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Rich Franco

10 Years Ago

Historic Levels-carbon Dioxide-highest Levels-3 Million Years

With less than 3 weeks since Earth Day, it was announced yesterday, that the Earth has the highest levels of carbon dioxide since 3-5 million years ago, 400 parts per million.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/national/health-science/atmospheric-carbon-dioxide-levels-hit-worrisome-milestone/2013/05/10/7cfe450c-b9a4-11e2-b94c-b684dda07add_story.html

In the future, people will look at this day and it will be remembered.

The problem is a very complicated one and the solutions are even more complicated and onerous, but must be faced and acted upon.

If we all can work to at least contain our carbon footprint and not increase it and hopefully even reduce it and "we" being humans, then the tide may be turned, if not, the future for our children and they're children looks very bleak indeed,

Rich

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Tony Murray

10 Years Ago

Plants love it. Good for planet earth in general.

 

Steven Ralser

10 Years Ago

But not good for us.

 

Ricardo De Almeida

10 Years Ago

It's good for the chlorophyll industry.

:)

 

Abbie Shores

10 Years Ago

I agree Rich. People who brush it under the carpet are becoming less and less thank goodness. Finally people are listening

Everyone in the world can do something. It is not just a government issue. Smaller cars with less emissions. Walking to pick the kids up from school rather than driving. Sharing cars where possible for trips. Walking to the shop instead of driving. Not getting plastic bags but using re-usables. Disposing of all waste carefully. re-using where possible anything you can.

So many other tiny ways that, if everyone did them, we could really make a difference that would not only help the world as a whole but the individual doing it healthwise etc

Okay I will shuttup. I know what most people in this forum think of my environmental concerns unfortunately so I am going to keep them for arenas more suited

But, I will say that the more we push our governments to take action the better! Small term money benefits may be great for them but you cannot spend money when you are dead.

 

Mary Bedy

10 Years Ago

Abbie, I completely agree with you. I try not to get emotionally invested in the general discussion about global warming, etc. because those who dismiss anything like this just don't get it and I tend to get frustrated and angry. It's the mind set that we only live here about 79-90 years on average so why should we care?

 

Patricia Strand

10 Years Ago

Well said, Abbie. If every one of us just made little adjustments to our wasteful ways, it would add up, I think. I'm considering moving from the pristine countryside with its crispy-clean air to a small town where, even though small, I'll be breathing in gas emissions. However, I'll be using my car less and walking more. One of this, one of that.

 

Bradford Martin

10 Years Ago

The problem is very real but there is nothing that can be done. We can slow it a bit but the use of fossil fuels will continue. All the disastrous predictions will come true and that has been the fate of the earth since the first coal mine.

 

Chris Kusik

10 Years Ago

It disturbs me that many of my neighbors do not recycle. Here in Orange County FL. (I Think Rich is in this county too), they take so many items for recycling we often have only 1 tall
kitchen bag every week or less (2 people). All my vegetable scraps, coffee grinds, etc. go to a compost bin that I use for potting soil. Things have gotten so bad. I saw a show called
"naked survivor". The guy was on a beautiful remote island in the south pacific. There was so much trash on the island that he used for pots, pans etc. that he hardly had to make anything.

 

Chris Kusik

10 Years Ago

There is plenty that we can do!

 

Abbie Shores

10 Years Ago

nothing that can be done

That is so untrue that I could cry. We can do plenty. We just don't

 

Chris Kusik

10 Years Ago

Much of which takes little effort other than caring!

 

Mary Bedy

10 Years Ago

Even if you're hard-pressed to do everything that's possible, you can pick one thing and do it consistently. Even if it's a tiny thing, a bunch of tiny things together eventually add up to a larger thing.

 

Chris Kusik

10 Years Ago

I used to buy a soda everyday for lunch. I realized that by bringing my own cup to the convenience store everyday I kept over 300 styrofoam cups from going into the trash every year.
That was enough to fill my whole car up with cups!

