mortgage market. Also, the average American family has more than $10,000 in credit card debt. I think it is reasonible to use credit to buy a house or a car (not a second car), using credit to buy things like HDTVs, ATVs, RVs, jet skis, snowmobiles, designer cloths, and other unessencial items is an insanity. I think it is best to use credit only for essencial items and to save money to buy non-essencial items. The bottom line is people need to be more responsible with their use of credit.

Gordon,
as usual, your information details are helpful.
As you know, many people will not do anything unless they are forced to do it. Not willing to sacrifice for benefit of mankind is one of the most selfish things I can think of. Leadership that encourages and even promotes self-serving ideals continues to plague our nation.
Our planet is hurt and is suffering. It requires a health care plan. But just as there is resistance to a human plan that cares for everyone, so it is with a plan for our universe.

Seeking one's own benifit at the expense of the planet seems for lack of a better word evil. It is even bad to put the interests of one nation ahead of those of the world at large. Unfortunately, I think a lot of people don't see the big picture or mayby they just don't care. Putting the interests of the economy ahead of the interests of our home planet is very stupid. People worry that if we curb our use of fossil fuels or attempt to restrict our greehouse gas emitions, it will threaten our economy, but if we don't do anything to correct the problem, we might not even have an economy at all in the future. Another problem I've noticed is that people tend to focus too much on growth when it comes to the economy. Instead of growth, I think we should focus on sustainability both for our economy and our planet.

Health Care for our Planet

Smoking was determined to be harmful to one’s health. Then came the second-hand smoking campaigns to ban smoking in public places and that produced results. Little if anything was said about carbon monoxide pollution and the harmful effects to humans, and the harmful effects to our environment was virtually ignored.

Preventive medicine is important. Annual check-ups can detect and prevent
disease. Going to the doctor early saves lives. Unfortunately, people without a health care program, or even those with a program that is so full of deductibles and exclusions, means that many will go to the doctor only when the problem is severe and often non-reversible, leading to death.

Right now our planet is sick. It needs a health care program to reverse the damage already done and medicine to keep it healthy for our future survival. But, just as with human health care, our government doesn’t want to act because it is, “too expensive” and/or “will hurt the economy.”

Preventive care is needed now. When government’s finally realize the need
to act, it may be too late. The damage may be irreversible.

Thanks to Al Gore, there is world attention to this global problem and European governments are already acting. The world’s biggest polluters are dragging their feet and pointing fingers and making excuses, i.e., “if they don’t get on board, why should we act?” Where’s the leadership when it is needed?

We need to speak out. We need to treat those who harm the environment like the smoker was treated. It must begin with us. There is much we can do. I’ve started a list. Can you add to this?

List of things to help reduce the use of
energy – primarily Gas/oil and electricity:

*Turn off lights when not in use.

*Turn off the stand-by lights – they consume much electricity.

*Place heavy drapes over windows to keep out the heat/sun in summer and the cold in winter.

*Use a wash line to dry clothes whenever possible.

*Wash clothes only when the washer is full.

*Drive only when necessary. Planning for shopping can reduce the need
for extra trips.

*Ride a bike or walk when possible.

(Can you add to this list?)

*Reduce, Reuse, Recycle
*Purchase goods that rely on minimal packaging
*Keep your vehicle tuned up with oil changes up to date and tires properly rotated/inflated to reduce energy consumption

Use solar panels to heat your home and water.

Buy only pump style applicators, not aerosol cans.

Take cloth bags to the store for your groceries.

Encourage birds in your garden to eliminate pesticides.

If you receive magazines, donate them when you have read them. Many nursing homes, senior centers etc. will gladly take them.

