Comments katakanadian has made

"Japan argues that setting national targets should take into consideration the fact that Tokyo has already improved energy-efficiency so that it is more expensive for it to slash emission further."

I lived in Japan 2000-2004 and I can tell you there are huge inefficiencies that can still be cut easily and cheaply. Home insulation is virtually non-existant. Most people habitually idle their car engines for extended periods (e.g. they leave the engine running while have a nap in the car or while they go grocery shopping). Air conditioned stores leave their front doors wide open in summer. School leave all the outside doors open in winter heating season. People upgrade their cell phones every 9 months on average. Massive use of concrete in wilderness areas for make-work projects. Foreign "aid" which typically consists of contracts to Japanese cement companies to build roads and dams in poor countries. Brightly lit vending machines. Disposable chopsticks used every day.

Japan has a lot of great energy and resourse saving devices and techniques but there is still a long way to go.

It may be politically unworkable but I think we should look at gas rationing, or more precisely cheap gas rationing. Every citizen (0-110 years old) gets a ration card that entitles them to a fixed amount per year of gas at regular price. Then slap a massive gas tax on anything beyond that. This means that a family of four gets more cheap gas to deal with driving to day care and soccer games while the single executive who wants to live 2 hours away from work gets less cheap gas. Set the ration low enough so that everyone who owns a car is likely to pay the gas tax for at least part of the year which should be shocking enough to get a lot of people switching to bikes, electric vehicles, or living more locally. Those people who are already living the right lifestyles would have cheap gas ration credits unused which they could sell to higher consumers or they could choose to retire those cheap gas credits which would be almost like leaving oil in the ground.

Better yet, just bring in a honkin' big carbon tax since coal is a much bigger problem than oil.

I'm tired of seeing this myth propagated. Umbra, you need to issue a clarification. Yes, there are idiots out there who use more water to hand wash than a machine would use but that is quite unnecessary and most people would save more water by learning the proper way to do dishes than by running out to by another big piece of machinery with a hunk of embedded enrgy that entrenches the rush-rush-rush let-technology-be-the-answer-for-everything mindset.

I just checked our kitchen sink and it took 33 seconds at full blast to fill a 4 liter pail (just over 1 US gallon). I don't think we have any special low flow devices attached so that makes it <8 liters/minute (~2 USgal/minute). Less than half that claimed in the video. When I wash with a dishpan I use less than 8 liters of hot water plus an intermittent trickle of cold for rinsing (<2 liters). We usually do dishes 2x/day so thats <20 liters/day (<5 USgal/day).

Instead of promoting a fallacy designed to increase appliance industry sales, you should be instructing people on the correct way to wash dishes. I am deeply disappointed by the lack of research and critical thinking displayed in this post.

What's the obsession with 300 mile range?

With the possible exception of Alaska, is there anywhere in the U.S. that someone can't find a gas station and/or electric outlet in 300 miles? Even in Canada it's pretty rare to go more than 80km (50mi) without passing a gas station.

Most North Americans could get around very well in a battery car with the very occasional rental of a higher range vehicle. People would come to view that as perfectly natural just like most of us don't buy multiple homes just because we want to go on vacation for a couple of weeks.On L.A. Times: 'Hydrogen fuel-cell technology won't work in cars' posted 9 months, 1 week ago 77 Responses

More moose muffins

The Conservative government doesn't give a shit. Public outcry demanded this fine and now the (anti-)Environment Minister is playing it for Brownie points while plotting how to increase tar sands production and avoid taking any meaningful action on climate chaos.On Canada loves ducks, fines oil company posted 9 months, 3 weeks ago 2 Responses

Harper dictatorship is NOT saying the right thing

Harper's conservative government is also saying the right thing about climate change. ... it's committed to reducing greenhouse gases by 20 per cent by 2020,

Horse hockey! The 20% figure is based on reductions from current levels (or maybe 2006) which means we would still be more than 10% ABOVE Kyouto targets in 2020. It's also probably based on disingenuous assumptions that tar sand emissions will not grow very much due to the recent cancellation of projects while the price of oil is low. Meanwhile they are doing their best to get more buyers for tar sands oil because it's such a huge cash cow for Canada and especially for their major Conservative support bloc in Alberta.

