Sensationalists like to disavow almost anything. They are called
dogmatic skeptics. Many atheists get stuck in that grind.
I tell those that do not believe in global warming to forget global
warming and just concentrate on fossil fuels.
They are all connected...so one goes with the other.
Hopefully the dogmatic skeptic is not totally deluded that they
disavow the problem the world faces with fossil fuels?
And why don't we do anything about global warming...because we can't.
To do anything substantive would cause a financial and population
backlash of unimaginable proportions.
And what we could do, even with drastic measures, would not cure
global warming but only slow things down.
In addition, there is no one global entity to control all the green
house gas emitters. China an India plan on adding more dirty coal
burning electric plants to feed their burgeoning economies.
We can't start wars over green house gas like we do oil...even then we
would have to go to war right here at home before we point fingers at
other countries.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/3143798.stm
As far as foreign wars, many of these newly rich nations seem to be in
a war of sorts to see who can build the biggest and the tallest. Well,
the bigger the building is the more energy it takes to power it and
the more green house gas is given off to pay for the ego behind the
monstrosity.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_tallest_buildings_and_structures_in_the_wor...#Tallest_buildings
Thoreau once said when people invited him to dinner they 'put their
pride' in how fancy and expensive a meal they could make. Whereas he
put his pride in how simple and inexpensive a meal he could make.
Where do we put our pride?
We surely don't put it in living within our means and in balance with
nature.
In the US, 93.2%% of our electric comes from non renewable, greenhouse
gas producing methods.
If we are looking to hydroelectric and renewable sources, 4.46%% of our
electric comes from hydroelectric and 2.34%% comes from renewable
energy production.
Out of this 2.34%% of renewable sources, an undisclosed portion still
contributes to global warming despite its prestige of being a
'renewable energy source' as it involves the burning of wood, black
liquor, wood waste, municipal solid waste, landfill gas, sludge waste,
tires, agriculture byproducts and biomass.
Only a fraction of the 2.34%% of renewable electric energy that is
produced comes from geothermal, solar thermal, photovoltaic energy,
and wind.
http://www.eia.doe.gov/cneaf/electricity/epa/epates.html
Lets say we decided to turn off the coal fired plants for 25%% of a 24
hour day to save some fossil fuel.
Saving 25%% seems to be a modest proposal.
So they shut the coal fired plants down for 6 hours during peak
daytime operation.
And lets say we don't care that all the frozen food in the markets
will thaw out and the refrigerated foods will spoil.
And lets say the workforce will sacrifice their jobs for the 6 hours
every day while the electric is shut off.
And we put up with the gridlock and accidents from not having traffic
lights and the doctors and hospitals all shut down.
And people just hold their noses over the backed up sewage that cannot
be processed when the electric is off.
The real problem with trying to implement even a modest 25%% fossil
fuel saving plan is this - it just can't be done.
Coal fired plants are not of the nature to be turned off and turned on
with the flip of a switch.
If a coal fired plant was turned off and completely cooled down it
would take many days to bring it back online. If a coal powered plant
was shut down even for 6 hours, it would take between 10 to 12 hours
to bring it back to operational capacity.
In addition, when the plant is started back up, all the fossil fuel
that is consumed in the startup does not make electric, it just goes
to bring things back up to speed. And during startup, the plant
operates at lower temperature and produces more pollution at those
lower temperatures. And if that is not enough, startups of that
magnitude send out power surges that destroy transformers and cause
grid problems.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fossil_fuel_power_plant
There is no simple or easy way or even hard and not simple answer to
our dilemma. The world is in a death spiral. it is just how we have
built our world over the years.
Mankind is just a little 'too smart' for his environment and learned
to live beyond natures intended means.
But mankind does not seem smart enough to fix the mess that it has
created.
Yes, mankind has done great things over their reign on earth, but we
must always remember nature does not bow to us..in the end we all bow
to nature.
Our population has grown to levels where it has passed the point of no
return for supporting a sustainable human population as we know it
today.
And leading the pack of over consumers is the USA.
http://www.nationmaster.com/graph/ene_oil_con-energy-oil-consumption
Consumption is ingrained in us and we know no other way. And even if
we wished to amend our ways, how could all our retirement funds take
the hit? America is built on borrowed money, spending and consumerism.
And what does all that consumerism lead to?
