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Indifference to global warming...

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Carpe Diem
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Indifference to global warming...

Post by Carpe Diem » Fri, 09 Dec 2005 11:47 am

I suppose you also read that the U.N. climate conference which ends these days will be again a failure...

Isn't the job of our "leaders" to plan and forecast? And to make decisions even if they are difficult to accept, now? We all know we are going to crash onto a wall - may be not us but the next generations for sure - and nothing is done... Better keep making profit for the moment. Tomorrow is another day.

Solutions do exist though... such as wind or solar enery... may be more costly at the moment, but it works. But the problem is not there, iit has to do with the lobbies I suppose?

I am very disgusted today. :(
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samantha
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Post by samantha » Fri, 09 Dec 2005 11:54 am

Human beings are depleting natural resources at an extremely fast pace. Personally, i feel that we are consuming more than we really need. We use extra electricity to use the lifts(when we can walk a few stairs), we cook more food than we can eat (and throw the rest away), etc.. :cry: What a waste...
I'm so stupid that I surprise myself sometimes...

Ecka Dimmock
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Global warming

Post by Ecka Dimmock » Fri, 09 Dec 2005 11:57 am

Yes, but all global warming strategies need decades to bear fruit, whereas the average political term is only for 3-5 years.

I wish the countries like the US and Australia could take the lead, rather than finding excuses not to reduce their greenhouse gas output.

At the moment, everyone agrees that someone else ought to be doing something.

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Post by Bafana » Fri, 09 Dec 2005 5:19 pm

Global warming good for business.

If got more storms, higher tides, mass population shifts, general mayhem and destruction then business is ensured of growth. Without such events business would surely stall or taper off - Growth cannot be gained by population boom only.

Lets face it - If environmental cocnersn could be made a a more economically significant factor to business then doing it the old way you would see a sudden change in how the issue is dealt with.

The top whatever miniscul percent of the world that owns 90++ percent of everything will always have somewhere nice to run adn hide - To enjoy their lives at the expense of the masses who will bear the brunt of their greed...

Makes me sick as well CD.

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Post by Mary Hatch Bailey » Fri, 09 Dec 2005 6:03 pm

I believe the US should impose fuel efficiency mandatories and effectively outlaw SUVs for the consumer market. Especially the Hummer. As the biggest polluter in the world, it is the only sensible, immediate course of action. Anyone running on that platform however, will have a snowball's chance in Hades of getting elected -- so there you are. More money needs to be allocated for alternative fuel sources.

Global warming and it's evil twin the Ice Age is a normal occurance in the life of oxygenated planet. Does anyone want to guess how many ice ages there have been that we know about?

At least 4. Some say 24.

I think we should take every effort to reduce greenhouse gases, but sometimes I wonder what'll happen if we don't...

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Post by sapphire » Wed, 11 Jan 2006 8:48 am

So here we are, dealing with the skies pouring out their misery in Singers, freezing cold in New Delhi with a 70 year low of 0.2 degrees C! Floods in Thailand and Vietnam last month.

Hurricanes, droughts, floods, 2005 fourth hottest year...horrific monsoon in Mumbai last year. Scary, isn't it? This is the world we'll leave behind for future generations. Global warming combined with terrorism, pretty it isn't.

Happy New Year?
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Post by tiki » Wed, 11 Jan 2006 9:40 am

The day when the world's ( in this case ) climate issues will be thoroughly resolved will never come.

Too many people will lose their jobs, economies will collapse and so on.

There will be changes though, albeit small ones or ones which have been 'uninamously agreed' to be expandable. These changes which will seem to make things better, are actually 'write-offs'.

This year on there will be minor catastrophies here and there. These, to put it simply, are after effects of past subsea earthquakes. There were loads of these occurence in the past, some got away undetected but they will be felt.

This is not a bleak outlook but...

.. a geological reality.

The only solution to make this world as it was...is to revert to the time when Man have yet to exist. Back in the days where smokestacks don't exist.......

the days when tunas weren't the subject of dinner conversations.
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Post by Wham » Wed, 11 Jan 2006 11:43 am

...and every one participating in this conversation is doing so on a computer that runs on power that is mostly generated by buring fossil fuel of some sort.

The only good news that i have heard about global warming recently is that the chairman of GE in the US has said that one of their fastest growing business sectors in the next 10 years will be in GREEN technology - and unlike the stupid BP and SHELL's green advertising campaigns that are all about selling more gasoline and not about actually being green - this GE thing is real. GE appears to correctly recognize that the oil shock of 1980 was political, whereas the current one is real - as in we are running out of oil. Therefore, as the price of power gets higher and higher, it becomes profitable for GE to make money building products that use less power etc.

This means that the free markets are doing what our politicians do not have the will to do. The markets are reducing consumption (by raising the price of oil) and providing an incentive for companies like GE to help. In the process, CO2 emmissions should be reduced. It may be too little too late, but the change has begun.
"He who makes a beast of himself gets rid of the pain of being a man." Samuel Johnson

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Baron Greenback
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Post by Baron Greenback » Wed, 11 Jan 2006 12:55 pm

It will all go Pete Tong in the not so distant future. Our grandchildren will ask us how life was like in the "wasteful age" when we could have so many electrical appliances on at the same time, drive our own cars etc & not worry. And we will sit back & talk about the good ol days and make excuses why we cannot peddle on the generator for the electricity supply for the house and complain that our drink isn't cold enough, the room isn't warm enough & there is no tv.


:(


And then discuss the good old days on geriexpat forum.
:)

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Nuclear fuel

Post by ringo100 » Wed, 11 Jan 2006 1:00 pm

There is another alternative which everyone is so scared about but so few people actually understand; Nuclear fuel. It just needs more funding to make it more affordable.

A big increase in hybrid cars will help over the next 10 years but i'm not sure we'll ever see electric plane/ships which are pumping out CO2 at huge rates.

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Post by Vaucluse » Wed, 11 Jan 2006 2:20 pm

I guess Chrnobyl and Three Mile Island have taken care of that quite nicely. Combine the fear of nuclear waste/leaks with less-than-desireable countries having nuclear technology and you have a world that is still scared.
There are still many unaswered questions about it as well - particularly where and how to store spent rods.
......................................................

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Post by Wham » Wed, 11 Jan 2006 3:00 pm

I agree. Nukes are the only real viable alternative to fossil fuels as wind and solar can only do so much. As the price of power gets higher and higher nukes will become relatively more affordable. However, so will oil the oil sands projects that are now looking quite profitable.
"He who makes a beast of himself gets rid of the pain of being a man." Samuel Johnson

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Post by Wham » Wed, 11 Jan 2006 3:03 pm

What is more scarey. I planet headed toward the uncertainty of the effects of global warming OR a planet with too many vulnerable nuclear power plants?
"He who makes a beast of himself gets rid of the pain of being a man." Samuel Johnson

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Post by Wind In My Hair » Wed, 11 Jan 2006 3:55 pm

im not in touch with the latest science but wasn't there some talk about working towards nuclear power stations in space?

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Post by tiki » Wed, 11 Jan 2006 4:05 pm

Actually we are not running out of oil. There are rocks laden with hydrocarbons abound, just that it is not economically viable to produce them for now. As we type and speak ( in our minds ), new sources are being discovered, recent most being in the region and basins of North Africa.

Them OPEC nations will have the global warming phenomena under control because the Earth is one gigantic rice bowl to them. I'm not saying they will have it totally under control but on a leash no doubt.
'If you feel alive
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Do you know the name
of your solitude..'

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