Climate change believers are you really ready to do what is nessessary? (Earth)

[Halcyon]

1. Drive through windows should be illegal
I've never used a drive-through, but then I don't eat a lot of junk food.

2. Movie theaters should be abolished
Why? I go to the cinema sometimes, but I take the train. Plus, if you can cram 100 people into a theatre to watch a film it saves energy on DVD production.

3. It should be illegal to drive your child to school if there is a bus that drives by your house.
I agree.

4. Shopping malls should be replaced by mail order catalogs on line.
Erm, faulty logic there. Mail order means more delivery vans on the road, if you go to a mall you can buy several items at once saving on van fuel, plus if you take the bus it's even better.

5. People should buy their food once a month not several times a week.
I buy food once a fortnight.

6. Schools should not have evening activities every night.
I wouldn't know about this, but can't see the problem.

7. People eat out way too much.
I tend to only eat out in local places that I can walk too, since I like to have a drink with a meal.

8. Thermostats should be regulated by the utility company.
I use as little gas heating my home as possible, since it's so expensive, jumpers are cheaper.

9. Clothes dryers should be abolished.
They are wasteful, I use an indoor clothes rack.

10. Water heaters should not run 24-7
I have a combi boiler that heats the water only when you use it.

11. Washing machines should be used less.
Once a week ok?

12. industrial hair dryers should be illegal.
What's an industrial hair dryer?

13. Recycling should be mandatory.
I recycle everything possible. I throw out one small bin bag (less than a waste paper bin) every two weeks of non-recyclable stuff.

14. Everyone should compost.
I have no garden.

15. Weekend driving should be regulated especially late at night.
I use my car for about half an hour a week (on average), and that's often only to keep the battery ticking over.

I like to think I do everything possible, not because I think there is any point, the world is already screwed, but it eases my conscience.

[Neo-Logic]

Originally Posted by Reverend Rick

The real point of this thread is, if people are as committed to addressing climate change as they seem to be, they should be doing more themselves. This wasteful society we live in will never change until they are forced to change. It is not all about corporations and carbon offsets.

1. Drive through windows should be illegal
2. Movie theaters should be abolished
3. It should be illegal to drive your child to school if there is a bus that drives by your house.
4. Shopping malls should be replaced by mail order catalogs on line.
5. People should buy their food once a month not several times a week.
6. Schools should not have evening activities every night.
7. People eat out way too much.
8. Thermostats should be regulated by the utility company.
9. Clothes dryers should be abolished.
10. Water heaters should not run 24-7
11. Washing machines should be used less
12. industrial hair dryers should be illegal.
13. Recycling should be mandatory.
14. Everyone should compost.
15. Weekend driving should be regulated especially late at night.

Rick. I think you're approach to this is off. You can't regulate behavior by targeting specific things. Keep in mind what happened when the religious tried to save the rest of us from their temptations by banning alcohol with prohibition.

We shouldn't do everything you think is right. Let economics curb people's behavior. Stop subsidizing gasoline and let the consumers feel the full impact of the gas - $5-7/gallon on average. There are other steps - but until the AMERICAN ECONOMY can sustain itself on that kind of price - we're no where better off as this is arguable the biggest adjustment towards green.

Anything else that singuarily targets specific behavior is plain hypocritical ******** and only treats symptoms, not the disease.

[NoahideHiker]

How can we say we should do all things and make them compulsory for others based on shabby data and unproven theories? Should we make bad laws that take away our rights based solely on the fact that there is this majority that believes in global warming?

Again, what about Freedoms?

[UltraViolet]

Not only are America's children programmed from an early age
to want and need all kinds of unhealthy c**p,
but then the world lays on so much pressure to pay
even for just the basics,
(housing, continued education etc etc)
that we wind up at the freikin drive through
2-3 nights a week because
the kids are hungry
and the grownups are totally spent,
and unable to provide a good and timely meal.

