Sorry, but I'm sitting out Earth Day--and the next one and the one after that
I know I'm supposed to be celebrating Earth Day and all the good vibes, but I'm sitting this one out.
Not that I'm against the spirit of the event. I'm all for saving the environment. I take quick showers, I recycle, and I drive a small energy-efficient automobile. But after the feel-good speeches finish and the politicians move on to their next smiling photo-ops, maybe we can get real for a moment.
Been to the grocer lately? The cost of food is going up and up.
(Credit: The World Bank)Fact is that things are bad and getting worse. Some of the best brains are working hard at finding a tech solution to contain fossil fuel pollution. But it's taking time. Time, unfortunately, is not in our favor.
China and India pay lip service to green concerns, but they're intent on repeating all of our stupid mistakes as they pell-mell go about industrializing in the least green-friendly ways. I can't point fingers abroad because here at home, we're going about things in exactly the wrong way. Let's cut through the bull: The fix is in and a supine Congress is in the pockets of the agri-business lobby.
When they write the history of these times, there'll be several culprits. The worst of the bunch is our false fixation on corn ethanol as a "solution." What a scam. This is going to go down as one of the biggest tech boondoggles of our times. Congress has mandated the production of 36 billion gallons of ethanol by the year 2022, and we've footed the bill for more than $50 billion in corn subsidies in the last decade. Give the lobbyists credit for knowing how to push the right buttons. Ethanol isn't going to make gasoline cheap, and it sure as hell isn't going to help the environment.
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We're feeling the more immediate pinch in the form of climbing food prices. It's been that way for at least six months, and there's no reason to believe the trend is going to reverse anytime soon. (Check out this recent report from the World Bank which details how increased biofuel production has contributed to the rise in food prices.) If food riots continue to break out around the globe, maybe our political class will start to focus more sharply.
World Bank President Robert Zoellick recently labeled the rising demand for biofuels a "significant contributor" to increasing grain prices. He added that 33 countries now are at risk of social upheaval because of the crisis. (For a deeper dive, read this recent piece by The Economist on "The new face of hunger."
There's no hope the current administration will rethink its support for corn-based ethanol. Yet, hope springs eternal and maybe a future McCain-, Clinton-, or Obama-led government will call this scam for what it is. Until then, Earth Day will remain a phony feel-good exercise for the saps.
Charles Cooper has covered technology and business for more than 25 years. Before joining CNET News, he worked at the Associated Press, Computer & Software News, Computer Shopper, PC Week, and ZDNet. E-mail Charlie. 
It works in forward thinking countries like Japan, even northern Japan.
In the meantime the emissions and pollutants keep climbing on this new fad industry. How about a hike in taxes on gas guzzlers, SUVs etc to dissuade the production, purchase and use of these wasteful devices?
We all need to become activists every day. This is hardly an original thought. Legislation as evil as you describe doesn't just happen. It's because the flat-earther's are better organized, better funded, and FAR more willing to go out of their way to write letters and make phone calls. They have a system for taking control of the agenda, and it has worked beautifully.
Stepping back and deriding what is important social networking and battery recharging time does nothing but help the forces at work divide and conquer. Nobody serious about this stuff is pretending that the work is done. We are trying to build networks that are deep and resilient for the long haul.
This article represents the ugly, narcissistic side of so-called greenies. Get with it man. This isn't complicated.
The vast majority of the corn produced in the US is for animal feed.
Americans diets are too high in corn and the crap that they turn corn into(sugar).
Anyway, though, I agree with Charlie here. All Earth Day is, really, is a feel-good day. It was created by someone who wanted to feel good about doing something good for the environment one day of the year. The rest of the year, though, who really pays as much attention? The answer is, very few.
So now the price of food is up a little, and of course that's roughest on the poorest people but relatively speaking food is still an amazing bargin.
Anyone for a $4 latte?
Earth Day reminds me of soccor moms who feel like they're saving the world by using canvas bags at the store while they drive thier groceries and their kids home in a Hummer.
Thank you for that well needed dose of reality. Truth be told we live in a country which places higher value on horse power in our cars rather than how many miles can we drive on one tank of gas. We have those who preach about saving the environment and at the same time fly around the country in their own private jet.
I'm no tree hugger but I believe we should be good stewards of our environment. Lets face it, its not about saving the environment its about saving man's ability to live in the environment. Nature will eventually correct itself, we may just not be around to see it happen.
Once we get the human population reduced by 90%, we can start relaxing then.
Once we get the human population reduced by 90%, we can start relaxing then.
So take heart, not everyone is fooled . My analysis is at:
http://threadbarer.blogspot.com/2008/04/wheat-producing-nation-critiques-wheat.html
Example - Willy Nelson loves "small family farmers" - who are the most inefficent producers and who rely on the subsidies, not to profit, but merely to survive. Why? They are the most undercapitalized so every time there's a distribution in the economy they get stung the worst.
Nobody wants to drill in AK but guess what? That's where the oil is and while it is real nice that a protester in SF thinks that we shouldn't drill there that isn't reality. Does any oil company, when oil is $119 a barrel, really want to be sloppy and spill it? Of course not.
