Tuesday, December 11, 2007

If you give a mouse a cookie

My first year at college in Fargo, 1991 (aka a lifetime ago), I was startled beyond measure at the absolute orange sherbet colored night sky that greeted my eyes. There was so much "cloud" cover that the street lights would reflect off of it, creating the most bizaare orange haze.

Shortly after that, they passed a city ordinance against wood burning stoves. You could still use fireplaces, but not the stoves- too much polution. Strangely enough the winter sky is still orange.

I remember in junior high, the mid 1980's (aka two lifetimes ago), that vehicles were causing too much polution in California so they forced car manufacturers to place catalytic converters on all the new automobiles. I remember for the next several cars the first thing Dad would do with them when he got home was remove the converter.

I know they have been whingeing about burning fossil fuels and peak oil, demanding that scientists develop cleaner energy sources.

At the same time they insist that nuclear energy does not count because of the waste product left behind.

Well what about wind? You can't get much cleaner than wind.

Irvine, CA--King Ranch and the environmentalist coalition Coastal Habitat Alliance are suing Texas Land Commissioner Jerry Patterson in an attempt to stop the creation of a windmill farm along the Gulf Coast in Kenedy County. According to the suit, the wind farm could kill migrating birds and damage the bay.

BBBZZZZZZTTTTTT They don't want wind farms either.

Wait a minute! Wait just a damn minute!!!! Because a wind farm might kill migratory birds??? MIGHT?????

Anyone else under the impression that they think the world would be a better place if mankind just did everyone..er... everything else a favor and went extinct? If only they could reduce the population by say...80%... the world would just be a garden paradise for all the rats and the hyenas. And as long as they're happy, well....

17 comments:

SouthLoopScot said...

I agree with you on this one. Too often, environmental supporters go to far. In the case of wind farms, there is no doubt in my mind they have.

Fiery said...

:) thanks T&A! Has your job been effected by that heinous ice storm?

SouthLoopScot said...

No, thankfully I didn't have to go anywhere it hit. And it pretty much fizzled when it got to Chicago, rain fell instead of ice.

Sean Wright said...

You are hereby tagged

Johnny said...

Anyone else under the impression that they think the world would be a better place if mankind just did everyone..er... everything else a favor and went extinct?

There are some who think we should do exactly that!!

Richard said...

Johnny is exactly right!

Prince Philip, the Queen's husband, is the titular head of the World Wildlife Fund. He more or less believes in reincarnation. He has stated that in his next life he would like to “come back” as a virus like AIDS or Ebola and wipe out most of the human race.

This is nothing new, as variations of that sentiment has been said by hundreds of leading Environmentalists, and is widely accepted by the Environmental peons.

If you think about it, when any human activity that might be profitable to humans, say wind power, or putting up a development where some newt's water supply might harm it, or trees are being cut (for homes etc.) is blocked by Environmentalists, they are working against people's lives and happiness.

The Grade Eleven textbook I had to teach from for my Biology classes spent its entire first chapter discussing ways humans were harming Earth. They had a chart of every major form of Environmental damage humans were causing, with solutions .

Every solution including reducing the world's population. I have heard it said that the Earth can only support 500,000 people without being truly damaged. Let's knock of 5.6 billion people! At the same time Al Gore tries to argue that we should stop Global Warming because melt-water will kill people by flooding of low lying areas. This amounts to stealing the concept of saving lives in order to work at eliminating lives, by drastically proscribing human activities that enhance life.

E.g. People talk about how awful smokestacks are. That is like looking at the ass of an elephant as it poops. Nasty pollution that is, but take a look at the front end, and you see a living thing that survives by the resources it takes in and uses. You may not care about elephants, but all living things use resources, and that smoky plant is a beautiful thing, if you look at how people benefit from the things it produces.

Now when that elephant poop lands on an ant or anthill, they ants have a huge pollution problem. However, we should and can, deal with our pollution problems more wisely than by draconian bans on production, or even bans on the pollution.

Richard said...

There is an ongoing discussion in Canada about using wind power. Wind power is horribly variable, which makes it very difficult for the major power plants to operate smoothly. Changes in their rate of operation adds wear and tear (temperature changes cause a lot of metal weakening) on equipment. This shortens the life of the expensive plants. It also means they have to power up when wind is down, which uses a lot of coal or gas energy, virtually canceling out any pollution reduction the windmills may have enabled.

Nor are windmills able to reliably supply the kind of power that is widely needed.

I believe that numerous smaller nuclear plants should be distributed about the power grid, such that when any one or two fail, the rest of grid can make up the loss. I am thinking of four or five such plants per million people (including industries).

People are ridiculously afraid of nuclear plants, yet such plants are as "safe as houses". Actually they are safer than houses. Indoor pollution is worse than outdoor pollution in downtown cities, and indoor radiation is higher than safety standards permit in nuclear plants (thanks to Greenpeace et al.) Estimates indicate that to save one more human life by further improvements in nuclear plant safety would cost a $billion.

By contrast, a human life can be saved for each $10K, spent on road improvements! That is how irrational and politicized the Energy debate has become.

SouthLoopScot said...

Richard: Prince Philp said that? Yet another argument for abolishing the monarchy...

I agree with you on nuclear power. Nothing drives me crazier than people with an irrational fear of this power source. (You can also thank Jane Fonda and the timing of Three Mile Island happening soon after her film "The China Syndrome" debuted)

I still think wind power has it's place, but not as a catch all. More likely in conjunction with solar and nuclear sources.

SouthLoopScot said...

Johnny: That was a frightening link! Good thing these people aren't breeding!

Richard said...

T&A: "Good thing these people aren't breeding!

No kidding! Did you hear of the young UK woman who has neutered herself, as a conscientious objector to human proliferation, for the sake of the Earth? Whacked. I guess we could say she had herself "spayed"... like a bitch.

SouthLoopScot said...

Richard: I didn't hear about that.

Like my friend used to say, the earth is going to be just fine, it was here a hell of a long time before us and will probably be here for a long time after we're gone...

Her spaying herself did nothing but save us from that DNA being passed along! LOL!

Richard said...

She wins a Darwin Award for The Not Quite Dead!

Richard said...

I'm not sure why the link did not work; might have been an ending slash. Here's the home page:
Darwin Awards

Fiery said...

Anytime a moron voluntarily chooses not to breed is a good day for humanity. If only there were a way to encourage that without legislating it.

Poodles said...

Hey I have voluntarily chosen not to breed... Does this a moron make?

Fiery said...

nooooooo no no no no no no no no no noooooo!!!!

I have the utmost respect for couples that choose not to have children because they don't WANT to have kids. Frankly I wish I'd been intelligent enough to choose not to have a kid or at the very least have chosen to wait.

Nothing worse than seeing a person think they "have to" have children and suck at or resent being a parent.

I should have expanded my comment to say that it seems like so many of the morons have huge broods of children so when one decides to pass, it is a good thing. Intelligent people have none or one.

my gawd how much deeper can I dig the hole???

STOP DIGGING!!!!!! AARRGGHH!!!!!

Poodles said...

Fiery, I was just giving you shit, no need to dig a hole ;).

I totally agree, the people least fit to be parents seem to have these litters of kids. And people who would make awsome parents (like my gay friend and his partner) aren't even allowed to adopt here in Utah. Horribly sad. It does give me hope to see great parents like you and Possummomma.