 

Mary Bedy

10 Years Ago

Chris, that reminds me of the time my husband and daughter and I were driving through Yosemite toward the exit, and my husband glanced in the rear-view mirror and said the woman driving behind us was throwing plastic water bottle after plastic water bottle out the window of her car. We were going to turn her in at the exit, but she turned off before we got there. Makes me LIVID. She was to f***ing lazy to stop at a gas station to empty her car? And how about the fact that they've closed off a large portion of Joshua Tree because some idiot losers are tagging the rocks and actually destroying some of the ancient petroglyphs!!!

Sorry, Rich, I don't mean to hijack the thread, but I just don't get it. Some people just treat the environment like a rubbish bin. What's wrong with people????

 

Rich Franco

10 Years Ago

Mary,

I'm with you on that! We don't buy water anymore. Iv'e got a filter under the sink and then that get's poured into a 2 1/2 Gal. Brita container in the frig,which we use for drinking and ice cubes, don't use the ice maker any more,

Rich

 

Rich Franco

10 Years Ago

There is ALWAYS something we can do and if we consider this important, which a few here obviously don't, then we can change small things we do that contribute to the overall problem. The big issues can only be handled by governments and that will happen when we keep the pressure on them and keep them focused. As China and India grow and obtain more cars, the problem will get worse, as it is today, but we can help, by letting our government elected officials know, this is a top prority, maybe the highest, since it affects every human on the planet and it needs to be treated that way and soon.

People that adopt, "we can't do anything,it's too big" are either under-educated about this or lazy/selfish and will continue their lifestyles, because they can! We all know people like that and I just grit my teeth when I see them doing things, just because they can and can afford to do them.

We are,as a nation, doing dumb things to our environment and at some point,there will be payback. We're "fracking" because it's cheap and easy,regardless of what it's doing to our aquifers.

I have a friend, whose son is an engineer up in the Dakota Oil fields and they have thousands of wells working up there, fracking wells and there is so much natural gas coming up from these wells, but no way to contain it or ship it, they just burn it off, every well 24/7 and he told me the light is so bright at night, that it now can be seen from Space! And this is out in the middle of nowhere. So they do it,because they can, it's not right or good, but it's profitable for them.

And I worry about emissions from my car!

Rich

 

Louise Reeves

10 Years Ago

And trees and virgin forests will continue to disappear because everyone needs another strip mall.

Re: Tossing trash out of cars: Riding with my friend one afternoon, we see a passenger in a Lexus toss his water bottle onto the road directly in front of us. A guy in a van in the right lane started yelling at him and we, who were in the center lane, stopped and picked up the bottle (we were at a red light), went up to the car (he was in the left lane) and handed it back to him with a "I believe you dropped this back there". He was so dumbfounded, he muttered a "thanks" and took it before they tore outta there. LOL
Don't mess with bikers.

 

Mary Bedy

10 Years Ago

Good for you Louise. In hindsight, I should have told my husband to stop in the middle of the road so she would have had to stop so we could get out and yell at this person, but I'm just thinking of that now.

I hope whoever it is got fined for littering somewhere so she will think about it twice now.

I watched another idiot drive over a young alligator in the Everglades once when we got out to take pictures of it. The guy behind us who had pulled over as well said he was going to get a stick and try and coax it off the road....then this jerk comes by and just kills it. It was a juvenile - like 3 feet long, so there is no way he could have missed it in the middle of the day in the middle of the road.

I'm going to just read the thread now - no more comments because I'm in danger of becoming obnoxious because this stuff makes me so mad.

 

Chris Kusik

10 Years Ago

I think that the main people fighting against the global warming issue are the big polluters who don't want to spend the money to clean up their act. The rest are going along with
the status quo.

 

Dan Turner

10 Years Ago

Concerns for the environment are still very new. Industrialized nations are just circling the wagons. Individually, more progress has been made than we realize.

