The comments about how hard it would be to mess up our world because of how big it is are very similar to the thoughts of many people many years ago before we started wiping out comercial fisheries left and right, like orange roughy. We used to think that the worlds resources were endless, kinda like we used to think it was flat...The slight change in the CO2 is causing a change in the PH of the ocean, which is killing our reefs.
Also, everyone is saying that most of the scientists are government funded and are just saying things to keep their jobs, however, just as much corporate money from exxon, and many others is going towards false propaganda and towards their own research that happens to make them earn more money. Experts agree that we are past the peak Oil production that our planet can supply us with. The Global demand for oil is still increasing, we are just beginning to see an increase in price compared to what is coming. Economists predict that when gasoline reaches $9.00 a gallon, which it will in the near future, the american lifestyle will begin to change somewhat drastically, as in many will move closer to their workplace, use public transportation more, less vacations, and closer to home, conserve energy, fewer hobbies, etc. Ethanol is not the final solution, as taking away a food source to supply energy for extravagancies is never a good idea, however, it will be vital IMO as a transitional source to help ease the transition from oil to whatever comes next, Hydrogen fuel cells, solar, etc. since it can be used largly with the same infrastructure, and therefore allows for a slower change, which has fewer and less severe negative impacts, I think there is a reefkeeping analogy somewhere here.... When acclimating coral, we must allow the change to be gradual, and for it to give the animal time to adapt and not have negative consequences...The same is also true with all things in life....or most, the slower the change, the less negative impacts it has. I believe that there are many reasons to be "green" only one of which is Global Climate Change, sometimes incorrectly refferred to as Global Warming, as it is the change in our climate that will disrupt all the cycles that we take for granted on our planet. A change of just a few percent soil moisture in the midwest would cause a vast area previously prime farmland to become a desert, while other parts of the world will flood. The world will be unpredictable, and we may or may not be able to adapt fast enough. As we are using oil at a rate 1000 times faster than it is being reproduced, this is obviously not sustainable, so we must find a new source at some point, and by making it a renewable source like Solar, wind, Hydro, Fuel cell, etc. we will become more energy independent rather than relying on our political enemies for oil when a slight policy change there could crash our economy. So, we need to lead the way in green technologies so that we are the one that reap the economic, environmental, and social benefits rather that other countries. If we took all subsidies from fossil fuels, and put them to renewables, there would be little difference in the cost of electricity especially with the development of products such as nanosolar.
http://www.nanosolar.com/
On an even touchier note, we also need to find a way to stabilize the global population, as if it keeps increasing, at somepoint we will reacha critical density, and some catostrophic event will cause a massive loss of life on a scale never before seen, but on the same lines as the plague which is the only noticable decrease in the world population....ever. Several studies show that the sustainable population that our planet could support indefinately would be around 2 billion, allowing for some fluctuation. The more people we have, the greater our impact on the environment will be, so we must not only "Reduce, Reuse, Recycle" but we also must limit the population growth of our society.
As for what I am doing to be "Green"
Hybrid Car
CFL/LED in house
"submarine" showers
limited photoperiod
Environmental Education( my Venturing crew recently won the Busch Gardens/FujiFilm/Seaworld, National Environmental excellence Award which comes with a $10,000 attachment to further your green efforts)
Displays at MD state fair about Aquatics impacts, Global Climate change, etc.
Just moved tank to basement, so I didnt need any fans, chillers etc, and so we could let the upstairs get up to 80-82 degrees and not use AC as much/any
Amny more I cant think of right now, its late have to get up early
I hope that doesnt come off as provocative, because it wasnt meant to, I just wanted to express my opinion, and maybe change a couple others,
Thanks for reading, I apologize for any typos...
