Comments on: Because Al does not have a monopoly on caring.

By: Lessons learned at TheHuckablog

Lessons learned at TheHuckablog — Sun, 15 Jun 2008 04:10:30 +0000

[...] dad has taught me. I really had to think about that one because there were so many. How to drive? Who to vote for? To always try new things? To keep your car clean? (I learned it, just choose to ignore). To work [...]

By: JHJ

JHJ — Sat, 26 Apr 2008 18:52:45 +0000

Oh lordy. I’m just gonna ignore most of this and focus on your reading of Glen Beck. Ugh. My soul hurts.

By: ShoeShe

ShoeShe — Sat, 26 Apr 2008 04:14:51 +0000

Maybe ole Al feels guilty for creating the Internet, thereby causing millions of people to use energy-sucking computers (and other computer-related items). Maybe that’s why he’s so big on going green. Or maybe he wants to create icebergs (oh, wait…that’s already been done too!).
I’m just kidding. I actually like ole Al, though I do think he’s gone a bit overboard…and stretched his statistics. Plus, I am a registered Democrat. Sorry.

By: grammy

grammy — Fri, 25 Apr 2008 23:10:22 +0000

Perhaps I should have said, largest consumption per capita.

http://atlas.aaas.org/index.php?part=2

By: TheHusband

TheHusband — Fri, 25 Apr 2008 20:51:49 +0000

Ok, I have to take issue with one statement that Grammy made:
"Yes, we are obviously the greatest consumers of natural resources in the world"

I have to point out that China is by far a greater consumer of natural resources, just by shear numbers, to Quote Hey You:
"The truth of the matter is that just the INCREASE in coal that China will burn by 2020 will send as much CO2 into the atmosphere as 3 billion (that b-b-b-billion) Ford Expeditions, each driven 15,000 a year. So the increased burning of ONE source of energy by ONE country is equal to the to the CO2 emissions by 3 billion massive trucks. (Oh and it would take Ford 15,000 years to even sell that many.)"

By: grammy

grammy — Thu, 24 Apr 2008 11:12:46 +0000

O.K. so I've taken up the Gore bashing privately. Perhaps the reason Hey You has such strong political ideals is because she was raised in a mixed family; one republican, one democrat. Much political dialog ensued in our household discussions. Obviously it had an effect.

I confess that I've not gotten on the green bandwagon to much degree. We saw a similar trend occur in the 70's when gasoline prices went high and there were threats of fuel shortages. People downsized vehicles, we saw solar panels on roofs, alternate fuel sources were sought. Once the fuel crisis was averted we have seen the huge oversized vehicles of today appear.

Now some people are giving up these oversized vehicles, which we never endorsed, and are returning to more sensible vehicles with lower fuel consumption, regardless of whether they are hybrids or not. (My husband, the car nut, says people should be thoroughly researching how much it costs to replace those hybrids batteries. He believes they are in for a huge shock to discover the enormous expense for replacement in a few years.) What I'm saying is that I'm not really green myself, but am a more sensible consumer of the planet's resources than some of my fellow Americans.

I'm troubled by what I perceive as an arrogance of how much damage one country should do to the planet. If I merely walk around my home and count the number of light bulbs used by one home it is immensely greater than the number used by homes in the rest of the world. Yes, we are obviously the greatest consumers of natural resources in the world. On the other hand we already have many more governmental controls to control pollution than most countries do and are cleaner than most.

Just this month my company has been changing light switches to ones that sense movement and cause the light in a room to come on when someone enters it and go off when they leave automatically. I think this is a great idea, as are the new florescent light bulbs. We are also company wide going to timed thermostats, controlling the temperatures when the bank is closed. These small sensible things are wonderful ways we could be more responsible world citizens and I'm proud my company is being a good corporate citizen in its thousands of locations throughout the country.

I don't know what I think about the polar ice melt. Obviously this globe has been covered by water before. Are we causing it, or is it some cyclical thing? It is something worth pondering.