Throw Harper and his genocidal cronies out!On Canada's economic recovery plan includes green items posted 10 months ago 1 Response

Call me a hypocrite

I find it really annoying when people try to undermine the message by expecting perfection from the messenger. I think it is far better to be a hypocrite struggling toward improvement than to hide behind the moral purity of consistent arrogance and ignorance.On Media Matters commenter provides one of the greatest snarks at the denier wingnut mentality posted 10 months, 1 week ago 11 Responses

It's embarrassing

... anytime someone talks about how Canada will 'benefit' from climate change. Our own PM, Mr Harper-Bush, is a leading idiot. BC's lower mainland is currently drowning in the 'benefit' of climate change.On Robert Mendelsohn says global warming is 'a good thing for Canada' posted 10 months, 2 weeks ago 6 Responses

Disaster is good for the economy

Near the end of the linked article it talks about the good cost of adaption (e.g. reinforcing a levee) vs the bad cost of dealing with damage due to not adapting (e.g. the the inadequate levee breaks).

"In the real-world economy, money spent on building levees creates jobs and incomes. The construction workers buy [stuff], tax revenues increase while unemployment compensation payments decrease.

None of this happens if the levees are not built and the storm damages are allowed to occur."

I'm not an economist but it seems to me that it can be argued that disaster may have a bigger economic stimulus because there is a massive cleanup involved, a new levee to construct, homes will need to buy much replacement stuff. All of which employs people and keeps money moving around the system.

For me the argument in favour of taking action earlier is more effective when it is based on preventing avoidable misery, starvation, death and destruction rather than making misleading guesses about which costs more.On Required reading for novice climate economists posted 10 months, 3 weeks ago 2 Responses

What is "typical" dishwashing style?

The only way I can see mechanical dishwashers being more efficient is if you compare it to idiots running hot water full blast with a toothbrush over an open drain. Is that really the way most people wash up? We use half a dishpan of hot water to wash and maybe  another litre of cold dribbles to rinse.On Umbra on eco-friendly detergents posted 11 months, 1 week ago 13 Responses

Proofreader needed

You can tell how well thought out this bit of greenwashing is when no one even proofreads for grammar in an expensive ad seen by millions.

aims to capture CO2 and stored safely underground.

Hello? Elementary grammar lessons on verb agreement?  Was this ad written by a six year old?On Shell greenwashes with a full-page WaPo ad posted 11 months, 4 weeks ago 2 Responses

A couple corrections

Actually, a lot of the tar is in sand. The tar can 'cement' it together into a crumbly material with lumps like rocks. I've been there and seen the Athabasca river's sandy/gravelly banks, flown over the tar sands strip mines, and been through the "Discovery Center". I don't know the situation for the deeper tar that is extracted in situ.

Athabasca refers to a large region. Several toxic strip mine tailings ponds are located right beside the Athabasca River (and have leaked in several times). The world's largest freshwater delta is downstream where the River empties into the Lake. As far as I know there aren't any tar sands at the lake (but there is a decrepit old uranium mine site).On Government says it's 'diffiult' to reduce the emissions from Canada's oil sands posted 1 year ago 4 Responses

Why not?

GlobalWarmingInc said:
You can't just say, "hey, everthing's going to be electric from now on -your car is now obsolete."

Hmmm. Weren't we all just told that we would have to buy new TV sets because our old ones will be virtually obselete in the mandatory switch to digital? Oil is running out not the capability to broadcast analog signals. We need a mandatory end to gas guzzlers.On Palin: 'renewables are not yet proven to be economic nor reliable' posted 1 year, 2 months ago 7 Responses

She sounds like

Stephen Harper, our horrible PM in Canada. On Palin's record of secrecy and cronyism affects environment among other issues posted 1 year, 2 months ago 4 Responses

Bikers against the tar sands

I've seen the tar sands myself and they are anything but "neat".

<object width="425" height="344"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/aFnQ2jMrmME&hl=en&fs=1"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"><param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/aFnQ2jMrmME&hl=en&fs=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowfullscreen="true" width="425" height="344"></embed></object>

The air got noticeably worse as we approached Fort Saskatchewan"Cancer Alley" where Premeir Stelmach has his constituency office to issue a statement on the unsustainability of the tar sands.