It leads to the mess we are in now and the bigger mess the world will
be in once India and China pick up momentum to copycat the envious
lifestyle that they have held in high esteem as the 'American Dream'
I love our country and would rather live here than anyplace else in
the world. But be that as it may, our country and the rest of the
world is built on unsustainable means and the bill is coming due soon
for our spending spree.
Since the US is said to be about 75%% Christian and was founded on
maximum freedom for its people, I doubt whether the US will ever come
up with a population control plan. It would be too controversial and
it goes against promoting life, certain religions and personal
freedoms.
And let me be clear, I am not promoting atheism -- for if I had to die
in a hot box from global warming, I would rather die with the
Christians praying than with the atheists cursing.
See:
"What the hell would we need 'spiritual values' for when we can have
real values."
http://jesusneverexisted.org/jne/forum/index.php?topic=509.0.
And while I cannot deny the wisdom of promoting life as many religions
profess and personal freedom, sometime we must accept the lesser of
two evils if promoting life turns into being more destructive to life
than 'not promoting' it.
It then becomes a decision whether to choose between the 'greater good
for the whole' or the 'greater personal right for the individual'...
and the whole be damned. (Whole meaning entire human population of our
planet.)
For instance, on a farm if the plants are planted packed like sardines
(or 'packed like sushi' as they say in Japan) the plants do not
flourish.
In nature, trees that are overcrowded weed themselves out by nature's
decree. But if man forced the trees to not weed out and forces
crowding the trees may die from disease due to a forced and
unsustainable growth plan.
So it goes with how our planet is evolving...a sad but exactly true
statement.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Overpopulation
Now, I a not a tree hugger, green peace freak or communist. I drive
dirt bikes, love 2 stroke 500cc thumpers, run jet skis and snowmobiles
and could consume along with the best of em.
But I do respect and admire nature and most of all I respect and
admire life and have had to 'mend my ways' so to speak once it sunk in
how things were. And in the process I have given up a lot of personal
desires for the greater good of the whole.
You see, the problem is not with the earth having enough land for all
its people - the problem is with earth providing ad infinitum for all
the needs the people crave.
The more people born, the more heat is produced from their life and
all their cravings, As such, the warmer and more polluted the earth
gets and the more energy they all use and the earths resources are
depleted.
Fueling the problem of consumption is the games the Federal and World
banks play with interest rates. They manage the economies in ways to
fuel consumption and mask the real trend. Witness the recent cries for
Federal bankers to lower interest rates...so the stock market can go
up...fueled by spending of the consumer.
It is drug habit that Greenspan got us hooked on and we just can't get
away from.
Our economy is not based on sustainable health - it is based low
interest credit to encourage compulsive spending, debt and living a
life of constant consumption with a 'disposable mentality' when it
comes to durable goods.
All this consumption to artificially fuel our economy to make our
retirement funds only go up contributes to more and more global
warming and the depletion of our natural resources. Then the
governments juggle the numbers to make the inflation figures seem
artificially low, so everyone's retirement portfolio will make them
happy so they will continue to buy and consume more...and on it goes.
IT IS ALL WE KNOW
You see, no other animal destroys its environment except mankind. We
are the only ones that do not accept and live within our comfortable
means. We not only debt with our finances we debt with our
environment. What we are borrowing in terms of petroleum, coal and
natural gas takes millions of years for nature to make. Yet we are
using it all up in just a few hundred years...we can never pay it
back.
And even if you are of a religious bent that think God created it all
6000 years ago. What took 6000 years will still be used up in a
fraction of the time it took to create it.
Some theists say we need to pray harder to God to fix our mess. Other
theists say it is Gods punishment raining down on us?
No telling since God doesn't have much to say on this topic.
See:
'Why is God silent - I don't know?'
http://jesusneverexisted.org/jne/forum/index.php?topic=504.0
The scary thing is China and India are just starting to bloom with
their demands for fossil fuels We haven't seen anything yet with the
meteoric rise of gas, energy and over consumption.
In China the per capita car ownership rate is 40 car owners per 1000
persons. In India it is much lower, running 8 cars per 1000 people. As
these two giants evolve more of their population will want cars...in
India, they are making a $2500 car as well.
http://www.greencarcongress.com/2006/05/percapita_car_o.html
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/20394364/
But what can one say about the problem unless people just cut back
reproducing?
Everyone has a desire to have some sex stimulation and through that
stimulation comes more and more people.
