Am I smoking crack?

[spooky]

Originally Posted by germuhknee

BTW, Spooky: what makes you a republican and not a libertarian? Just wondering, because a lot of what you say reminds me of this libertarian I once knew ...

the difference is my vote counts. thats about it. i actually vote pretty liberal in local elections, where liberalism, imo, belongs.

[arcatacat]

Dammit... This thread that started out about ideas for alternative fuel sources turned into a political butt fuck. Precisely the reason we're still burning inefficient fuels in automobiles. Rather than focusing on the differences in party lines, focus all that energy on the problem or the task at hand.

I got a degree in Natural Resources. From Humbold State University, just down the road from where Julia Butterfly lived in a redwood tree for 2 years. Right down the road from the Mattole watershed where people chain themselves together around trees to make their point. I'm well versed in the politics of environmental issues... so here's my thoughts for a solution:

• make gasoline in excess of $5 a gallon. Democrats and republicans will both stop driving; greenhouse gas emissions will decrease.
• Switch from huge autos to light-weight scooters. (Think of any asian city.) Getting 65+ miles per gallon of any kind of fuel makes a lot of sense.
• Someone said it already, but GM is going out of business because of huge health and retirement pensions. I blame the unions. They shot themselves in the foot.
• subsidise the solar energy industry. If there was a solar array on every home in America, there would be no need for centralized power stations. No coal fired plants, no nuclear plants, no hydro-dams on the rivers, etc; fewer fossil fuels being burned = fewer greenhouse emissions.

Don't bother to slash at my points... I'm not coming back to this thread. It's too bloody already.

[germuhknee]

Too bad you're not reading this, arcatacat. No slashing here.

Just wanted to point out, you'd be surprised by how much pain people are willing to tolerate at the pumps. The average price of a litre of unleaded regular gas in Germany today is 1.279 euros (that's approximately $6.23 / gallon). And yet, there are still massive traffic jams on the autobahns every day. And I'm noticing more and more SUVs on the roads. SUVs? In Europe? WTF?

Cars are useful tools, but they are also an addiction. Just like cigarettes, raising the price of gas artificially is not going to dissuade the hardcore junkies, it will just lead to them skimping in other areas where they really shouldn't be (like food, healthcare, etc.).

Interesting BBC documentary: http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio/aod/radio...ogiveupdriving

Originally Posted by arcatacat

• make gasoline in excess of $5 a gallon. Democrats and republicans will both stop driving; greenhouse gas emissions will decrease.

[teerts]

Originally Posted by arcatacat

I got a degree in Natural Resources. From Humbold State University, just down the road from where Julia Butterfly lived in a redwood tree for 2 years. Right down the road from the Mattole watershed where people chain themselves together around trees to make their point. I'm well versed in the politics of environmental issues... so here's my thoughts for a solution:

Anyone see the movie made about Julia Butterfly Hill living in that tree and
getting frostbite and shit? She has to be one crazy broad. always talking
about how the tree spoke to her and the such. My woman had dinner with
this crazy at some university speaking thing and one of julia's conditions
for speaking at the university and having dinner with students and faculty
was: no animal products anywhere on the table. Everyone had to eat
vegan as she chatted while peeling her grapes (no doubt because of
possible pesticides). who peels grapes?

[teerts]

Interesting. and good bbc link. i like those types of programs on the
bbc. I disagree with you and arcatacat about the fuel prices solving
the problem. Electric cars need juice. that juice has got to come
from somewhere...in this country i think it's mostly still coal-burning.
(no problem solved here, right?)

I think we need to do lots of things to switch power sources and solve
the engergy problem. These include more efficient machines, better use
of natural resources like light and water and natural energy.
What makes most sense to me is using the sun. it's always shining! it's
hot! why not use it?

another source is the ocean. it's massive and always moving! there's free
mechanical energy that can be converted to electrical.

why should we keep trying to produce energy by burning stuff (coal, oil,
gas, uranium, etc...) when there's so much free energy all around?

Originally Posted by germuhknee

Too bad you're not reading this, arcatacat. No slashing here.

Just wanted to point out, you'd be surprised by how much pain people are willing to tolerate at the pumps. The average price of a litre of unleaded regular gas in Germany today is 1.279 euros (that's approximately $6.23 / gallon). And yet, there are still massive traffic jams on the autobahns every day. And I'm noticing more and more SUVs on the roads. SUVs? In Europe? WTF?

Cars are useful tools, but they are also an addiction. Just like cigarettes, raising the price of gas artificially is not going to dissuade the hardcore junkies, it will just lead to them skimping in other areas where they really shouldn't be (like food, healthcare, etc.).

Interesting BBC documentary: http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio/aod/radio...ogiveupdriving

[spooky]

Originally Posted by teerts

Interesting. and good bbc link. i like those types of programs on the
bbc. I disagree with you and arcatacat about the fuel prices solving
the problem. Electric cars need juice. that juice has got to come
from somewhere...in this country i think it's mostly still coal-burning.
(no problem solved here, right?)

yep(brilliant observation, btw), theres still alot of that going around, and its a valid point from some points of view, not from others. if you want the electric car to get us out of dependence on foreign oil, than its good, we are the mecca of coal here in the US, we have a ton of shale oil too, and wind, plenty of oppertunity for hydroelectric as well. all these potential power sources are why my moneys on the US being a superpower for the next 200 years or so. if you want it for the environment, its not so good. imagine how bad the brown outs in california will be when all the electric cars catch on. i wonder when people will wise up and swith to the cleanest of all power sources, nuclear power.


in the long haul, things will work out, we just need to better educate the consumer to secure our 'alpha male' status globally.

[Sexy_Potatoe_with_an_E]

Nuclear power, I don't need another fucking chernobyl, I like being cancer free...

[teerts]

Originally Posted by Sexy_Potatoe_with_an_E

Nuclear power, I don't need another fucking chernobyl, I like being cancer free...

Well, being female and living in the bronx are not good ways to go about that.
Don't worry about the nuclear power plants. The city parks the idling diesel
trucks up there.
Also a note to the smoke-complainers: Suck it. SUUUCK IT. 2nd hand
smoke blasting you at doorways is the price you pay for not having
2nd hand smoke INSIDE the buildings. besides, it's got nothin
on those diesel fumes. Big difference is smoke stinks, but you might
not know when you're breathing burned diesel.

Cancer Risks from Hazardous Air Pollutants:

Average individual's added cancer risk: 2700 per 1,000,000
Population in areas where cancer risk exceeds 10-3: 1,331,407
Population in areas where cancer risk exceeds 10-4: 1,332,650
HAP with the highest contribution to cancer risk: DIESEL EMISSIONS
http://scorecard.org/env-releases/ha...=36005#hazards

[Sexy_Potatoe_with_an_E]

what does being female have to do with anything ?

[Sexy_Potatoe_with_an_E]

I pretty sure I'm gonna get cancer it runs in my family, my parents smoke, pollution, I just don't need a third arm like that asian kid in the other thread...radiation just sux 'cause it's there for so fucking long, it's bad enough I'm getting ass raped I don't need my kids to be...