This clip shows an upper middle class family in a public park in the 1960s. Very typical, normal, socially acceptable behavior. Today, most of us would never think of doing this and would be surprised to see it:



Dan Turner
Dan Turner Fine Art
Dan Turner's Seven Keys to Selling Art Online
To Enjoy Dan Turner's Pinterest Boards, Click Here

 

Louise Reeves

10 Years Ago

I know that's just a show, but that was horrible!
When my spouse and I both smoked and would go to the beach, I swear we were the only ones who cleaned up every last butt we might have snuffed before we left. It took me a while to train him to stop tossing the empty packs out his car window. If I see someone else do it, I blow the horn at them. I once spotted a school girl toss her paper bag on the street. I stopped my car, called her over and told her to go back and get it, that there's a garbage can right there, use it. She did. :D

 

Chris Kusik

10 Years Ago

I still see people behave like this. I first learned about pollution in school in the early 1970's. Later in chemistry class I learned that you can't keep dumping chemicals in a bottle
without a reaction (much like the earth).

 

Patricia Strand

10 Years Ago

Thank you, Philip. Haven't touched any meat other than fish once in a while in 28 years. Wish I could go vegan, maybe someday!

 

Rose Art

10 Years Ago

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-440049/Greenhouse-effect-myth-say-scientists.html

You can find something to suit every opinion on the internet.

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Bradford Martin

10 Years Ago

Sorry if I gave the impression of being uneducated or uncaring. In college I the 70's I took courses in climatology and planetary atmospheres. I worked hard to get educate local municiplities to get recycling programs going. I try and leave a small carbon footprint and drive far less then the average American . Some of the professors I studied under were visiting from the Goddard Institute and were responsible for making popular the impending global warming crisis.( See the work of Dr. James Hansenhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Hansen). I have worked more volunteer hours than most do for environmental causes, putting in 1 or 2 full days a week for many years. In addition I chose a low paying environmental protection career. The fact is simple feel good measures are not going to take carbon dioxide out of the atmosphere. If all of America stopped burning fossil fuels it would not change the inevitable. Please don't call me uneducated or uncaring because my opinions are not as optimistic as others.

 

Patricia Cleasby

10 Years Ago

This American Life had did a show on climate change last week. Not really climate change, but about the people who work around or with people who don't believe in climate change. Nothing can happen until a strong majority of us are up to date, and we are far from that. The second story, about a Republican thrown out of office and booed or laughed at when he mentions climate change may be a good example of how far we have to go:





http://www.thisamericanlife.org/radio-archives/episode/495/hot-in-my-backyard

 

Gary Whitton

10 Years Ago

Rich,

Permafrost has been a problem parts of Alaska a long time. In Fairbanks where I was there was a section of road they'd been forced to repave for years, to the point one summer they decided to do the job right, and they dug nearly 30 feet of blacktop out of the ground, along with any permafrost they could find, they put down some insulation, a whole bunch of dry gravel, and resurfaced it. The road has been great ever since.

And in my short time there (geologically short that is), I saw a lot of changes, from permafrost being a major issue when I arrive, to not being as big an issue when I left. I also saw glaciers that once filed lakes with ice, permanently grounded on bedrock by the time I left, and not caving at all. That was in 20 years.

Someone at one point even compared the amount of ice lost on the Columbia glacier in the last 30 years (which at one point prevented such a big hazard to oil tanker traffic that they considered installing canons to blow apart the floating ice), to the equivalent of a hundred thousand super tankers filled with water. Don't think anything close to that much oil has been pulled out of Valdez in the last 30-40 years. That is an equivalent to a section of ice about 9 miles long, 3 miles wide and a several hundred feet deep that has been lost.

Paul,

And that's the funny thing. Some might look at what's going on in Alaska as a counter argument to global warming, but at least in some scenarios I can see where global warming can produce colder conditions. Like more snow pack in mountains which may actually speed up glacier growth rather than the other way around. And there are actually some cases in Alaska where glaciers are growing, but they are the rare exception.

