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

[yossarian22]

Originally Posted by Autodidact

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

Which would cost a ludicrous amount of energy to set up, and would not be enough to curb rising gas use.

The argument from "We need our freedoms!" is idiotic. If we accept that anthropogenic climate change is a reality, then we are perfectly justified in restricting freedoms. Hell murder is a freedom, yet you don't see people walking around advocating that the government abolish laws restricting that freedom. If CO2 is a significant threat, then the government is totally justified in restricting our freedoms to combat this threat.

More annoying is the "We need to change" drivel constantly spouted. We can change alright. We can just jump back into an agrarian society where we have literally no carbon footprint. Just forget every single modern convenience imaginable. Of course we consume alot of energy. That computer you are using sucks up at least 300 watts of power. 10 years ago, a 300 watt computer would have been considered ridiculous. As we advance in technology, the need for energy rises exponentially. So the only way we can change is to either get rid of the technology or get a new source.
The problem is, there is no other source that is effective enough, cheap enough, or has enough growth rate to be a solution. Solar has crappy efficiency. Wind will cap out quickly and cannot reliably supply constant output. Hydro is already tapped out. There is nuclear, but even that we will have trouble with. They need bodies of water for cooling. Good luck building one in the middle of a desert. We can pump ocean water, but we would need copper plated tubing (or some equivalent) to prevent the salt from oxidizing the metal into powder, and copper ain't cheap.

In essence, we can't change. Any attempt to is futile.

And Rick, the cost of hauling that battery around is much much cheaper than the offset in efficiency. Compare a 24 mpg sedan to a 65 mpg hybrid. You save energy.

[Halcyon]

Originally Posted by 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?

Better to stick our heads in the sand and wait for the fairy godmother to make it all better eh?

[yossarian22]

Originally Posted by Halcyon

Better to stick our heads in the sand and wait for the fairy godmother to make it all better eh?

Replace "fairy godmother" with "the free market", and you actually have a fairly common position sadly enough.

[Halcyon]

Originally Posted by yossarian22

Replace "fairy godmother" with "the free market", and you actually have a fairly common position sadly enough.

Greed and comfort trumps forward thinking - perhaps the most common mental handicap of human beings?

[Jaiket]

Originally Posted by yossarian22

In essence, we can't change. Any attempt to is futile.

You really believe this?

[lilithu]

Originally Posted by Reverend Rick

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

I have wondered about this quite a bit. How extreme I am actually willing to go. But ultimately it isn't up for discussion; we will have to change.

Originally Posted by Reverend Rick

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.

Are you serious or is this some attempt of yours to scare people into being anti-green?

There is no need to make anything illegal. The idea that someone would be thrown in jail for using a hair dryer is ludicrous. All we have to do is make the price we pay for energy reflect its true cost. Not just how much it costs to extract it, refine it, and deliver it, but also how much it costs to clean it up afterwards. If you make the cost of energy what it truly is, people will modify their behavior accordingly. And if someone wants to pay a small fortune to go on a joy ride, so be it. It should be considered a luxury, not a "right", and certainly not illegal.

Plus, some of your suggestions are just wacked. Why is abolish movie theaters number two on your list? Mail-order goods use a ton of packaging to ship their stuff, and there's the gas that the delivery trucks use. And if people bought their food once a month, they would have to buy more frozen stuff which takes energy to store. Better to buy local produce more often by walking to the farmers market.

[FFH]

BlueFire Ethanol - Leaders in Cellulosic Ethanol Technology

Trillions of tons of garbage is going to be converted to fuel. We will no longer be dependent on foreign oil.

Think outside the oil fields.

[kai]

Originally Posted by FFH

BlueFire Ethanol - Leaders in Cellulosic Ethanol Technology

Trillions of tons of garbage is going to be converted to fuel. We will no longer be dependent on foreign oil.

Think outside the oil fields.

i think thats a good point to move away from fossil fuels, to invest heavily in non oil based fuels,

i also think a lot of it is pure bollocks and it is giving the government a big chance to tax us very heavily indeed