-Grow your own fruits and vegitables in a garden
-Drive the speed limit (going faster wastes gas)
-Buy locally grown food (takes less fuel to transport)
-Lower your water heater tempreture by a few degrees
-Lower your thermostat by a degree or two in winter and raise it by a degree or two in summer (even one degree of differnce can save a substancial amount of fuel)
-Buy compact fluorescent or LED light bulbs
-Make sure your home is well insulated (up to 30% of energy loss from a home can be the result of insufficient insulation)
-Buy a new furnace (old ones can be 70% efficient or less whereas new ones can be more than 90% efficient)
-Unplug chargers when not in use (they draw power even when they're not being used)
-Buy energy star rated appliances and electronics
-Use the microwave instead of the electric oven (an electric oven can use as much as 12 times or more the energy used by a microwave)
-Make sure your cloths dryer is full when you use it
-Buy rechargable batteries (it cuts down on waste and saves you money in the long term)

Not only do we need to do things on a local, individual level, but we need to also restructure our basis for making economic decisions at the community, state, and national levels. We can't just think of our economy in terms of GDP, but also we must consider our "natural capital." That is, what mother nature has given us. If we do this, then we automatically must incorporate any impacts that may occur to the environment into our thinking and actions.

This is a new and fasicnating way to think of economics, one that several European scientists and economists have been working on. To get a better idea, I did a review on a book that talks about this. It may be of interest.

A Roadmap Towards Sustainability: How to Reach a Sustainable Future.

Great ideas. Keep them coming. We can all learn a few new wrinkles.

Compost anything that will degrade, even if it means burying it in the flower bed!

I have to tell you I have just done my part. We have been without electricity since Friday night at 11:00 PM. Between our house in the woods and a half mile down the road a tornado must have come through. There are millions of trees here, and when we went out Saturday many, many were down with wires among them. The electricity went on about an hour ago.

We did all right, but I am grateful to those power people.

We all need to be stewards of the earth. To me being part of democracy means we each have a responsibility to improve the life of the earth.

I also believe if one does the right thing, it works.

For the last administration the policy has been to use, use, use; buy, buy, buy, no matter what. We need a new philosophy, about saving, about being a service society instead of a consumer society.

Carol

Consumerism, the buy, buy, buy ideology, has a lot to do with the problem we now find ourselves in. In the past and even in the present, the government, corporations, financial institutions, and even educators have promoted consumerism. Some people, and unfortuantely, these are people in high places, seem to be so obcessed with economic growth that they've neglected to look at sustainability. The buy, buy, buy, use, use, use, then throw it away mentality is good for economic growth, but is not good for sustainability and will eventually lead to shortages of resources, envirnmental dammage, and eventual economic decline. Unfortunately, it seems America as a nation has been seeking short term economic growth at the expense of long term sustainability for the past several decades. We need to shift our priorities away from growth at all costs and toward sustanability and environmental responsibility.

We went on a cruise in the Balkans in October. Our guides had all lived and gone to school as children under communism. I told our guide I had heard communism provided good educational resources. She told me, "They always did, but the problem was they only taught one side of the issue, not how to think, not how to problem solve to help one's country become better."

We could do better at teaching all sides of issues, whatever they are, environment, government. For awhile after 9/11 it seemed no one was supposed to disagree. Now I think many are disagreeing with what is being done and being vocal about it. There are some good smart people in this country. Many are trying to improve things, and not just those running for office.

Carol

More things to do:
-use public transportation if available
-combine trips to save gas
-buy cloths made of cotton (polyester is made from petrolium)
-plan trips ahead of time to reduce driving
-conserve and recycle products made form petrolium
-use petrolium alternatives if avaliable
-limit use of gas guzzling toys like ATVs, RVs, jet skis, and snowmobiles
-use a walk behind mower instead of a rider, especially if your lawn is small (they use less gas than riders)
-if conditions permit, ride a bike or walk instead of driving (walking and biking uses no gas)
-rase awareness of alternatives to petrolium and other fossil fuels

Double paned or even triple paned windows.

Storm doors instead of simple screen doors.

Send 'grey water' into the garden, or store to water the lawn, wash the car, etc.

Do your grocery shopping on your way home from work. Going to the store? See if your neighbor needs anything or wants to go with you--one car instead of two.

Make sure you have adequate insulation in your walls. They can now 'blow' insulation into the airspace between the inner and outer walls.