I used to purchase all my food from a healthfood co-op.
And also an organic community run farm.
That was when it was just me and my daughter.
With a husband and four kids, forget it.
Who the hell can afford healthy food!?
And who has time to cook it besides?
Too much burden for two parents of limited means.

It all sucks.

Something needs to change.
Societal structure, family structure.
Why don't people work together?
I never understand that.
(we have been well conditioned to compete with one another instead)

I personally think "our great nation"
has much to learn from the more humble nations
(like Thailand).

I enjoy those stories as well.

[Autodidact]

Originally Posted by Reverend Rick

The real point of this thread is, if people are as committed to addressing climate change as they seem to be, they should be doing more themselves. This wasteful society we live in will never change until they are forced to change. It is not all about corporations and carbon offsets.

1. Drive through windows should be illegal
2. Movie theaters should be abolished
3. It should be illegal to drive your child to school if there is a bus that drives by your house.
4. Shopping malls should be replaced by mail order catalogs on line.
5. People should buy their food once a month not several times a week.
6. Schools should not have evening activities every night.
7. People eat out way too much.
8. Thermostats should be regulated by the utility company.
9. Clothes dryers should be abolished.
10. Water heaters should not run 24-7
11. Washing machines should be used less
12. industrial hair dryers should be illegal.
13. Recycling should be mandatory.
14. Everyone should compost.
15. Weekend driving should be regulated especially late at night.

Or maybe we could just use alternative sources of energy. Just a thought.

[texan1]

Originally Posted by Reverend Rick

It should not be Fluffy, but that is the only way it will happen unless we raise the cost of energy to the point that people will reconsider their actions.

I agree. In order for any real change to happen is has to start at the top. (That's not to say that I'm not doing what I can.)

And we have to have alternative fuels. Although recycling is good, it requires a lot of energy. And electric cars are great, but they won't do us much good in the long run if we are still burning coal to create the extra electricity needed to run them.

[Reverend Rick]

Originally Posted by texan1

I agree. In order for any real change to happen is has to start at the top. (That's not to say that I'm not doing what I can.)

And we have to have alternative fuels. Although recycling is good, it requires a lot of energy. And electric cars are great, but they won't do us much good in the long run if we are still burning coal to create the extra electricity needed to run them.

Ethanol lowers the gas mileage a car gets and bio-diesel takes a gallon of gasoline to produce a gallon of diesel. Both alternatives don't affect the bottom line all that much unless you consider the negative effects of higher corn prices for farmers which means higher food prices unless you are a vegetarian.

I drank the hybrid kool-aid until I found out that the zinc is mined in the northern United States is then shipped half way around the world where the battery is made. A hybrid battery has been around the world before it gets to us. These suckers are heavy. The energy to build a hybrid is much higher than a regular fuel efficient car.

Then there is the battery disposal problem. Hybrids are not green! Nor are the squiggly light bulbs that contain mercury. I wonder how many of them will be in our landfills contaminating our drinking water?

Rocket scientists used to tell us to flush our unused pharmaceuticals. Trace amounts of drugs are showing up in our drinking water. Duh!

Lets be a more energy efficient country and drink poison out of the tap. Buy soda? Where does the water come from to make it?


From where I sit, we are screwed texan.

[methylatedghosts]

14. It is not possible for everyone to compost and it would create a plague in cities.

I strongly disagree with this statement.

A few worms, a dark box, and all kitchen scraps (except citrus - worms don't like that) and you've got yourself enough compost to make your own herb or small vege garden

[Reverend Rick]

Originally Posted by methylatedghosts

I strongly disagree with this statement.

A few worms, a dark box, and all kitchen scraps (except citrus - worms don't like that) and you've got yourself enough compost to make your own herb or small vege garden

This is what I am talking about. People need to change their lifestyle to be green and earth friendly. People are not willing to change however. They want a magic bullet to solve the problem. A good first step would be to slow down and smell the roses.

[texan1]

Originally Posted by Reverend Rick