 

Rich Franco

10 Years Ago

Patricia,

Good program and I try to listen to it every weekend, will pulling weeds!!! I didn't here this one yet, but will later, thanks!

Gary,

If some space guy was out there watching our planet and all the changes being made and the resulting issues being created here on Earth, by both the natural changes and the things that we humans are contributing, he would say we are all nuts! We need to stop, everything else and secure this planet for us and future generations and all this short term stuff, politics and war, can wait!

Did you hear anything about the potential "methane" gas problem?

Rich

 

Gary Whitton

10 Years Ago

Rich,

Here's an interesting video on the subject of methane, from a professor I know in passing.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YegdEOSQotE

Her specialty is methane produced in permafrost rich areas of Alaska and Russia.

 

Rich Franco

10 Years Ago

Gary,

Good video! Just need a bunch of guys and some beer and have a real party!!!

A lot of lakes and water up there in Alaska, not good!

Thanks,

Rich

 

Rich Franco

10 Years Ago

Phillip,et.al.,

Here's a newer video from Bob Villa Green series of earth bermed homes,

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZgWTeU7zDGI

Rich

 

Rich Milo

10 Years Ago

Sorry for the religious input. I hope I do not offend anyone. But the houses in the caves and under the ground just brought this Bible prophecy concerning the “last days” to my mind. I thought it was quite interesting. No need to attack me as I am signing out............................

People will flee to caves in the rocks and to holes in the ground from the fearful presence of the LORD and the splendor of his majesty, when he rises to shake the earth.
Isaiah 2:19

 

Loree Johnson

10 Years Ago

I remember reading an article about the glaciers on Mount Shasta, near where I live. They are growing, not shrinking, and scientists say it's also due to climate change. Apparently, the climate around here has been getting drier, and so the glaciers do not receive the amount of rainfall and subsequent yearly melt that they used to, therefore they grow. Although this year the snowpack is at record low levels and the rains are also less than normal, so drought is likely this summer.

 

Paul Cowan

10 Years Ago

I thought about it, Rich, and A) the Lord hasn't risen to shake the Earth, while B) If one person out of seven billion digging a hole in the ground is enough to fulfil your prophecy, then the standard of proof required is rather trivial. Have you heard about the troglodytes in southern Spain who have been living in holes in the ground since time immemorial? http://www.andalucia.com/guadix/home.htm

 

Rich Franco

10 Years Ago

Rich,Rich,Rich,

Youse guys are killin' me here! The only "redeeming" value of your statement that lends to this discussion is this, your book was very close, here is how it should have been written:

"People will flee to caves in rocks and holes in the ground, from the fearful presence of HIGH ELECTRIC BILLS!!!"

Loree,

I bet the people up in Glacier National Park were having the same issue! In a few years, it'll be just PARK!

Rich

 

Rich Milo

10 Years Ago

Let's "BUMP" this post up for no reason at all "except" for..................



 

Rich Franco

10 Years Ago

Rich,

At least you have a sense of humor! And I really like that sense of "self-deprecating humor" and you "playin' the fool"!!!

Rich, the other Rich

 

Rich Milo

10 Years Ago

Come on Rich. I can’t believe at your age that you’re buying into the “new age BS”. What the heck do you want to do? Do you really want to create windmills and freak’n solar panels to make the economy work? And in the end of this discussion this is what it is really all about................. HAPPY MEMORABLE DAY................................



 

Rich Milo

10 Years Ago

And now bow your heads in commemoration to all the U.S. war veterans in a moment of silence...............

 

Paul Cowan

10 Years Ago

It's not about the economy, Rich. The economy is just collateral damage, one way or the other.

Look at it this way, you can pay a hefty insurance premium today to mitigate the effects of a likely disaster down the road, or you can gamble your entire economy against the scientific consensus.

