Environmental thread

[Mike]

Wow, all you green folks must hate me.    I eat loads of meat, smoke, drive a 4X4 and drink the odd bottle of water 

I think people that are dedicated to the planet (such as Mike) are great  and if everyone was like them, preservation of our resources would improve.  One thing that does annoy me though (and I want to point out that this is directed at no one) is those that are super green and look down at those that aren't.  Driving a 4X4 I may notice it more than most, but when it comes to certain conversations, I feel like a social outcast because I am a huge, world polluting bully.  I do my bit, but I will never feel bad for drinking water out of a bottle or even using disposable nappies for my son.

Ben,

No single person will make or break the planet. In fact George Carlin did a pretty funny bit on our arrogance thinking the planet is in trouble at all. We and other species may be in trouble and our ability to live on Earth, but once we are gone the planet will still be here.

Anyway, if like nuphoria stated, we all did one thing, or maybe a couple .... then things would change. For better, for worse, hopefully it would be for the better. Take the bottled water question. I like our private well water and was tired of paying for bottled water. Also, less trips to the dump to recycle stuff means less gas, more free time. And less petroleum spent on making bottles by us using a stainless steel re-usable container.

As far as moving away from grocery store foods goes. We are now directly supporting our community, the produce, eggs, meat, flour, grains are as fresh as it gets unless it's your own garden. So, less trips to the grocery store means less gas, more free time. Less waste because we throw out less produce because it's fresher and lasts longer.

In reality, I'm saving money in gas, and have more free time. Really, it's more of a selfish act rather than my want to save the planet. LOL!

[Mr. Whippy]

Wow, all you green folks must hate me.    I eat loads of meat, smoke, drive a 4X4 and drink the odd bottle of water  

I think people that are dedicated to the planet (such as Mike) are great   and if everyone was like them, preservation of our resources would improve.  One thing that does annoy me though (and I want to point out that this is directed at no one) is those that are super green and look down at those that aren't.  Driving a 4X4 I may notice it more than most, but when it comes to certain conversations, I feel like a social outcast because I am a huge, world polluting bully.  I do my bit, but I will never feel bad for drinking water out of a bottle or even using disposable nappies for my son.

Well, the point REALLY is, do what you feel is reasonable for you to do.   Some will do more, others less but again, until human population growth is corrected,  it is bailing water out of the titanic with a coffee cup--it only slows the inevitable outcome.

This is gonna sound really bad, but...

I think the relief organizations that beg for money to feed the starving (fill in the blank) are REALLY crushing the environmental cause.  First, they use HUGE amounts of resources to move food/water to those who already outstripped their local resources.  After feeding them, it encourages an artificial population burst, thereby worsening the situation overall, LEADING TO: more expenditures of resources (fuel/food/water) to support the further population explosion.

In short: Ben, you have my full support for using disposable nappies--especially if you use them in halloween pranks.

[Benner]

Wow, all you green folks must hate me.    I eat loads of meat, smoke, drive a 4X4 and drink the odd bottle of water  

I think people that are dedicated to the planet (such as Mike) are great   and if everyone was like them, preservation of our resources would improve.  One thing that does annoy me though (and I want to point out that this is directed at no one) is those that are super green and look down at those that aren't.  Driving a 4X4 I may notice it more than most, but when it comes to certain conversations, I feel like a social outcast because I am a huge, world polluting bully.  I do my bit, but I will never feel bad for drinking water out of a bottle or even using disposable nappies for my son.

Well, the point REALLY is, do what you feel is reasonable for you to do.   Some will do more, others less but again, until human population growth is corrected,  it is bailing water out of the titanic with a coffee cup--it only slows the inevitable outcome.

This is gonna sound really bad, but...

I think the relief organizations that beg for money to feed the starving (fill in the blank) are REALLY crushing the environmental cause.  First, they use HUGE amounts of resources to move food/water to those who already outstripped their local resources.  After feeding them, it encourages an artificial population burst, thereby worsening the situation overall, LEADING TO: more expenditures of resources (fuel/food/water) to support the further population explosion.

In short: Ben, you have my full support for using disposable nappies--especially if you use them in halloween pranks.

Great, so I am a bad man for doing that as well. 

[Mike]

Well, you're certainly not helping your case. I'm kidding!!

[duckman1975]

The earth will survive and have a semblance of life one form or another.
Its the human race I'm worried about, humans need earth, earth does not need us to survive 

[Shane769]

Wow, all you green folks must hate me.    I eat loads of meat, smoke, drive a 4X4 and drink the odd bottle of water  

I think people that are dedicated to the planet (such as Mike) are great   and if everyone was like them, preservation of our resources would improve.  One thing that does annoy me though (and I want to point out that this is directed at no one) is those that are super green and look down at those that aren't.  Driving a 4X4 I may notice it more than most, but when it comes to certain conversations, I feel like a social outcast because I am a huge, world polluting bully.  I do my bit, but I will never feel bad for drinking water out of a bottle or even using disposable nappies for my son.

I drive a 4x4 too, but that's my eco-damage mostly. I installed a throttle body spacer (10% better fuel economy) and a K&N Cold Air Intake (another 7% or so). I don't judge a person on how pollutant they are, because frankly, it is the same as a religion. I don't like when people try and push religion on me, so I don't push green-living on them. Although reading my posts it might seem that way, but it is hard to not come across as pushy about the subject when it is something I am very passionate about

Anyway, I won't try and argue population control, since I feel that it is an unbelievably touchy subject... Plus, it is more my friends area of expertise.

Cheers guys.

[jzmtl]

Please don't tell me you actually buy that space/filter fuel economy stuff! 

[Shane769]

I got a ridiculous deal on the parts, did the work myself, and went from 400 or so km a tank to 525km a tank. So you tell me if I should believe it 

[jzmtl]

If it changed it's something else, likely you just needed a tune up for your engine. Think about it, manufacturers spend millions of dollars to improve their engine to meet the ever more stringent fuel economy requirement, if a $5 part would work that well why doesn't cars come with them? As for CAI, colder air=denser air=more oxygen=more fuel required to consume oxygen=more fuel used.

[Shane769]

I don't claim to know much about engines, just know that whatever I did, it worked for me. Synthetic oil might have helped , or higher end spark plugs... But the CAI does help a lot in the north. It makes it easier for the engine to breathe basically 70% of the year, which the easier it breathes the better it runs. Or is that wrong...?

As for why manufacturers don't install parts like this... You can always bring up the oil/car conspiracy... Like in "Who Killed The Electric Car?".

[Magnus]

The earth will survive and have a semblance of life one form or another.
Its the human race I'm worried about, humans need earth, earth does not need us to survive 

exactly, the earth will simply respond by eradicating the virus that is killing it.

[J-sews]

Re: Who killed the electric car
I started hearing folks talk about conspiracies between big car compaines/big oil companies during the gas shortages of the 1970's. Things like how they have a 70 mpg carburetor, and a vehicle that uses water for fuel, but they won't bring them to market. It was all B.S., and its only gotten worse today. There's no way in heck that you could keep every single manufacturer in today's competitive market to keep a lid on a new technology. Any device that would give one company a leg up on its competitors would be implemented just as fast as they possibly could. If somehow the big oil companies were able to pay off GM and Ford and Chrysler to keep them from pursuing electric vehicle technology, it would simply mean the Japanese or German or Korean car companies would introduce them first.

I'm not saying I'm not in favor of less efficient vehicles by the way. I simply scoff at most all conspiracy theories.