9 Comments so far

1. Robert Settgast March 21st, 2007 3:30 pm

   It is remarkable that it took Al Gore’s documentary “Inconvenient Truth”, then, the polar bear demise, & the recent conclusions from the international scientific community, to alert many to the impending dangers from global warming–which has been obvious to anyone who had made even minor efforts to be informed.

   The evidence linking carbon pollution to warming is as close to certain as science can be. Its causes, consequences, and mitigation requirements have been documented by the scientific community, many dedicated environmental organizations including The Union of Concerned Scientists, and chronicled in the press for years.

   The dangerous manipulation of essential scientific data used by this administration to conceal and derail corrective measures for this threat and other vital environmental reforms has also been apparent. The gullibility of so many who are influanced by them is more alarming than the scientific manipulation itself.

   Contrary to their assertions, measures to reduce greenhouse gases could only improve our economy by lessening our trade deficits, and improving our security by reducing our dependance on foreign oil. We could also regain some of our lost world respect that has resulted from our opposition Kyoto while arrogantly contributing disproportionally to carbon pollution. With our involvement, China & India could then be compelled to join the rest of the developed world.

   Often overlooked is the fact that the same measures needed to mitigate global warming would be necessary even if it were not an issue. Conservation, alternative energy development, anti- pollution refinements, etc are essential for other vital environmental reforms such as air and water quality, reductions in toxic waste generation, land preservation, etc.

   The environmental and social damage from our indifference to (and even denial of) carbon pollution and its effects can only worsen if we allow these destructive policies of this reckless and unlearned president and his financial supporters to continue.

   Robert Settgast
   San Rafael, CA
   rhsettgast@hotmail.com

2. montemerrick March 21st, 2007 6:59 pm

   our carbon pollution will be reduced, one way or the other -

   i think mr mckibben however takes a tack that wont work -

   it only looks like a we that does things - it only looks like a society that makes decisions -
   none of us can make a decision as a group with things constructed as they are - with george w bush et al purposefully driving us down the road to extinction and people voting for democrats or republicans as if they were sporting teams based on what asinine tv personality be it Tom Brokaw or ann coulter or brittany spears

   unless the whole ball of was is decentralized we wont have decentralized produce - or said another way - unless our own homes are re-centralized, meaning power returned to the places where we actually live, each and everyone of us - then we are, frankly, doomed - as it appears we are right now.

3. BigNoseKate March 22nd, 2007 12:05 am

   montemerrick March 21st, 2007 6:59 pm

   Exactly…well said! They solution lies with “me” not “we.” If enough of us take personal responsibility to change our life styles, and more importantly, our consumption choices, the accumulated results will change everything. As long as people keep waiting for “the government” or someone else to do something about it…this is THE END, my friend.

   BNK

4. bill March 22nd, 2007 2:14 am

   Free public transit. Think about the impact. Take a few minutes.

5. projectpeace March 22nd, 2007 11:09 am

   Problems are profitable for people selling expensive “solutions” that don’t work. The counter-productive “war on ‘marijuana’” is the single most destabilising policy of our time. As long as the world’s most useful agricultural resource is prohibited, mankind will never have a chance of achieving sustainable existence on this planet.

   Cannabis (hemp, ‘marijuana’) seed is the best available source of organic vegetable protein on Earth. Protein production determines carying capacity. Cannabis is also the only common seed with three essential fatty acids. Cannabis also produces more agricultural biomass, sustainably, in a wider variety of soil and climate conditions, than any other crop. Induced scarcity of Cannabis has resulted in dependence on toxic, unevenly distributed, finite chemicals, and radioactive waste-producing energy.

   In addition to all of that, monoterpenes produced by pine trees (and Cannabis)
   have been shown to slow global warming by reflecting solar radiation back into space. Ending the war on agriculture, by areturn to the cultivation of hemp, will do more to heal the Earth, human economics, and social evolution than any other single shift we can make.

   Paul J. von Hartmann
   Project P.E.A.C.E.
   Planet Ecology Advancing Conscious Economics
   http://www.webspawner.com/users/projectpeace

6. montemerrick March 22nd, 2007 2:06 pm

   bill suggests free public transit -

   you bet - and free dental too -
   i dont know anyone personally who refuses the bud because of how much it costs - even though i would like very much to never pay for a bus again. i mean, owning a car is alot more expensive than paying for any bus - a parking meter costs more than bus fare -

   how to get people out of their cars - make them more costly - and not financially but practically - dont build more highways and dont vote for politicians who run on solving “traffic” problems. less lanes not more - fewer parking garages not more - smaller parking lots not bigger - more pedestrian streets in downtowns - lowered speed limits -

   maybe a system by which i have to prove to my community my need to burn fuel - say i drive an ambulance, or a i amsome other kind of emergency responder - and even these vehicles replaced - and most importantly - redefine my community so that i am able to live work and play within it - so that i may one day say a la the wise man of walden - i have travelled widely on lummi island.

7. montemerrick March 22nd, 2007 2:07 pm

   needless to say i menat refuses the bus - i know plenty who refuse the “bud” because of its cost - shake only, they say.

8. montemerrick March 22nd, 2007 2:11 pm

   oh yeah - bill mckibben’s book, “hope human and wild” is filled with all sorts of good and practical ideas akin to the soviet use of pencils in their space program rather spend a gazillion on a pen that can have its development costs recouped in the marketplace - as if such were a needful thing.

   not so easy to find (except online) though

9. bnvonahiryho December 26th, 2007 8:59 pm

   tithysatehyro…

   exkosykapyve…

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