Ready for SS's 1st Great Debate?

[Acre of Blessings]

To put it all in a nut-shell.......................

It's not Global Warming it's God's Warning.

 

[FarmerChick]

Hi me&thegals

I don't feel it was directed at me at all.

I do have to use big trucks for the farm. The side benefit is I produce local foods and value added products for my community. I feed people. That is alot more than others do so I feel it is a huge trade off.

Sure I use what is available in this world. I also give back alot. Part of my farm is always left wild for animals and hawks and such.

I do what I can to be green and be aware, as many people in this world do, it is to what level everyone can handle their personal situations.

Alot of the previous posts did cover the entitlement and arrogant feelings towards why they feel entitled to have it all. We can have it all cause in this day and age we can, but to what level do we take personal responsibility to take less? It is all up to the individual.

And yes what some others do does drive me batty also...HA HA....I definitely try to "sneak" in a comment or 2 but never tell anyone outright what they are doing is bad. That just starts wars and I ain't into wars..LOL

 

[yotetrapper]

Alot of good points on this post. Maybe I was stirring the pot a bit, but I truly am tired of having "green" "organic" and "carbon footprints" stuffed down my throat.

I drive a gas guzzler because it is required for my fall/winter occupation, fur trapping. Fur- the original renewable coat material. Ford Tempos don't handle mud and 2' snow banks too well. I dont have two cars due to the high cost of registration/switching plates here.

I buy upteen bazillion plastic bottles because it's the only way I've found to buy soda where it's not flat, and wont spill on my truck seat. At home, we buy aluminum cans. I really do need to start crushing them for junk I guess.

I am horrible about remembering to turn off lights. However, we do not use a/c, nor do we have a furnace. I grow a great deal of our food, and I DO buy American when I can (which is increasingly harder to do). American coffee? Is there such a thing? Steel? None is made in American any longer. Precious few parts on that Chevy or Ford is "Made in America"... more parts are American on a Toyota.

I DO want to become more and more self sufficient. For two reason: Finance and the ability to provide for my family should the need arise. If I "save the earth" along the way, cool, if not, sorry.

My point was and IS that I do not at all believe humans are responsible for the so called climate change. I do not watch news, seldom read papers, but have read numerous scientic artcles on both sides of the issues. In actuality, glacier mass in the arctic had INCREASED over the past decade, not decreased. If anyone is interested I will hunt up the data that supports that.

I never throw trash out in nature, and often pick up others trash. I never take more from nature than what she can safely provide. I dedicate time and money in the area of furbearer conservation, as it is a field I hold dear, which is being threated by today's farmers, much moreso since ethanol rose up the prices of corn.

I'm not a total a-hole, although at times I may come off as one, LOL.

I agree with what bee-kissed said about the world being beyond saving. Due mostly to "progress". Advanced medicine has increased the lifespan of everyone, and drastically reduced infant/child mortality, which results in huge population spread, and this country wont be able to support it much longer. As population continues to increase, we're going to run out of not only resources but space as well. The world I do believe is nearing it's end.

Angela

Sorry to those whom I offended.

 

[FarmerChick]

you surely didn't offend me.

I just can't debate the global issues at this point, because honestly, I don't know what to believe on this issue.

I have read many views, pros and cons about each side and the info they are cramming down our throats to believe this or that...LOL-LOL

I am a lost cause on this issue almost.

You sound like you are doing what most people are doing.....use what is necessary in your lifestyle but be conscious where you can....that is all we can do???? what more is there....feeling guilty about living in this day and age is not going to make anything truly better...so embrace what life has to offer while trying to give some back. that is what I do? nothing else I truly can...LOL

just my point of view on things....I try

 

[Tutter]

....American coffee? Is there such a thing?

Sure there is. Several of my coffee drinking friends drink coffee from Hawaii. They really enjoy it.

And, next best, are companies which buy beans from cooperatives in Latin America, etc. which are organic, shade grown and fair trade. Then they roast and blend the beans here.

Actually, if one is going to buy coffee anyway, which is imported no matter how you look at it, it's important to support those beans/countries/companies when you think about it. If we don't buy them, and pay them more than the pittance they would normally get, then they would likely go with how it's often done in their areas; removing the migratory songbird's winter habitat. There are times in which things have more to them than meet the eye.

 

[Rosalind]

Pat, bless you for trying. I don't even try anymore, because thus far all attempts at providing expert opinions and educating people in the field of science have fallen flat. See Matt Nisbet's Science article on the significance of framing debates.