Hot water heaters can be put on a timer, set to when you normally need it.

Shade trees and bushes strategically planted can help cool the house in the hot summer months. We have conifers to the north and desiduous to the south so that when the leaves are off in the winter, the sun can still help heat the house, and the evergreens shield us from the cold winter winds.

Wash only large loads of laundry. Saves on water and power at the same time.

Just have to have a certain blouse/shirt etc. for that important date? Wash out in the sink and line dry.

Use mulch in the garden and on the lawn. Grass clippings are great and so are leaves - keeps moisture in the soil.

Sometimes it is just letting things happen. Over a century ago, the woods in Northern Wisconsin were completely clear cut. Lumber was the resource and would be floated down the rivers in the spring, being cut and stored on the ice in the winter.

But the clear cut land was left, not cleaned up, not replanted. And today, a century later there are trillions of giant 150 foot trees. The seeds and seedlings were there. And today the ground cover of the woods is little maple trees. Someone told me these little trees are decades old, and when a tree goes down, one of these little trees takes advantage of the sunshine available and begins to grow.

And they still lumber here, but only small parcels at the time. And they leave it a mess, and within years it is beginning to grow once again.

Love,

Carol

In some newer homes, built for style, the kitchen is in the middle of the room with no window. That means that while cooking or washing dishes – or whatever, the light must be on. Older homes were built with a window over the kitchen sink. It was practical.

When we had the power outage while I was in Virginia, we had a tough time seeing in the kitchen since it was in the middle of the room. We used candles, etc., to see. Perhaps with the energy crisis, builders will start again to build in a more practical and energy conserving manner.

I love my kitchen sink window; it makes doing dishes more pleasant because I can look outside and lose myself in the view. Who wants to stare at a blank wall while doing dishes? Or cooking? Or pretty much anything? I'm with you Abe. Gimme a window.

We take a much more aggressive stance on reforestation around here, and plant the same kinds of trees that are cut down to speed things along. It makes sense to me, in part just because of the dirt that the trees hold down. Some areas are more sensitive to flooding because of the trees that have been stripped out (Thailand as a more recent and startling example), and in our area there is a lot of wind and a thin later of dirt before you hit bedrock below. Once the dirt blows the rock bare nothing will grow, so replanting is an important way to hang onto the dirt, and provide landing spaces for the thousands of birds that visit every summer.

Up north I have a window across the wall by my kitchen sink. It looks out on a porch with woods beyond. We have bird feeders frequented by birds, squirrels, chipmunks. Hummingbirds are there also. And last night when my husband went to turn the light out in the kitchen, he looked into the eyes of a deer at the feeder.

Life just doesn't get any better than all of that.

Love, Carol

Sounds lovely Carol, although I try not to encourage deer at my feeder. They tend to get run over on the trip across the highway.

My driveway is 900 feet long through the woods and ends on a back road.

Deer live in our woods, one recently with two fawns. I think I am the only person who has not seen them.

That piece of woods is paradise to me.

Carol

Yet more possibilities for saving the planet:
-build smaller houses (takes less fuel to heat and cool)
-use the fan instead of the air conditioning (it uses far less energy)
-get a small screen TV (they use less energy than big screen TVs)
-if you can afford it, buy an alternative fuels compatable vehicle or a hybred
-if possible, eat more fruits and vegitables and less meat (it takes many times more land and energy to produce a pound of meat than to produce a pound of fruits and vegitables)
-build new homes to utilize passive solar heating
-if you can afford it, buy a solar water heater (heating water is the biggest use of energy in most homes)
-if you can afford it, install a solar and/or wind electrical system

Are you aware of the latest in having an auto with zero emissions? Check out the following website. It is not a lot of hot air either.


http://www.popularmechanics.com/automotive/new_cars/4217016.html

That's a fascinating article Abe! It would be cool to see something like that over here, although the last paragraph didn't offer too much hope for that. Still, I live in hope and look forward to vehicles like it coming here, and getting myself off of the grid.