While we are on the subject, please, no more rock bands, flying around the world in pvt jets, owning 5 huge houses, telling everyone else how to live "green". In fact, no more celebrities, period, lecuring. You aren't helping, you are hurting. Most of you are high school drop outs who spend their lives in LA doing fantasy work. Try telling someone living in a mobile home that they have to pay huge premimums for food because some Hollywood ******** wants to use enthenol in his Prius. (which is parked next to his Hummer, his Porsche, etc).
Here's the reality people - people have to live somewhere, eat something, and do something with their lives. We need the governement to invest heavily so we don't end up with our balls in someone else's hands again. (Tip: read "The Prize", the best book ever written about the history of the oil industry which the US used to own, Sammuals excepted). We need to slowly cut out many of the farm subsidies which were relevent when farms were all small family farms, and in general, our tax dollars should go into research and not markets.
Bottom line, there isn't a quick or easy fix. Gasoline/Oil has at least twice the energy value of other fuels and is cheaper to produce by a wide margin. This is why it is in use today and why electric cars aren't. (Who Killed the Electric Car? Duh, the market). Maybe there's no fix at all but we need to work towards a real fix, not a fix du joir.
House #1
A 20 room mansion (not including 8 bathrooms) heated by natural gas. Add on a pool (and a pool house) and a separate guest house, all heated by gas. In one month this residence consumes more energy than the average American household does in a year. The average monthly bill for electricity and natural gas runs over $2400. In natural gas alone, this property consumes more than 12 times the national average for an American home. This house is not situated in the Northern or Midwestern 'Snow Belt' area. It is in the South.
House #2
Designed by an architecture professor at a leading national university. This house incorporates every 'green' feature current home construction can provide. The house is 4,000 square feet (4 bedrooms) and is nestled on a high prairie in the American southwest. A central closet in the house holds geothermal heat-pumps drawing ground water through pipes sunk 300 feet into the ground. The ground water, usually at 67 degrees F, is not used or contaminated but is recirculated back into the ground. The ground water heats the house in the winter and cools it in the summer. The heat-pump system uses no fossil fuels such as oil, propane, or natural gas and it consumes one-quarter of the electricity required for a conventional heating/cooling system. Rainwater from the roof is collected and funneled into a 25,000 gallon underground cistern. Wastewater from showers, sinks, and toilets goes into underground purifying tanks and then into the cistern. The collected water then irrigates the land surrounding the house. Surrounding flowers and shrubs native to the area enable the property to blend into the surrounding rural landscape.
HOUSE # 1 is outside of Nashville , Tennessee. It is the abode of the 'environmentalist' Al Gore.
HOUSE # 2 is on a ranch near Crawford , Texas. It is the residence of the President of the United States, George W. Bush.
Well, that's us.... we've been having the monster of all parties on the planet (starting with the industrial revolution). And, now it's like our parents {Mother Nature et al} are on their way home and - not only will they be REALLY mad - they just may actually kill us. So we are scrambling to put things back and make things right. It aint going to happen. That crystal egg is shattered beyond repair.
I cut a cartoon out of the local paper this morning. It's of Kermit the Frog wearing an Earth Day t-shirt. He's laying smooshed in the world's huge carbon footprint. Party on.
Oil prices keep going up because oil companies are being hit with a "carbon tax" on oil and gas. We now have $118 a barrel and $4.00 a gallon gas prices. When the USA gets hit with a "carbon tax" we will see $5 to $10 a gallon gas prices. Already the independent truckers went on strike because they cannot afford gas and it is causing them to lose money and go out of business.
Environmentalists have forced farmers to turn grains into ethanol, and now we have corn, wheat, and rice shortages and the price of meat and eggs went up because grain used to feed farm animals went up as well. Already in Mexico and Pakistan their are riots due to the prices of food there, and in the USA Costco and other wholesalers are rationing the amount of staples food people can buy. All to fight global warming. Plus farmers bulldoze forests to grow more corn, and it releases the carbon in forests into the environment, So trying to go greener is actually harming the economy and environment more than helping it.
Also New Zealand did a study and found out that instead of driving a car five miles, if you ride a bicycle five miles and then drink a glass of milk, it puts more CO2 in the air than the car exhaust would put in the air. So going greener is not always better.
We, Americans in general, live in a disposable society. Its our job to consume as much as we can, as fast as we can, whenever we can. We place value only on things that we can see, hear, smell, touch, and taste. If it doesn't keep us from fulfilling our immediate need for gratification then its not important. It only becomes an issue for us when we can no longer get what we want, when we want it.
This is the reality we have created for ourselves and bought into. We do not understand things in moderation, we live in a world of extremes and excess. We are out of touch with the world around us and consumed with only ourselves.
Holding hands and singing Kum Ba Ya is not going to change anything. The only way things are going to change is if we change what we value. Then change our life style to reflect that value system.
Gas is still far cheeper then any alternative. The tech to make the alternatives cheeper then gas just isn't there yeat. Let along the logistics of switching over an ENTIRE eco-system of transportaion and distribution of energy based on Gas/Oil.
Just face it people , there is no magic pill except time. In time we can slowly get off Gas, maybe.
- by JohnBarbagallo April 22, 2008 5:52 PM PDT
- Earth Day is just a reminder each year of how much we've/we are f'ing up this planet of ours. Call it what you want, pollution is here to stay forever.
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