Attention Tree-Huggers!

[sarah]

...or anyone that believes global warming is real...

This is a great, informative video which presents alot of facts. Rick and I wanted to share this with everyone here. Enjoy, and tell your friends.

link

[goodtimes]

Is that the 75 minute or so long video that was produced to counter Al Gore and his..uh..."movie"?

If so, was it any good. I don't have that much time to sit here and watch it....

[sarah]

I think so ... and yes!

[TJ Rick]

Thanks for posting this. I haven't had time to watch it yet but I am looking forward to doing so.

Some of us older people may remember back to the late 70's or early 80's when they were threatening us with another ice age. After a few really cold winters they determined that the polar ice caps were growing and we were all doomed to extinction like the dinosaurs.

[sarah]

TJ Rick, Rick has a copy of Newsweek from around then with a centerfold article about "global cooling" like you mentioned. He went through it and changed "cooling" to "warming," and it sounds like the same story the media is feeding the public today. Maybe I can get him to post it - it's pretty funny!

[swbooking]

Yeah we learned about all this in Marine Bio. The Proff was saying that all this "global warming" was BS and that the earth is in a NATURAL warming and cooling trend and has been for centuries and thats the way its gonna be. Its all just hype for tree-hugers to push their beliefes on everyone else...

[sarah]

swbooking, that is GREAT news! Everything I've heard from the education world is that they're pushing the opposite.

It's pretty easy to turn "believers of the crisis" into non-believers when they simply see the facts.

[swbooking]

Yeah most these people are just followers... Have you seen that video of banning dihydrogen monoxide? (H2O) Everyone just signs the petition like theyre saving the world, but theythey dont even really know what theyre signing...

Oh and that was a class i sat in on at USD which is a private school maybe it has something to do with that.

[rick]

Yeah we learned about all this in Marine Bio. The Proff was saying that all this "global warming" was BS and that the earth is in a NATURAL warming and cooling trend and has been for centuries and thats the way its gonna be. Its all just hype for tree-hugers to push their beliefes on everyone else...

It's really much more than this even. If the enviros really just wanted you to "believe" I would consider them about as harmful as perhaps a vigorous baptist preacher or maybe some Jehovah's witnesses (not intended to offend anyone, they're just examples). In other words, not harmful at all and truly trying to help people. However, that is not the case. They will not stop until we are living like primitive animals with no meaningful resources to progress, grow, and thrive as a society. If you think I'm joking I have several recent first hand experiences to support this. I have been participating in the "public review" process of the coming greenhouse gas regulations that are required by the "California Global Warming Solutions Act" of 2006, or AB32. There are quite a few environmental groups present at these public meetings and their viewpoints are quite telling of where their motives truly lie.

Let's assume for a moment that mankind and our energy use is the sole cause of global warming and that this actually is a threat to our survival and the habitability of the earth.

In this scenario, if we do not do something to cut emissions, we're all doomed. We'll all stop driving unless absolutely necessary and take public transportation. "Low carbon" fuels will be mandated, most likely ethanol and/or natural gas. Mileage standards will be mandated to ensure efficiency improvements. Do-it-yourself R134A will be banned since we consumers are too dumb to know how to do it right, and we're warming the earth with that stuff afterall. No biggie, just take your car to a mechanic and make sure to leave a grand. He'll fix it. Dust off your Geo Metro and let's go for a drive. That takes care of our cars, let's look at electricity. So we'll dig a bunch of geothermal wells, make full use of the ~4% of California generating capacity in hydroelectric generating stations, and peak things with wind turbines and potentially fuel cells to store wind energy, right? Wrong. That's not good enough. Geothermal wells are often a source of sulfur dioxide (trioxide, and other sulfur containing compounds), since they are essentially one to two mile deep holes in the crust of the earth. Never mind the fact that the natural emissions of sulfur dioxide around areas where geothermal makes the most sense (geysers, anyone?) far outweigh those that result from drilling some extra holes in the ground. Hydroelectric stations have been under attack because of their impact on salmon and other fish potentially affected by dams and downstream changes in water flow. As a result, California utilizes a whopping 0.4% of it's power from clean, cheap hydro. How about wind, sounds pretty harmless, emits zero CO2, and is actually pretty close to cost competitive with fossil generation (after all the tax credit subsidies that you and I pay for)? Nope, not good enough either. Birds don't like those things spinning around. There were supposedly 39 golden eagles killed by wind turbines last year. Not to mention that lubrication issues on some models of (particularly older) turbines lead to lubricants leaking from seals and dripping down the blades until they can be rebuilt. I guess the score is birds 1, humans zip for wind.

I specifically chose these three electricity sources because with further research and efficiency improvements, they actually do have potential to be a significant viable source of energy here. There are plenty of controversial opinions over nuclear, but it is a zero CO2 source of power as well. For a more thorough discussion, see here: http://www.intellectualactivist.com/...100#Byline%201

The first part about fuels and refrigerants is not a dream or something I made up, these have already been discussed for implementing AB32 regulations. If you don't believe me, look for yourself: http://www.arb.ca.gov/cc/012207workshop/pm-agenda.pdf

The effects of this regulation will be devastating on California's economy, in particular because of the skyrocketing cost of energy that will result. You do like your house heated, don't you?

