[Vision2020] An Inconvenient Truth: What you gonna do?

Wed Aug 23 09:09:43 PDT 2006

Megan,

 It seems to me that the major problem with global  warming is that we simply have too many people and are reliance on  fossil fuel. I think the best thing to do for the environment would be  to put an additional $4 a gallon tax on gasoline, raise taxes about  $10K on those with more than one child, and heavily tax the production  and sale of junk and fast food. This would eliminate fossil fuels,  reduce the population, and smash our record levels of obesity that has  resulted in unprecedented amount of resources being consumed to treat  health problems we should not be having. Thank you for trying to make  the world a better place. 

  Best,

  _DJA

Megan Prusynski <megan at meganpru.com> wrote:  I  haven't seen the movie yet (gasp!) since I've been traveling a lot  lately, but I do plan to see it. I find it rather funny that Al Gore's  lifestyle, like most politicians, is pretty much the opposite of how we  need to be living if we hope to combat global warming... but at least  he's willing to admit global warming is a serious threat, and that it  exists. 
I think it is up  to each individual to change their lifestyle and make some sacrifices  for the environment's sake, obviously waiting for our government to  take action on global warming isn't working so well. Americans don't  usually like to be told that they need to make sacrifices, though, but  there are a lot of little things we can do to create positive change  that are relatively easy. I've been trying consciously to decrease my  footprint the last few years, so I have some ideas on where to start,  but obviously these things need to happen on a grand scale...
So  here's what I've done recently in a small effort to make my lifestyle  line up with my ideals and try to curb global warming... 
1.  Went vegetarian. Best decision I have ever made. I won't discuss all of  the numerous reasons I made this decision (animal welfare, aversion to  factory farming, health, world hunger, beliefs, etc...) but a major  reason was the environment. Nearly half the water and 80% of the  agricultural land in this country are used to raise animals for food.  More than one-third of all the fossil fuels produced in the US are used  to raise animals for food. Eating lower on the food chain is simply  less wasteful: it takes about 20 times more energy to produce meat than  it does to produce plants for food. If more of us ate a plant-based  diet instead of a meat-based one, we would lower our energy needs,  contribute a hell of a lot less pollution, and save precious water and  land resources as well. (Check out http://www.goveg.com/environment.asp for more info). 
2.  Converted my car to run on bio-fuels and invested in a bike trailer.  For in-town errands, my boyfriend and I use a bike with a trailer that  fits all our groceries. For road trips, we use our newly converted VW  bus that runs on waste veggie oil & bio-diesel. Bio-fuels are  carbon-neutral (the plants used to grow them compensate for the carbon  emitted when they are burned), have lower emissions, and can be grown  domestically, reducing our need for foreign oil (and therefore war!).  Any diesel vehicle can be converted to run on waste vegetable oil by  installing a kit with an extra veggie oil tank. If you're interested,  I'm sure my boyfriend (an engineering alumni from UI) wouldn't mind  making a living off of converting vehicles. Running on grease is better  for longer trips, since you have to warm up on diesel or bio-diesel,  and yes, the exhaust does smell like french fries. Speaking of veggie  oil, does anyone know of any restaurants (other than the Breakfast 
 Club, who graciously supplies us with oil each week) that want a better  way to recycle their waste vegetable oil from fryers? Bio-fuels are  only one of many many alternative energy & fuel sources that I hope  become more popular. 
3.  I'm in the process (always) of learning to live more simply, eat more  locally-grown food, and simply thinking about the environmental  consequences of every action. By being more conscious and spreading  that consciousness, we can make green living the norm. Society needs to  work towards sustainability, one person at a time. 
Just  thought I'd share my ideas on the subject of living more sustainably  and curbing global warming through a change in lifestyle. What is  everyone else doing to help this problem? :)
peace!
~megan

[Vision2020] Inconvenient Truth: What you gonna do?
Nils Peterson nils_peterson at wsu.edu 
Tue Aug 22 06:40:42 PDT 2006

So did you see Al Gore's movie? My sister, the infamous 'Rock Doc' of the
DNews went, prepared to debunk Gore's latest invention since the Internet.
She came away saying the science was solid, but not saying she had any
actions in mind.

My immediate thoughts are along the lines of conservation rather than
running out to by a Prius.

Which folds into another thought that has passed through v2020. I posted a
response to talk about making an 'internal bypass' of Hwy 8 along the old RR
route between downtown and UI. Aaron Ament later told me he'd biked the
route to look closer.

If we were to heed Gore and cut car trips down we wouldn't need the bypass.
Just a thought
=======================================================
 List services made available by First Step Internet, 
 serving the communities of the Palouse since 1994.   
               http://www.fsr.net                       
          mailto:Vision2020 at moscow.com
=======================================================

---------------------------------
Do you Yahoo!?
 Get on board. You're invited to try the new Yahoo! Mail.
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: http://mailman.fsr.com/pipermail/vision2020/attachments/20060823/a2621c49/attachment.htm 