Nor is it "New Age hippy stuff". That is all about make-believe beings influencing the world with their magic powers _ end of days sort of thinking - which is the opposite of science.

 

Rich Franco

10 Years Ago

Rich M.,

Yes I guess I do want people to have jobs, clean jobs, building solar panels and "giving" them to anyone that will use them, have them installed by this program, install new electric meters, that can run both ways, in and out, and start creating energy and like a virus, spread across the United States. If the Government decided that today, let's start "Rich's" program, we could have thousands of people working by the end of the summer and these would be mostly good paying jobs, manufacturing, installations, electrical and roofing, and then maintenance of these systems. In a few years, all this "need" for Nuclear Power would go away, with all the toxic side effects that Nuclear brings to the table.

Here in Florida, every condo/hotel/resort on the coast of the Atlantic and/or the Gulf, should have a wind turbine system on it's roof. There is almost always wind coming on or off shore here and yet there are very few.

We know, as a Nation what we should do, we just are "hoping" things will get better, on their own and being influenced "religious groups", where they have no business being involved with science, but because they rely on a fictional book and it's fictional god, they help to "muddy up the waters" for others.

And using the term "New Age BS" is no different than me now asking you, "are you really falling for this Bible BS?". How's that different? Because YOU believe in it, that makes it wrong for me to not believe in it?

Have a good weekend,

Rich Franco

 

Rich Milo

10 Years Ago

No BS here Rich..............................


For we did not follow cleverly devised myths when we made known to you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but we were eyewitnesses of his majesty.
2 Peter 1:16

And the reason that I respect the earth but do not go head over heels for the “Mother Earth” nonsense is because...........................................

28 God blessed them and said to them, “Be fruitful and increase in number; fill the earth and subdue it. Rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky and over every living creature that moves on the ground.”
Genesis 1:28

They exchanged the truth about God for a lie, and worshiped and served created things rather than the Creator--who is forever praised. Amen.
Romans 1:25

 

Patricia Strand

10 Years Ago

Rich Milo, whatever will you do when you run across something in life that doesn't fit neatly into a scripture?

 

Rich Milo

10 Years Ago

I Don't know Patricia as I have never faced that problem in the 33 years that I have been serving the "KING".

 

Paul Cowan

10 Years Ago

He's right, Patricia, there's so much stuff in the Bible - topped up with 2,000 years of apologetics - that it will fit anything he can possibly want it to - particularly if just having one man dig a house into a hillside is sufficient to vindicate the prophecy he quoted to start with.

 

Rich Milo

10 Years Ago

I respect apologetics very much Paul. Although conversion starts with the “heart” not at the end of a sword. I also do not believe that that scripture was referring to the common folks. It is obviously referring to the world leaders and if you do not believe that they have a back up plan then you really do have your head in the sand. Who is being foolish now!!

 

Paul Cowan

10 Years Ago

I don't understand what you are saying, Rich, Are you saying that the scriptures are not aimed at the common people? If so. you are another one with your own personal version of Christianity.

And you think there is a mysterious, secret back-up plan to save the world if global warming spins out of control? Sorry, dude, that's just wishful thinking on your part.

 

Rich Milo

10 Years Ago

Paul if you read scripture in context you will not be so confused. I am not going to go into a Bible study on this post because of FAA rules nor will I let you play semantics with me. Have a good day and enjoy the post. Over and out. LOL

 

Rich Franco

10 Years Ago

Rich M.,

Your book, when viewed by others, not involved with your own personal interpretation of this fictional book, is just one of millions of these story books. Because you believe, doesn't mean everyone else is wrong, as I've said before, that's a conceit. There are many World religions that consider your book, a good book, just not anything written by the hand of a god.

Here's a short story, maybe even a parable:

I was walking down a wooded trail the other day and noticed this fellow, sitting with a few large rocks in his lap and then he layed them down and stared at them. I was busy looking for images for my FAA site and didn't bother him or ask what was he doing. Later, when I returned and headed back to the parking lot, he was still there and still staring!

