The CO2 Dog and Pony Show

I support producing less pollution but I believe that CO2 is more of a slight-of-hand trick than a real problem. The media has managed to get us all focused on "Global Warming" because if we are all in a panic about the climate, then we help to drive the economy by upgrading our cars, buying new appliances, and donating money to various "charities".

Truth is that you can drive the same old car for 20 years (or until we run out of gas) and it will not have as large a "Carbon Foot-print" as you create when you buy a new car. The energy to produce a new car far out weighs the carbon savings of an old car. If we all stopped buying new cars we would cut out carbon emissions by 2/3 in 1 single year.

The same goes for replacing a working appliance with a new "energy efficient" model. The carbon cost of the new one by far out weighs the savings produced of replacing the old one.

Of course the government and big business do not want us to REALLY conserve by getting more life out of our older cars and appliances...just the opposite- THEY WANT US TO SPEND MORE AND MORE!

No one seems to suggest we should not use fire extinguishers or that we shouldn't drink Coke and dry ice is so common now that we can buy it at SafeWay. Yet all 3 of these products release concentrated CO2 directly into the air.

So who is fooling who? Think about this: The more CO2 levels rise....the better plants grow. The plants absorb the CO2 and eventually lower the levels in the air. The best thing you can do to help the planet is not buying a hybrid! The best thing you can do is plant more greenery including a home garden and trees where appropriate.

If you really care about the health of the environment then stop watching the media magic-show and learn to think about real solutions instead of buying into the never ending consumerism.


NUCLEAR WASTE CAN BE RECYCLED??

According to Wiki--Nuclear reprocessing separates components of spent nuclear fuel such as:

* Reprocessed uranium
* Plutonium
* Minor actinides
* Fission products
* Activation products
* Cladding

The problem is that we produce much, much more than we can ever recycle. 99% of all nuclear waste is stored, waiting for future disposal... currently our "Big Plan" for nuclear waste is to leave it for our kids to deal with. At Hanford, here in Washington State, we cover waste with a layer of cement 1 foot thick every three years. By the time this waste is inert, the layers will be 2 MILES deep(unless we run out of cement first--and, cement is a NON-RENEWABLE RESOURCE, just like oil.)

No energy source that produces such long-lived waste is going to be a viable option. As long as people try to take the easy way out, we are making trouble for future generations. Our planet has energy that we can use without long term waste products or atmospheric complications: hydrodynamics, geothermal, wave dynamics, solar, and aerodynamics. We have so much to choose from, why spoil the future for our children????

Source(s):

Cement is based on limestone which is a naturally occurring substance based on marine organisms. There is a limited amount in nature and it is getting as hard to find as new oil deposits.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Limestone
Cement is based on limestone which is a naturally occurring substance based on marine organisms. There is a limited amount in nature and it is getting as hard to find as new oil deposits.