Writer's Block: Planet friendly

[penguinfaery]

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Very. It is probably the biggest issue we face.

I don't think it's possible to reverse the trend, however. We might be able to adapt, and slow it, and keep the world in something akin to normal, but hell...you can tell things have changed already. How a typical the weather patterns have been.

And I don't just mean huge hurricanes and BIG things. In Colorado we had no "big" issues (Probably a blizzard or two, but no storm of the century) but things are just wrong. Weather is too mild when it shouldn't be, too cold when it shouldn't be.

And I think part of the issue is, right NOW, at least here...it makes the weather nicer. And it's not always "warming", it feels wrong to call it global warming when I have to pull on a sweater in June. (not the last couple of days, damn) So if you aren't facing horrible, awful things, it's easier to ignore.

But, some statistic (And I'm linking to wiki, not because it's the only place these statistic exist, but because it rounds them up nicely. if you have an issue with wiki, kindly scroll down a few inches to click on the sources they credit3 scientist say global warming doesn't exist. 4 say they don't think the data is conclusive, 24 say it's natural, and 7 say it's source is unknown. And in the last two cases that still means we should be figuring out what to do (Just that it may not be our fault)

Now here's the list of scientist who agree. It's big. And I think it's worth noting that this page is listed by organization, not single scientists. There's that many more of them.

But at this point? I'm not worrying about it. Not cause it's something to be worried about but because the people who are high enough to care....don't care. Instead, their cutting corners on oil refineries and lobbying to get the laws thrown out that will cut down on emissions.

We want and we take, and we're not willing to give up even a little bit of comfort. And even worse, we justify it, and mock those who try to make a difference. So, as far as I'm concerned, we're fucked, and we deserve every moment of it. But human adaption is mind boggling, so we'll make it threw some how I'm sure, as long as the death of this planet comes slow enough for us to adapt.

There's a quote on the wall by my school that's along the lines of "Treat the earth well, for it is not a gift from your parents, but borrowed from your children."

Apparently were the kind of person who borrows something, and returns it's stain, ripped, stretched out, and utterly useless.

Comments

[cloudyskies2046.livejournal.com]

I agree. There are so many little things we could be doing that could make a huge difference, but if it doesn't turn a profit then companies won't pursue it unless the government forces them, and the government is not doing any such thing. For instance, in Oklahoma I see everywhere people going to Walmart every week and bringing home some twenty plastic bags of groceries. They offer fabric bags at the front, but they're like $5 if I remember correctly. If people forget to bring their cloth bag with them, they can't just buy one at the store, since $5 is a lot. Offer $1 super thin cloth bags, made from lawn grass clippings or something. So that's the companies' part in this. The government in turn should put it's foot down and show us a little confirmation of their "monopoly on the use of violence." The government can make boys age 18 and older sign up for the draft, but they can't say "We're banning plastic bags at grocery stores (except for meat), and if you have a problem with it then you can complain and we'll come to your house and fuck you up"? Come on. I'm getting sterilized ;-D

[cenneidi.livejournal.com]

Word.

But, seriously, yeah. I completely agree with this. 100%

And, well, even if there isn't global warming, we know that the way we are currently running things is bad either way, and we have options that are better, y'know? Even if we aren't completely fucking our climate, changing over to less harmful resources can't possibly be a bad thing. So why aren't we? (I can think of about 800 reasons, but all of them make me pretty angry.)

My comments inserted within with >>>bumps

[amigoid.livejournal.com]

Very. It is probably the biggest issue we face.

>>> I don't agree that its the biggest issue; I'll list that at the end.

I don't think it's possible to reverse the trend, however. We might be able to adapt, and slow it, and keep the world in something akin to normal, but hell...you can tell things have changed already. How a typical the weather patterns have been.

>>>I doubt that we have that kind of impact on the earth as a whole. Its been my understanding that the biggest influence on the global weather patterns is solar flares and other solar activity.

And I don't just mean huge hurricanes and BIG things. In Colorado we had no "big" issues (Probably a blizzard or two, but no storm of the century) but things are just wrong. Weather is too mild when it shouldn't be, too cold when it shouldn't be.

And I think part of the issue is, right NOW, at least here...it makes the weather nicer. And it's not always "warming", it feels wrong to call it global warming when I have to pull on a sweater in June. (not the last couple of days, damn) So if you aren't facing horrible, awful things, it's easier to ignore.