<object width="425" height="344"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/7XQVnP7QZaA&hl=en&fs=1"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/7XQVnP7QZaA&hl=en&fs=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowfullscreen="true" width="425" height="344"></embed></object>On Gates and Buffet to invest in tar sands and spawn more two-headed fish? posted 1 year, 3 months ago 6 Responses

It's not "neat" ...

... it's deadly.

I was just in Fort Chipewyan, Alberta last week attending the Keepers of the Water conference on how the  the water, wildlife, and aboriginal communities are being harmed downstream from Canada's great environmental crime scene, the tar sands (the linked article is particularly good). I had seen pictures of the tar sands before but it's so much more shocking to be there.

I think everyone should protest loudly to these two short-sighted leaders.On Gates, Buffet to invest in massive climate change? posted 1 year, 3 months ago 8 Responses

I still have reservations ...

... about how much gets wasted by all these professional gardeners driving big trucks all over o service the lazy locavores. If the service is provided by a someone within walking or biking distance then its fantastic but in my city many services drive in from distances up to 30km away in heavy duty truckscarrying an entire garden senter on wheels even though all the tools they need may be available at the home they are going to.On Edible landscapes can outgrow the elite posted 1 year, 3 months ago 2 Responses

A paid gardener probably doesn't reduce food miles

I've been really bothered the last few years at the massive increase in gardening services around here. These entrepreneurs hop in big trucks dragging trailer-loads of tools and drive all over town to prop up the egos of lazy status-seekers. When you think about the small amount of produce from a back garden relative to the distance typically driven by the gardener, I wouldn't be surprised if the energy intensity of lazy locavore garden is actually worse.

I am skeptical that that these services are anything more than greenwashing unless they have a strict policy of only taking clients within biking distance of their base.On The paper of record identifies -- sort of -- a new trend posted 1 year, 4 months ago 12 Responses

Wow. He said something that sounds intelligent

Ishihara is famous for making racist and sexist statements. I suspect he said this more for the controversy than because he wants to see change in the world.On Extreme exceptionalism posted 1 year, 4 months ago 8 Responses

I haven't read the article yet

... but I get the gist from the comments here. I get frustrated regularly by contrarian comments of people who just want to shout "hypocrite" because no one is perfect.

Then there are the people who think that quietly setting a good example is the best action because it doesn't rile people up into a contrarian mood. Well gee, why didn't a  quarter century of bike commuting on my part result in a bicycle paradise?

I think we all have to make our best efforts in our personal lifestyles but that it is imperative to become politically involved to achieve the infrastructure and regulatory changes that magnify our personal actions. We have to do both.On Your lifestyle won't save the world posted 1 year, 5 months ago 15 Responses

I don't think unEthos sells water in Somalia

They sell to North Americans who recycle only about 10% of plastic bottles. Even if recycling were 100%, they would still pollute enormous quantities of water and waste enormous quantities of oil, all to make enormous profits and then toss a few pennies to Africa.

I'm not falling for that kind of greenwash and neither should anyone else.On Oceans of love for the Tesla-driving Matt Damon posted 1 year, 5 months ago 11 Responses

Good Matt, Bad Matt

Matt seems to do a lot of good stuff but he is also gullible for greenwashing. He has associated himself with the crime against humanity that calls itself Ethos bottled water.On Oceans of love for the Tesla-driving Matt Damon posted 1 year, 5 months ago 11 Responses

Biochemistry/Organic chemistry 101 review

It also bears adding that WIC-approved Jif peanut butter includes among its ingredients not only partially hydrogenated vegetable oil, but also fully hydrogenated vegetable oil.

As I recall from my chemistry courses in university, fully hydrogenated fats are not trans-fats but that full saturation makes the (formerly) unsaturated fat into a saturated fat with no double bonds. Partial hydrogenation creates trans-fats by leaving some unsaturated double bonds and is much more dangerous.On Evidently, women, infants, and children in need don't deserve organic posted 1 year, 6 months ago 8 Responses

Dobson et al want to create hell on Earth

I visited their 'action' page which had a mixture of a few good personal steps and a glaring lack of real (ie. political) action.

