Global Temperature Changes

[Sara]

Not to me.  It's more about calling someone a name. 

[George Jung]

Not to me. It's more about calling someone a name.

Well then I felt similar to being called a "follower" and the insinuation that I have been "hogwashed".  I know two wrongs don't make it right, but screw that.  Sorry you don't like what I had to say but that's the world we live in (not that justification is/was necessary).

[glitter]

edited cause I am not feeling quite so bitchy today 

[Bill Peckham]

I think the idea that coal is better than wood is overlooking the importance of the age of the carbon or maybe a better term would be the carbon's vintage. Coal is carbon that has be sequestered for millions of years while all living plants are part of the current carbon cycle.

I was reading about ideas people have to somehow remove carbon from the environment - artificial algae blooms, for instance. There are a number of people advocating that sort of thing but then I got to thinking do you really want to take responsibility for the weather? What would be the target weather? Who would decide?

As to burning coal there are far more harmful things from it than adding to global warming, that being the pollutants from burning coal such as mercury and uranium.  Those have a more direct affect on humans, animals and the land vs global warming affects from it.

Bigsky I don't know what part of a very large state you are in but isn't there all sorts of problems with old mines in MT? I read Collapse by Jared Diamond who I believe lives in Missula but part of his book talked about some of the problems with the old mines.

There are cities in China where the air polution is so toxic it's a danger to live there - I heard a report about some terrible situations there. I can't help but feel like we're all "downwinders".

[Rerun]

This from a bunch of people who rely on plastic to live.  How many of you reuse your dialyzers?  Day after day your lines and dialyzers fill our landfills.  Just how much are you willing to contribute to environmental savings? 

10 years ago it was all about the Ozone layer and how that would destroy us.  I tell you what if the BIG one hits California we won't have to worry about "Global Warming."

                                                 

[kianhu]

I think about the plastic all the time.  Our clinic is no reuse and has been for some time now.  I even think about the empty medication vials as well.  Glass vials everywhere.  Does Davita still do reuse?  I try not to obsess about it but it drives me nuts to see people throwing away plastic bottles and aluminum cans, when the city gives us the recycle bins to put out with our trash each week.  I guess we all could do better.  I am trying to switch over from clay kittie litter to wood but my cats want no part in it.  I will keep trying to do better.   

[Black]

... I am trying to switch over from clay kittie litter to wood but my cats want no part in it.  ...

Try putting a VERY thin layer of the wood litter on the bottom of the pan, gently sprinkle the clay litter over the wood and then pour it to the usual level in the pan.  That way the cats are raking the wood up to the top themselves and they won't blame you!  Increase the amount of wood VERY slowly.  Plan on taking at least a couple of months to get to where the clay is just a thin layer on top, and then in another month you can quit using the clay completely.   Works for most cats, but of course, not all.  There are also flushable forms of cat litter which break down in the sewer system and do not add to the land fill.

If you live in the country you can make your own litter disposal system: cut the bottom out of a small garbage can (with a tight fitting lid).  Dig a hole two or three feet deep.  Make the top of the hole only slightly larger than the bottom of the can and slightly smaller a foot or so down in the hole.  Set the can down in the hole and fill around the outside until the hole is sealed.  Every time you dump the littler add at least a quart of slightly warm water and periodically add the"waste digester" usually recommended for septic tanks.  When it gets close to the top of the hole, pullout the trash can, cover up the hole and dig another one.  It is VERY important that the lid be tight fitting or you'll have a sewer smell down wind.    I do this for my dog kennel and it works very well.

[Rerun]

The tree huggers will love that!

                       

[Black]

I believe that Global Warming is very real.  Man is taking into consideration all of his recorded data so how/why would someone say that they believe in "natural temperature changes"?  Sure there is some fluctuation but a definite trend is obviously on our plates right in front of us.  I don't get how this can be discredited. ...

[/size]

It can be discredited easily by looking at the whole picture instead of just a tiny piece.  Looking only at recent history and attributing global temperature changes to humans, is like looking only at the elephant's trunk and saying an elephant looks like a huge snake.  If you really want to know the truth, and not just the propaganda of people with their own agenda, check these out.  It won't take 10 minutes but it should be a real eye opening few minutes.

http://mysite.verizon.net/mhieb/WVFossils/Carboniferous_climate.html
scroll down and look at the graph for CO2 and Temperature

http://www.scotese.com/climate.htm
scroll down and look at the graph

Don't feel bad about being taken in.  If you look only at this

http://www.ncdc.noaa.gov/paleo/ei/ei_reconsa.html

it does look like an alarming picture, but it is only the elephants trunk and very misleading.

If you are really interested in the things that do have a major effect on our temperatures (and air quality) check out this:

http://pubs.usgs.gov/of/1997/of97-262/of97-262.html  (only deals w/ the US)

http://starbulletin.com/96/05/01/news/story1.html

When the volcano Tambora erupted in 1815 it caused the "The Year There Was No Summer" in 1816 - thousands died from the cold and starvation due to worldwide crop failure.  

Dust storms in the large deserts can affect weather on other continents.

Mother Nature dwarfs any impact we could possibly have on global temperature.

All that being said, I do believe all humans should do whatever we can conveniently and economically do to lessen our impact on our environment.  Note that I used the qualifiers "conveniently" and "economically" as I do not believe the impact we can have is significant enough to bother making the effort to do anything which is not convenient or economical.

The tree huggers will love that!

 

Yes, Rerun, they should.  It's biodegradeable and trees are a renewable resource.  Tree farms have raised the tree count to a higher number than there were when the Pilgrims landed and provide jobs from seedlings to finished product.  Most wood litter is made from waste which would ordinarily be discarded.

[George Jung]

The earth is alive and everyone knows that mother nature is the dictator, the all powerful, much much stronger/important than man.  It is a simple point that humans occupy this environment, and to think that our actions/effects mean nothing is absurd.  Go and inhabit the moon and tell me in just 100 years you had no impact on it.

Black, I reviewed your post and I can appreciate the big picture and I understand it clearly.  I don't think anyone, including Gore, discredits the facts.  I think it is also a fact that we do contribute to the issue, regardless of the degree of our effect, we should be aware of it, and do smart things to minimize our footprints.  I want to leave earth as healthy as it was when I arrived.