Well, I had time now, and I'm one to ask and inquire about stuff, so I did.

"Excuse me sir, but I noticed you have been sitting here for over an hour and staring at these rocks, is there anything wrong?" , I asked.

"No, not at all, just waiting for it to happen" the man said.

"Well, what exactly are you waiting to have happen?, I asked again.

"The rocks, the rocks should fly!" said the man

"Uh, these rocks right here?"

"Yes, of course, these rocks right here. Haven't you ever seen rocks before?" The man replied.

"Of course I've seen rocks, lots of rocks, but what's so special about these rocks?"

" These rocks have been passed down through my family and they are the ones that will fly someday and I'm just waiting,don't want to miss that, would you?"

" Uh, these rocks have been passed down and they're special and about to fly?"

"Yes, yes, are your ears plugged or something? I'm a Rocktarian and we believe that rocks can fly!"

"Rocktarian, never heard of that group, but I did donate once to the "Rotarians", I said, using my sharp wit!

"Are you making fun of my religion young man!!!??? What gives you the right to make fun like that? Our Book, which is many hundreds of years old, and cherished by thousands, clearly states that our rocks, our family rocks will someday fly and that's not something to make fun of!!!"

"I'm sorry if it appears that I'm questioning your religion, but it's a fact that rocks do not fly, or even move for that matter, since rocks were first, well, rocks!" I responded

"I don't like your tone, young man and you should apologize for belittling my sacred religion!" The man sputtered.

"Well, it's just no one has ever seen rocks flying and it's a bit preposterous to even think that rocks can fly! I mean, have you ever seen any rocks fly yourself?" I questioned.

" Of course not, the time isn't right, like the Book says, but it's coming and I don't want to miss this when it happens."

"Well, uh, how long have you been a Roctarian then and waiting for this to happen?", I queried

"Not long, about 40 years!"

"40 years!, You've been carrying around these rocks and staring at them for 40 years?"

"No, maybe ten years earlier I wasn't ready to be the one to carry my family's rocks, so maybe altogether, 50 years, give or take." he said with a proud look on his face.

"How much longer will you stay out here, all night?"

"Of course not and if you read THE Book, you'd know, 6:23 pm is the time that rocks won't fly anymore for that day.What, you think I'm a nut? DWTS is on tonight and I never miss that show!"

I waved goodby and walked back to my car, pondering what people think and believe in and how, sometimes, ideas get adopted and then massaged, and bent and turned, until barely recognizable, from the original concept, be good to yourself and others and never assume that your concept of life, death and maybe even an afterlife, is the right one or even the only one to follow.

But I smiled and knew the old man was right about at least one thing that he said to me today, it's Tuesday night and the finale for Dancing With The Stars was on in a few hours!!!

Rich Franco

 

Paul Cowan

10 Years Ago

Oddly enough, I don't feel at all confused - except when people go mystical at me; and since mysticism is illogical by definition, anybody who isn't confused by it must be pretty confused.

 

Xn Tyler

10 Years Ago

here is a new piece that relates to green energy consuming fossil fuels
Art Prints

 

Jon Lord

10 Years Ago

It was just Christ who was for the common people, not necessarily those who read the bible.

I think eventually very few people will be able to use cars for much more than going to work. The average income is roughly $40,000 but the median...the mid point...is roughly $26,500. Adjusted for inflation the average persons wage has declined by 1% while those making $380,000 had their income increase by 33% in the same 1988-2008 period. This trend is likely to continue as jobs are replaced by automation or shipped overseas. Even service jobs are being replaced by automation. Just try talking to a person on the phone in most companies.

It'd be nice if most cars were being replaced by hybrids at least but the cost is prohibitive unfortunately as are all things most helpful or healthy.

 

This discussion is closed.