Saturday, March 17, 2007

Sure to piss off Gino...

Welcome to my little propaganda zone.

God has quite a sense of humor, dumping a foot or so of snow on the beginning of the first Interfaith Climate Walk in Massachusetts. This is nothing new, and it seems like every time the guys in Washington have a Climate Change hearing it gets canceled by a blizzard.

Add to that the recent Al Gore stories (Mr. Inconvenient Truth uses more electricity in a month than most of us use in a year, Mr. Inconvenient Truth flies all over globe in CO2 spewing aircraft, etc etc...) and it can be a tough time to work on climate issues.

(Oh, and let's not even get into that recent documentary, The Great Climate Swindle, the producers of which have already admitted to using data that "looked better" than was scientifically accurate or properly labeled.)

But since you've deigned to come visit, allow me to subject you to my favorite piece of climate advocacy, this ad produced by the British government:



Now isn't that something? I saw it this week as part of a presentation by Solitaire Townsend, an English marketing specialist working on climate issues, training climate advocates how to get across to mass audiences a message usually reliant on boring and confusing scientific jargon. The video is part of that effort.

But this isn't new stuff. Found this while noodling around on YouTube (looking for all my videos those bastards from Viacom are getting pulled down. Screw you Viacom. I hope Viagra becomes illegal, Sumner Redstone, you prick...)

Anyway, check this out from an educational film made back in 1958:



Now, of course, the Warming Skeptics will point out that the environmental movement is just a bunch of loonies looking for something to bedevil progress with whatever crackpot theories they can come up with.

Remember, for instance, that in the 1970's the crazy Birkenstock-wearing loons were talking about a new ice age. Well, when we were pumping millions of tons of sulphates (SO4) into the atmosphere we were increasingly the reflectivity of the atmosphere, which would have eventually, in years and years, caused severe cooling.

But we got a handle on sulfates in the 1970's and reduced their impact on the atmosphere. Now, their effect moderated the warming impact of CO2, so having less SO4 in the atmosphere means not only less Acid Rain, but less offsetting action to Global Warming.

Which is why some in the Bush administration have publicly proposed "salting" clouds with sulfur (or maybe some sort of huge, orbiting mirror to deflect the killer sun's rays). All this so they don't have to put in a compact fluorescent light bulb.

Where am I going with all this? Damned if I know. I'm going to warn you though I'm going to be doing more on this stuff here, so be prepared for weekly harangues about your polluting ways, you troglodytes.

Thank you, that will be all.

12 comments:

Gino said...

personally, i think its the hieght of arrogance for any man to assume his actions can create global climate change just because he uses an aerosol deodorant and drives to work in a big block chevy.

not speaking for myself, of course, as i havent stood close to a spritz in 25yrs, and always prefered mopars.

Kal said...

Ah, Gino. But if it were just you, your Mopar and your Hai Karate would make no difference.

But there's what, six and a half billion of us? Cumulatively we can and do have an impact.

A drop of water doesn't do much. But water created the Grand Canyon.

Gino said...

yer assuming all 6+ billion have been using deodorant and driving chevys.

ever been to europe?

i wont even bring up those other places that include 90% of undeodorized, ass riding humanity.

grand canyon? you mean that little speck of geography the rest of america thinks is so big? i thought we were talking world wide climate changes, not localized landscaping.

Kal said...

Well, Gino, it's carbon that's the bad guy here, not aerosols.

And we pretty much all burn carbon. But so does nature, and nature soaks up the carbon too. The problems start when 590 million + worldwide cars and thousands of coal and oil and natural gas plants all spew carbon into the atmosphere.

But the thing is, most of the stuff we should be doing relative to climate change we should be doing anyway. I mean, do you like sending a couple hundred billion dollars a year to countries who aren't exactly the most stable democracies in the world?

Gino said...

i'm all for being a clean neighbor to others, as far as poluting goes.

but cleanliness has costs as well as benefits. are you willing to pay all the costs of a lower standard of living to adhere to the climate change religion?
first cooling, then warming...

guess what? the earth is either warming or cooling at any given time. climate, by its nature, is always changing.

i seriously doubt man is causing global warming, or cooling.
where's all those hurricanes we were supposed to have? remember, the ones bush created through his mere desire to drill in anwar?

this is such a heavily politicized science i think its wrong to call it science anymore.

personally, i want my oil cheap. i dont care where it comes from. as for the unstable democracies who currently benefit: that is a geopolitical arena. not a climatological one.

have you noticed: the biggest mouths on your side also seem to be the biggest carbon makers?
i have to give up my humble lifestyle, and the simple pleasures of driving the four miles to work in my mini SUV, so the prophets can keep their jet set lifestyle and huge multiple mansions?

when al gore carpools to the office, and scales down to a two bedroom apartment, and only one apartment, then i'll belive that he truly belives in his cause.

until then, i dont want to hear from the prophets who tell me my gas is too cheap, my life too good, as i struggle (and yes, i do struggle, week to week) to keep the rent paid, the lights turned on, and the cats fed.

follow the money. see who is benefitting from the global warming scare. most importantly, see who is being asked to sacrfice for this new religion.

Kal said...

Gino,

Nobody's talking about a lower standard of living. Well, nobody mainstream anyway. I'm not part of the return to the caves folks.

As to the hurricanes, well even the experts disagree about that issue (some folks think wind shear increases under certain climate scenarios, which lowers the number of hurricanes, even with increased surface water temperatures, etc etc), so I can't certain weigh in.

And you're right, the issue is heavily politicized, at least in America.

And as I've said, it sucks to be working on climate and have Al Gore running around in SUVs, private jets, and burning up 10,000 kWh hours a month of electricity.

But that doesn't change what's happening. Ron Reagan appointed gay folks to his governments, both in California and in Washington. Do you use that fact to discredit the entire conservative movement?

Progress is good Gino. Embrace it. It's time to move on from the end of oil.

Here's an electric car for you: http://www.teslamotors.com/index.php?js_enabled=1.

Gino said...

as a conservative minded type of guy, i dont see how somebody's being gay has any effect. yer confusing me with some of them anti gay morality folks.

progress is how you define it.

paying more for a car that does less is not progress.

Kal said...

Well, Gino, I was just trying to make the point that the actions of one "leader" do not define a movement...

And the Tesla is just one example. There are plenty of alternative fuel and high economy cars which can do anything your Sante Fe can do.

What's more aggravating is that a proven, reliable, and entirely appropriate technology (hybrid) hasn't been introduced in a wider vehicle choice.

Gino said...

hybrid-smybrid.
i had an economy car for years. and it got better true economy than any hybrid out there today. with one less set of engine parts to go wrong.

1990 Geo Metro.
45 mpg.
12 years ahead of the prius in MPG.
with 75 yr old technology.
(the old 1989 all gas mazda 323 got 38mpg)

i'm a cheap bastard, and even still...i'm so far ahead of all you guys in real life carbon credits i should be driving a hummer for 10 yrs just so you can all catch up.

Kal said...

Okay, my daily driver is a hybird diesel. It burns diesel fuel to power electric motors.

It's a V16. 3,000 horsepower, 170Liter displacement.

Top speed: 103 mph, although I think they don't get over 60.

I don't think it's miles per gallon is very high, but it does carry 2,000 people at a time.

Gino said...

a hybrid subway?

Kal said...

Nah, a big old commuter rail train.