So far, us geeks have tried to educate laypeople on the following issues, with minimal success:

-The importance of diet and exercise when it comes to heart disease and diabetes
-Herd immunity and the significance of vaccination; most folks born before WWII ended remember what it was like to have half your kids die of polio or measles, and to have a miscarriage every year from rubella.
-Seat belt use
-Smoking being bad for you
-Air pollution causes asthma
&c. &c.

Quite frankly, I've given up and decided it's hopeless. Someone more idealistic than me can do that work. If people are going to sell the whole country to China and want to choke on a combination of smog and Cheetos, there doesn't seem to be much for me to do about it.

 

[me&thegals]

To all of the above--no offense taken, hopefully none given.

I get frustrated with all the conflicting "scientific" reports supporting and refuting global climate change. I'm going with my gut on this one. Again, it's way too hard for me to believe that intensive pollution and use of resources won't hurt the earth.

Darn, sure wish I could change the world! But, since I can't change ALL of it I'll continue working on my tiny portion of it Yep--I pick up other people's trash, too, cursing the slobs under my breath Mostly, though, I try to teach my kids about the amazing beauty of Mother Earth and all she can give us when we treat her with respect.

 

[Beekissed]

To all of the above--no offense taken, hopefully none given.

I get frustrated with all the conflicting "scientific" reports supporting and refuting global climate change. I'm going with my gut on this one. Again, it's way too hard for me to believe that intensive pollution and use of resources won't hurt the earth.

Darn, sure wish I could change the world! But, since I can't change ALL of it I'll continue working on my tiny portion of it Yep--I pick up other people's trash, too, cursing the slobs under my breath Mostly, though, I try to teach my kids about the amazing beauty of Mother Earth and all she can give us when we treat her with respect.

Amen, sister!

 

[Nifty]

I don't have anything to say on this topic right now, but I do have to thank Pat for such a great post and for this wonderful quote:

you can learn more about hornets when you *havent* just kicked the nest

<making a note to share this with the BYC staff>

 

[reinbeau]

To all of the above--no offense taken, hopefully none given.

I get frustrated with all the conflicting "scientific" reports supporting and refuting global climate change. I'm going with my gut on this one. Again, it's way too hard for me to believe that intensive pollution and use of resources won't hurt the earth.

No disrespect intended, but you've touched on what my problem is with 'global warming'.

Why do the two have to be tied together (global warming and pollution)? I don't believe in GW. Anyone who has really paid attention knows the earth has cycles it goes through. Humans have just started to really pay attention to it. Why is Greenland so named? Because thousands of years ago it was green! And it will be again, and somewhere else will be encased in year-round snow. We really can't do anything about it! That stupid movie of Al Bore's proves nothing, and the 'science' has been mostly refuted, but no one wants to admit it, because they've all been seduced by the popular opinion and the GW religion. The legislation that's being passed (or is trying to be passed) based on this 'religion') is very costly, and controlling, to the normal person. It won't hurt people with money, like Gore and the Hollywood LaLa land dwellers, and it makes for great TV, but it really won't help stop the world from warming, if that's what the earth is going to do.

What we can do something about is our polluting ways. Stop pollution for the sake of not poisoning the only home we have. Stop huge corporations from polluting, make them consider those methods used as a cost of doing business, not something that takes way from their bottom line. Educate people on the best ways to recycle and live as organically as possible. As far as the vehicles we drive here in this country, I blame the government and the petroleum industry for being where we're at right now. I sat in gas lines in the 70's, and in the more than 30 intervening years there is absolutely no excuse why a more fuel efficient/alternative fuel line of affordable vehicles hasn't been developed - the only reason nothing has come of it is because they were still making too much money keeping us on the gas feedlines. Now we're really paying the price of that lack of development.

For the record, I recycle everything at my local transfer station, grow an organic garden, and despite being a very conservative minded person, am a true environmentalist and amateur naturalist. I drive as fuel lefficient cars as I can afford (a Ford Ranger that gets 21 mpg around town and a Toyota Camry that's getting 30 mpg around town). We don't live in an area with heavy public transportation or I'd use it. There's a train that goes into Boston, but that doesn't do me much good as I work in the surrounding towns as a Pilates instructor. I drive a lot travelling between studios and gyms where I teach.

I live as environmentally conscious as I can without the need to be threatened with global warming.