Sunday, September 30, 2007

Global Warming:
I took Al Gore's 7-Point Pledge today, which can be found at www.liveearthpledge.org

Take the pledge.

Monday, October 1, 2007

Global Warming:
Educate myself.  It's easy enough to take a pledge, but what about the follow through?

If you had five frogs on a log and three of them decided to jump, how many frogs would you have left on the log?

Two.

Wrong, there would still be five because there is a difference between deciding to jump and jumping.

"To demand that my country join an international treaty within the next 2 years that cuts global warming pollution by 90% in developed countries and by more than half worldwide in time for the next generation to inherit a healthy earth."

Wow! Ninety percent! What international treaty? Kyoto or something like it?

Wikipedia article on the Kyoto Protocol.

From Al Gore, "This treaty would mark a new effort. I am proud of my role during the Clinton administration in negotiating the Kyoto protocol. But I believe that the protocol has been so demonized in the United States that it probably cannot be ratified here — much in the way the Carter administration was prevented from winning ratification of an expanded strategic arms limitation treaty in 1979. Moreover, the negotiations will soon begin on a tougher climate treaty.

Therefore, just as President Reagan renamed and modified the SALT agreement (calling it Start), after belatedly recognizing the need for it, our next president must immediately focus on quickly concluding a new and even tougher climate change pact. We should aim to complete this global treaty by the end of 2009 — and not wait until 2012 as currently planned."

O.K., so he means a new treaty.
Contact your representatives.  That's what they're for.

Monday, October 2, 2007

The End Of The World As We Know It:

Recently I read Jared Diamond's new book, Collapse.  I especially enjoyed the chapter on Easter Island.  The answers, found so far, to the mystery are more fascinating than the questions.  Read it as a parable and draw your own conclusions.  Here's a much longer and more snooty review.

It's going to take morals, on the part of individuals, corporations, and governments, to undo the damage we've done to our planet.  And for those without morals, it's going to take laws with teeth.

Do a moral check.  Note: by law, corporations only have morals if it increases stockholder's profits.

Wednesday, October 3, 2007

I took a quick look on the net at the paper vs. plastic vs. reusable bag issue, yesterday. Of course, reusable wins. One of the shortest and most fun sites to read was this one from Tree Hugger.  So, I'm on the search for reusable bags. Most of what I've seen are just plain ugly or way too expensive. Probably will make some.

Because I live out in the country, shopping trips are a major event. I may come home with two dozen bags.

Thursday, October 4, 2007

Probably the easiest way to reduce direct and indirect pollution is to buy and consume less. Day before yesterday, I took four trash cans plus a few large items to the disposal center. It cost me $12.65. This represents over a year's worth of trash. That low amount is because I practice the country way of doing things. However, we are not that remote. Some of my neighbors pay for weekly trash collection, big stinky trucks that haul the trash to a landfill out of the county.

The country way of doing things means that I burn trash, feed food scraps to animals, bury dead things, and sheep do my yard work.

I live in the smallest house that I have ever owned. I drive a 28-year-old vehicle, a work van with rust. I work at home. I live within my means and haven't used credit for 25 years. Only the decision to not use credit was purposeful. The rest was the result of ill health resulting in reduced income. But the result is that I consume less and am not so wasteful. I was raised by depression era parents and this background helped me cope. However, reverting to brown paper bags and wrapping sandwiches in waxed paper will not help us to pollute less.

The prediction that Jared Diamond made in his book, Collapse, for the United States was that our standard of living would go down, while that of third world countries would go up. I've noticed the general standard of living slipping for about two decades. The average wage not keeping up with the rise in the cost of living, the poor ranking of our education system, the poor state of our health system, the degradation of our infrastructure, the disappearance of pensions, jobs with benefits, whole industries, kids being raised in day care from babyhood - the list goes on and on.

On the bright side, living without car payments, credit card payments, and not buying things that I lose interest in almost instantly isn't such a bad thing.

Friday, October 5, 2007

"Here I come to save the day."

Yes, I've adopted Mighty Mouse as a mascot for this site.  The idea, of course, is that one small individual can have super powers, fight for good, and make a difference.

This individual has to buy a water heater today.  One is on sale at the largest hardware and home supply place in the county. We're so remote that we don't have a Home Depot, in fact, we don't have a Walmart. This will probably change in the next couple of years, but we'll see. The ad doesn't say if this is an energy saver, so it probably is not. I guess that in the case of a water heater energy saver would mean it has extra insulation. However, I'm finding out that when it comes to energy technology, my guesses are usually wrong. I don't really care if it's an energy saver as it's home is in my utility room and if there are 40 gallons of water residing there on standby, the least it can do is help heat the room. On the north coast of California, an air conditioner is never needed. Warmth is the goal. An on demand water heater is also on sale, for more than twice as much and I understand that it requires stainless steel vent piping. So the up front cost is probably three times as expensive, or more.

I read this morning that the average mile per gallon of gasoline for vehicles in the U.S. is 16.2 mpg. That's about what my old beast of a truck gets. My son tells me that the big, new, shiny SUVs and pickups may only get about 10 mpg. All I see when I look at them is car payments, or what my parents used to call "financial bondage."

Saturday, October 6, 2007

Weekly Summation:
First, I'm going to cut out some of the verbiage in the 7-point pledge and add some concerns of my own.

I always thought the "Love Your Mother" slogan was pretty succinct.

This week, I've concentrated on identifying problems and sharing my efforts with others.

Earth teach me to forget myself as melted snow forgets its life.
Earth teach me resignation as the leaves which die in the fall.
Earth teach me courage as the tree which stands all alone.
Earth teach me regeneration as the seed which rises in the spring.
~ William Alexander