ivy hill’s Recent Comments

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  Thanks, Mike

  There's a hybrid vehicle in my driveway, CFLs in my light sockets, and "green" renewable energy coursing through my home...it's nowhere near enough. I cannot do enough by myself to make global warming a non issue. Bigger, MANDATORY changes must be made. The sooner, the better for all of us.

  Reading the comments, I don't think that Tidwell is suggesting that actions by individuals are inconsequential, I believe he's saying that individuals should--or MUST--push for a concerted effort on the national (and really, global) level. Voluntary actions are nice, but our responsibility as citizens is to push our lawmakers to do the right thing...just as the many protesters in the Civil Rights movement did to effect change.

  Individuals can and do make a difference. I pushed my city government to sign the U.S. Mayors' Climate Protection Agreement (they did!), and now City Hall is contemplating changing the building codes for residences to be "greener" than they currently are. This would be mandatory, not voluntary. Which helps the environment as well as the homeowner with lower energy bills...and from what I've read, will increase the value of the home for resale later.

  Overall, I agree with Mike Tidwell that more must be done, and it must be done on a larger scale than we've seen to date. Like those who demanded change in the past, we just have to keep pushing.On Voluntary actions didn't get us civil rights, and they won't fix the climate posted 2 years, 2 months ago 61 Responses

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  Time for New Power Source

  This double tragedy is all the more reason why we need to wean off coal in the very near future. However, nuclear power probably is NOT our best option.

  Just today, AP reporter Beth Rucker filed a story about the heatwave in the south and midwest being responsible for dozens of heat-related deaths...which will only increase as the temperatures rise due to global warming. Here's what caught my attention:

  "The Tennessee Valley Authority, the nation's largest public utility, shut down one of three units at the Browns Ferry nuclear plant in Athens, Alabama, on Thursday because water drawn from the Tennessee River was exceeding a 90 F average over 24 hours.

  "We don't believe we've ever shut down a nuclear unit because of river temperature," said John Moulton, spokesman for the Knoxville-based utility.

  The shutdown posed no safety threat, but it came as TVA hit records for power consumption in the last two weeks in its service area covering most of Tennessee and parts of Alabama, Mississippi, Kentucky, Georgia, North Carolina and Virginia.

  The utility will compensate for the loss of power by buying it elsewhere."

  Clearly, it's time to get serious about safe, sustainable energy sources. On All So You Can Have Cheap Electricity posted 2 years, 3 months ago 5 Responses