I have more insanity from these loon bags than I care to think about much anymore. There are folks that believe that the only "real" reductions in energy use are only those that result from some kind of "mandatory" carbon credit program, not from anything that actually saves money for a company, individual, or anyone for that matter. This, in and of itself, is pure evil proof that this is not about actually reducing our energy use or even reducing our greenhouse gas emissions. It is really about punishing the energy users for using energy. Anyone ever think about what life would be like without energy?

I sure hope some folks wake up and start telling these people that they're not going to take over our lives with this crap. Or they will.

And to think that it's all for something that does not exist - catastrophic global warming as a result of our energy use.

[blkTJ]

wind power is bad for birds, give me a freakin' break. screw the birds.

[Deamer]

Didnt get to watch the vid yet but plan too. I have a couple of questions for the tree huggers. Is the Earth hooked to a rail as it orbits the sun so that it goes through the same exact orbit year after year? Maybe the orbit is a little closer to the sun right now. Second question. Is the sun a constant temperature. maybe its thermostat is stuck. Just my :2: As far as the followers, We had the protestors at Vandenberg Air Force base a few years back. They were holding signs saying stuff like "stop polluting space", "no more satelite launches", and "stop the militarization of space" I had to pick up my daughter from cheerleading practice at the school outside the gate. The base let the protestors use the same parking lot. While I was waiting for her I was getting a kick out of all their eco bumper stickers on their cars. I saw a few beat up old cars that probably wouldnt pass smog, old volkswagons, and a few big SUVs. But the thing that got me the most were the cars with satelite antennas and gps units in them. One of the SUVs even had the laptop holder on the dash with the big satelite antenna on the roof. Guess they didnt know that we launched a bunch of the GPS and communication satelites they are using everyday from vandenberg. I bet that almost all of them have dish network or direct Tv at their house too. I wanted so much to confront them but we were ordered not to.

[Mtbikbob]

Wow. TMI. (overload)
But good stuff.
I say we spread the word.

[rick]

But the thing that got me the most were the cars with satelite antennas and gps units in them. One of the SUVs even had the laptop holder on the dash with the big satelite antenna on the roof. Guess they didnt know that we launched a bunch of the GPS and communication satelites they are using everyday from vandenberg. I bet that almost all of them have dish network or direct Tv at their house too. I wanted so much to confront them but we were ordered not to.

That's freakin awesome.

Wow. TMI. (overload)
But good stuff.
I say we spread the word.

Yes, I've been dealing with, reading about, and digging into this for months, so it comes pretty easy to me now... It is a bit overwhelming, but the important connection to make is the result of what restricting energy use will have on our lives. Other than that, I'm all for energy efficiency measures that make economic sense - that's what I do for a living. But they should not be compulsory, or they quickly fail to be economical and you run into so many competing interests that somebody is bound to get screwed (usually the consumer).

[scottjk]

Rick is dead on. Everyone lives their life with compromises, with areas of gray, with times that we wish the decisions in front of us were easy or black and white. We do this by applying "common sense" and "reasonable man." But then, people get their pet little projects or passions and suddenly it is extremism despite all of their experiences to the contrary.

Even on the board - there are Jeep owners who look down on the Toyota, Ford, Chrylser (insert brand) crowd because it is "us vs. them." And then there are folks who built their Jeeps up who look down on stock Jeeps with an appropriate air of self-righteousness - how dare you drive your stock Jeep to the grocery store? If you are not rock crawling with locked Dana 44s you are pathetic.

So, from what I know about global warming, which is not much more than a layman's appreciation of science, I take the middle road. I accept the fact that the earth has gone through numerous climatic changes, some violent and dramatic. It is entirely possible and probable that one is beginning/occurring while I happen to be on the planet.

I am also reasonable in the sense that pollution, emissions, urban sprawl, deforestation and many other things may not be causing global warming per se, but they cannot be helping the planet either. So, again, it seems to me that we ought to take all of our energies that we used to develop GPS, Ipods, fertility techniques, nanotechnology and a host of other wonders and put vehicles on the road that can dramatically cut emissions while crawling rocks on the weekends.

I mean, if the we are saying that the best Mankind (gender neutral capitalization, thank you) can do on the trails is the internal combustion engine in its current form...it defies common sense.

Anyway - three cheers for the middle ground and a pox on fanatics.

[Kodiak Spirit]

lived there, done that..

I spent some time in Kodiak, and lived off the land. Lived on an island with no power, no running water.... but you know what? I got a knock on the cabin door by an eco-gal that said I wasn't good enough. I killed animals and polluted the island with my waste. I burned wood to cook my tastey animals which killed trees and made smoke at the same time. This nature girl has a garden and is vegetarian. She has a composting toilet and harmonizes with nature.

I am just a barbarian to her. She hated me. Nothing I could do was good enough.

Now I am an electrician. I have four large fossile fuel vehicles. My electric bill rivals that of Al Gore in the summertime. I have a fireplace at the house and burn wood just because it looks nice. And I am teaching my kids that it is O.K. to live your life without FEAR.

Instead of trashing people and what they do my daughter and I went out to Calico and spent daddy time picking up trash. Then my daughter (God bless her) went to school and challenged her tree hugging eco-loving doomsday global warming teacher by asking what SHE had done for the ol' earth lately? because us Jeepers just spent the day picking up after her...

because real enviornmentalists know how to enjoy the envoronment, not just close it.