And everyone has a desire to keep warm when it is cold or to keep cool
in the heat or move about the earth and wear clothes. And it is from
all those desires that global warming fueled through the expenditure
of fossil fuels takes place.
But the sad reality is even if people cut back having babies, we are
only delaying the inevitable and that alone will not fix the problem.
It can be compared to men stuck underwater in a crippled submarine.
The more they move around, the quicker they run out of air and die.
The less they move, the longer they can live...but the end result is
the same.
Now maybe some genius will come up with a replacement for petroleum,
natural gas and coal to meet all out needs. But it is unrealistic to
think we can grow enough corn to fuel all the trucks, airlines, cargo
ships, cars and other needs we humans have in addition run all the
power plants and factories, heat and cool our homes.
You see all our energy needs are met with non sustainable non
renewable resources whether it be coal, petroleum, or natural gas.
Even nuclear power is dependent on the mining of uranium and has
limits as to how long the supply will last.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/4287300/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oil_reserves
But lets not project too far in the future and try to keep our minds
on the problems at hand.
$10 a gallon gas in the future? What about $30 a gallon gas??
No doubt! All we have to do is look to history for the answer.
When I first took notice of gas prices in the early 70's gas was .22
cents a gallon.
No one would have thought that gas would take a 1360%% rise in price in
3 1/2 decades.
In addition to cars and gasoline, tons of other products and
industries are dependent on crude oil as a component for their
products.
http://www.lmoga.com/refoutput.htm
I can see how life has degenerated in recent years and this is just
the tip of the berg for things to come. I am not an alarmist as one
lady accused me, but I would do humanity a disservice if I did not
bring this topic up now an again for discussion.
See my post
"Your sanity is my sanity and my sanity is your sanity."
http://jesusneverexisted.org/jne/forum/index.php?topic=628.0
When you bring up population control the talk naturally turns to China
and India.
http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m2872/is_1_27/ai_71563390
And population control alone is a controversial subject to discuss
..."when you get beyond the mythology and seriously examine the one-
child policy, it is clear the policy is not viable even if one can
stomach the horrendous human rights violations it entails."
From:
http://www.overpopulation.com/faq/countries-of-the-world/asia/china/chinas-one-child.../
But in reality, there is no such thing as 'opinionated' -
'provocative' 'controversial' subjects. The contemplative life finds
it joy in discovering truth. And the truth does not set such limits on
itself as being 'too controversial' to be true.
These are only subjective and prejudicial states of mind. Such 'mind
blocks' may bother one, but do not bother another. As such, all
problems related to 'controversial subjects' such as this are problems
created in the mind...the mind of ego based, prejudicial man.
If you find yourself being distracted with such thoughts as 'too
controversial' just ask yourself if the proposed controversy is true,
false or I don't know?
That method may help you become truth based and not ego based. You
will have made a 'choice divorced of need'...you wont 'need your ego'
to support the truth...the truth will be able to stand on its own.
Any President would do doubt have little success in getting anything
done with population control. We can hear the cries
now...Communist!...Atheist!...Baby Killer....Hitler!!!!
So the best thing for the President to do would be to put it before
the public every 2 or 3 years in a national election to get America's
verdict on the subject and our country mindful of the issue.
Put America on record.
Then at least the President could say he tried, but the people of the
US prefer to thumb their noses at the rest of the world and the US
will do as they like.
http://www.nationmaster.com/graph/ene_oil_con-energy-oil-consumption
If anyone is against population control and has no other viable
alternative to offer other than Communist!...Atheist!...Baby
Killer....Hitler! - when they are asked what can be done to **slow
down global warming - slow down over consumption - slow down the
destruction of the human race that hell bent on growing at an
unsustainable pace - they should respond:
"I just don't care...that is someone else's problem not mine."
Now, I don't claim to have the magic bullet to fix all our woes. I'm
just a simple philosopher not a scientist or genius. All I can do is
to bring the problem to the forefront and ask that we all work in a
healthier direction that the one we have been headed in. And when we
can understand that all humans are interdependent and not independent
of one another, we come to realize that we all share the same breath.
See:
http://jesusneverexisted.org/jne/forum/index.php?topic=8.0
(**It seems global warming can't be fixed, it can only be slowed
down...too many people on earth to fix it...to many demands...too many
cravings...best we can do is to slow it down)
Take care,
V (Male)
Agnostic Freethinker
Practical Philosopher
AA#2
