Global warming. what do you think we should do?

Thank you, Karen. He makes an excellent presentation and we'll find out some time
next week if the U.S. and other developed countries embrace his conclusion...or not.

 

Finally someone who wraps it up and says what I have been saying for years. Better be safe than sorry.

 

Thanks for posting...and anyway, I'm sure it can be argue that spending money to put global warming initiatives into place will create jobs, so there really is no excuse!

 

Hopefully the US will sign the next climate agreement, otherwise, it does not matter what we other countries does!

 

Thanks, Karen.

 

Linda, I agree that it is important that US sign BUT there are two more important players on the market! That are the two biggest emerging economies China and India (and maybe Brazil as a third)! The US signature is not worth anything if not India and China are in!
And they have resonable demands! For once, stop calculate emissions per country but per capita! This is very simple! A small country can not be allowed to polute more than a big country!

 

That video has been out for a couple years now. Pretty neat, especially if global warming is real. We're being told to ignore the fact that north America has been experiencing several years of cooler than normal climate...while the rest of the world has suffered from a climate that has gone up by as much as 0.75°F over the past 150 years.

The first thing we can do to stem global warming is stop growing orchids. Think of all the fossil fuels burned to sustain our hobby. From the flasking of seeds and production of seedlings, to building and heating greenhouses, to maintaining artificial lighting, publishing books and magazines about orchids, and even maintaining a computer and an orchid forum burns incredible amounts of energy. I'll bet we could save millions and millions of tons of atmospheric CO2 by shutting down all the greenhouses, shut off all the fluorescent and HID lamps, and shutting off our computers and shut down the forums. Until we do this, sacrificing things that mean a lot to us but are superfluous when it comes to the survival of the planet, we arn't really serious about global warming.

 

I understand where you are going with this and I agree that we should give up some things to help. I for one have never had a lawn. I don;t mow nor do I use a weed-eater. I live in the woods amongst the trees which help cool my house in the summer. One of my greenhouses is built below ground and has no heat but never gets much lower than 45F.

I think that if we would spend a fraction of the money we have spent on oil and coal production, research and exploration, we could have already found good energy sources that are much cleaner. But we have been lazy and spent little to do so and even spent a great deal to squash new ideas. Is it going to be simple to replace fossil fuels? No. But we will have to do it some day regardless of whether Global Warming is a problem. Our grandchildren may well die of pollution way before that. Burning fossil fuels is not sustainable. Our economy is now based on the fact that we can buy products from around the world and move them where needed using fossil fuel. We need to become more locally self sufficient. Eat local grown food that is in season. Eat less meat that has to be mass produced to meat our needs. Does anyone over 55 remember having meat at every meal when you were a kid? I sure didn't. Mass producing anything has consequences and we are in the middle of those now.

After we do these things I think I would be willing to grow no orchids.

 

I watched "Who killed the electric car" last night. Very thought provoking.

Edit: I should add that our household is doing its best to cut our footprint. We recycle as much as possible. We bike as much as we're able to avoid using the car and we don't use the dryer anymore. Yup, I hang the clothes on the line. Which is not an easy thing to do in the winter! We don't live like cavemen, but are trying to make small cut-backs. I think if everyone makes some sacrifices, we're off to a good start.

 

EdM, The interesting thing about the US and carbon dioxide emission is that the US emits about twice the amount per person as Europe! I can say that the living standard in Europe is not half as good as in the US!

Tons Carbon dioxide emission per person 2006:
US 19 tons
China 4.7 tons
United Kingdom 9.4 tons
Germany 9.8
Sweden 5.6 tons
Japan 10 tons
India 1.4 tons

A good film to look at is this http://www.gapminder.org/videos/gapcasts/gapcast-10-energy/
And for more statistic made easy to grasp you all can have a look on www.gapminder.org . A fantastic tool free to use!

 

I can add some more countries.

Tons Carbon dioxide emission per person 2006:
France 6.3
Spain 8.7
Italy 8.2
Canada 16 !!!
South Korea 9.7
Russia 11
Brazil 1.9
Mexico 4.1
Iran 6.8

 

Screw it. Burn all of the fossil fuels as quickly as possible. Like tearing off a band aid; the sooner it happens, the better. Prolonged CO2 emissions will only make the problem persist. A quick burn-off will force the world to find replacement energy more quickly, and we can then get on with our lives.

 

That guy drinks too much soda pop. Really. Inteligent has two 'l's.

 

Those are the cooling towers from a Nuclear Station so not much burning in them. Lots of steam though!

 

Lol! Ginormous fossil fuel burners. *snicker*

 

They certainly are. Emphasis on "find replacement energy more quickly" ...
.