RE: [MLUG - DISCUSSION] Conservationism (was: The Day After Tomorrow)

[Dave Lloyd <EMAIL:PROTECTED>]

On Wed, 2 Jun 2004, Mike Miller wrote:

> I'll intersperse some comments...
> 
> > I find it humorous, especially in California, that there are all of 
> > these so called environmentalists that are screaming about cutting down 
> > the trees, but at the same moment, they are building their 7,000 (or 
> > larger) square foot home. Wanna talk about hypocrisy a moment? "Don't 
> > cut the trees, well unless it is wood for my house!"
> 
> Good one!  Many people are just like that.  Same with recycling - does it 
> really do anything for us?  People want to present themselves as "good" 
> people who care about nature.  Their actions might even be harmful.

Recycling without actively purchasing products made from recycled goods
does nothing.  Without closing the loop, there's not much good in it.

Here's some info on how much energy recycled goods save:

http://www.energy.gov/engine/doe/files/dynamic/962003112557_recycle.v20030518.html

Personally, I recycled and try to be goods made from recycled materials
werever possible.  Case in point, toilet paper. Why shouldn't TP have
already had at least one run through the mill?  

> > I was always under the impression that it was fluorocarbons that were 
> > causing global warming. That was why we outlawed aerosol so many years 
> > ago. Carbon monoxide might certainly be a problem, but we are making 
> > great end roads to eliminating a lot of that from vehicle emissions.
> 
> No, the fluorocarbons were supposed to be damaging the ozone layer. 
> That's a somewhat different problem.

Interestingly, emission laws are written so that they favor *less*
efficient cars, i.e., they descriminate against modern, clean diesels.
In fact, from what I've read, diesels produce *fewer* emissions per mile
and the sorts that they do produce are *less* harmful than emissions
from internal combustion engines.  Even though I consider myself on the
left side of things, I'll be the first to agree that there are ton of
environmental regulations that are just plain messed up.

--dlloyd
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