>>> And if its too unpleasant, one can also move to a different climate zone. Its been my perception that the weather patterns and changes are cyclical.

But, some statistic (And I'm linking to wiki, not because it's the only place these statistic exist, but because it rounds them up nicely. if you have an issue with wiki, kindly scroll down a few inches to click on the sources they credit3 scientist say global warming doesn't exist. 4 say they don't think the data is conclusive, 24 say it's natural, and 7 say it's source is unknown. And in the last two cases that still means we should be figuring out what to do (Just that it may not be our fault)

Now here's the list of scientist who agree. It's big. And I think it's worth noting that this page is listed by organization, not single scientists. There's that many more of them.

But at this point? I'm not worrying about it. Not cause it's something to be worried about but because the people who are high enough to care....don't care. Instead, their cutting corners on oil refineries and lobbying to get the laws thrown out that will cut down on emissions.

>>> Not only that, the leaders of different countries have different priorities. China is one of the worlds largest polluters. They can not be forced to change their ways and will not unless it directly profits their leaders and government. Their population is an expendable renewable resource. Iraq is having power riots, because they can not be supplied with a stable consistant source of power. I doubt they would be concerned with swapping incandescents for CFL bulbs. Mexico's main city is covered by a toxic cloud reminiscent of the smog monster of the godzilla movies. They are unmotivated to reform their vehicle emissions, because there is no profit in it.

We want and we take, and we're not willing to give up even a little bit of comfort. And even worse, we justify it, and mock those who try to make a difference. So, as far as I'm concerned, we're fucked, and we deserve every moment of it. But human adaption is mind boggling, so we'll make it threw some how I'm sure, as long as the death of this planet comes slow enough for us to adapt.

>>> I don't think the planet is dying. It may at some point be uninhabitable by humans, but at that point the planet will evolve to support a new dominant life form.

There's a quote on the wall by my school that's along the lines of "Treat the earth well, for it is not a gift from your parents, but borrowed from your children."

part two of the rant

[amigoid.livejournal.com]

>>>Stewardship of the land is an important concept that most parents do not teach their kids. In that vacuum it is often replaced with a misplaced sense of obligation to save it, or that we need to feel ashamed for making use of it. Depending on your life-view, we either evolved into the dominant species or were placed here and given dominion over it. The pollution is a byproduct of the current age we are in. In prior centuries, we poluted the earth but in different ways. At some point we will develop better solutions for our needs or we will kill ourselves. If we kill ourselves, say through a nuclear war, what is that to the earth? A thousand or so years for the radiation to die down, at which point the earth will develop some insectoid based lifeform to be the new dominant race.


Apparently were the kind of person who borrows something, and returns it's stain, ripped, stretched out, and utterly useless.

>>>Nice analogy, but then I rarely expect to return toilet paper after I have used it. It goes into the system to be recycled and repurposed as fertilizer.

>>>What I see as the biggest issue is the willful effort by those in power to hamstring this country with needless laws and bureaucracy when our competitors flatly refuse to play by the same set of rules. Why were we drilling out so far in the ocean in such a high-stakes, high risk mode, when there are oil resources that are accessible much more easily on land? Because the government is unwilling to let us make use of our own resources within our own borders. Why would the government force a change away from coal plants which we have more of than almost any country in exchange for much more expensive-risky-unreliable modes like wind and solar, or natural gas. While we invest in these technologies, countries like Brazil are pouring BILLIONS into new petroleum research. If we allow our country to fail due to staggering debts and percieved weakness in the eyes of our allies and enemies, what hope have we of effecting change? China and Russia don't care a whit about their countries, should we hand the reins over to them? An oil spill (which also occurs naturally through faults in the ground), pales in comparison to the ecological damage a few dirty nukes could do. Clearcutting forests and slash and burn policies have been abandoned for the wisdom of proper stewardship of replanting as you harvest. Americans conserve and avoid poluting because its in our vested self-interest to do so. Other countries don't share our priorities. (often though we are just redirecting the polution--our electronic waste gets shipped to be disposed in poorer countries, our factories are relocated to poorer countries where polution controls are less strict) All the while, the high hypocrasy of the eco-pundits abounds...(Gore's inconvenient lie) flying around in jets, living in large gated estates, making a mint selling forgiveness for our polution guilt in the form of Carbon Credits. Much like a pour soul buying a candle to burn on the altar to atone for a sin.

sorry, I'll stop ranting.