   * Since poverty prevents many people from taking good care of their local environment, and since the Christian worldview provides a foundation for economic development, support missions work in a developing country, especially organizations that work to improve the living conditions of those in poverty.
Oh yes, let's build them a water pump while we increase drought conditions through climate change.
   * Keep your lawn free of trash, especially near the road!
Out of sight, out of mind. No problem here.
   * Recycle items like paper, glass and aluminum instead of just throwing them in the trash.  Make sure to properly dispose of hazardous items that cannot be recycled.
Recycling is important but too many people think this is enough effort and they don't look any further.
   * Donate used clothes and electronics (computers, cell phones, etc.) to charities that can reuse them.
Throwing away good usable stuff is God's work!
   * Volunteer to help Habitat for Humanity build housing for the local poor.
One of the few good suggestions on this list.
   * Make sure the air filter on your heat pump/air conditioning unit is changed regularly to filter out impurities in the air.
No mention of the efficiency benefit nor any suggestion to simply reduce use of heat/AC.
   * Turn off (or just unplug) household items which run on electricity when you do not expect to use them over a long period of days.
But don't bother if you use the stuff daily?
   * Treat pets and other animals humanely (Deuteronomy 25:4; 22:6).
How about listing something more useful like telling people to eat less meat, choose pets with smaller carbon footprints, and stop sport hunting?  I bet most CAFO owners/workers are already very nice to their pets.
   * Visit a National Park, zoo, or nature preserve and experience the wonder of God's creation with your family.
How about bringing the wonder of God's creation into our own neighbourhoods and enacting stronger protection for wilderness?
   * Install French drains or barrels to catch rainwater from your gutters, and perform other landscaping to make maximum use of rainwater, lower your use of public drinking water, and protect your neighborhood storm sewers, rivers, lakes, and streams.  And, of course, be sure that your sprinkler systems are not watering your driveways and streets!
Just let your lawn go brown in summer or get rid of the lawn and you'll reduce your water use more than all the other steps together.
   * Reevaluate the vegetation in your yard - and at your church - to ensure that your plants are suitable for the soils; plant trees and shrubs that prevent erosion, and plant grasses that grow well in your local environment and do not require over-watering.  Water conservation is critical to ensuring sufficient water for others who might live downstream, as well as for animals that live in lakes, bays and estuaries.
OK, this does help to address the previous point.
   * Make sure your home's insulation conforms to legal standards to maximize heating and cooling efficiency.
Only up to legal standards? I bet most areas have pretty low standards or we wouldn't have a majority of inefficient buildings. I bet Dobson and his ilk would also fight hard against any improved efficiency standards.On Corporate evangelical leaders cloak opposition to climate policy behind concern for poor posted 1 year, 6 months ago 4 Responses

If it looks to good to be true ...

GRLCowan,

I looked at the abstract you linked:

The global scale of these mining activities has a sequestration capacity on the order of 100 million tonnes of carbon per year.

It may have some potential as a 'wedge' but it's nowhere near a solution as its capacity appears to be less than 2% of current CO2 emissions. Mining is very environmentally destructive so we don't want to increase it more than necessary. Mining resources, like fossil fuels, are finite so we will eventually have less material to mine not more which means that we would have to rip up enormous volumes of land for no benefit (e.g. gold, iron, uranium) except CO2 sequestration and we would have to keep ripping up more land decade after decade. What price for carbon would be necessary to make mining for carbon credits only worthwhile? Also as far as I understand, this weathering process doesn't deal with CH4 which will be a growing contributor to GCC as permafrost melts.

I used to live in Japan and I saw the countless ruined hillsides that supplied cement, gravel, and rock for construction. I shudder to think of increasing that destruction by even 10x which would still deal with only a small fraction of CO2 emissions.On Thinking beyond technology to mitigate climate change posted 1 year, 6 months ago 13 Responses

Nuclear won't save us from the oil crisis

It may always be part of the energy mix but you can't get a few hundred nuclear plants built in the next five years which is when I expect the real wakeup call to the oil crisis to hit.

If we are smart about radically moving away from oil and reserving the remaining reserves for the most important uses then we could have some reasonable supply of oil continuing into the next century but I doubt we will be that smart.On IPCC likely too optimistic about recoverable coal posted 1 year, 6 months ago 20 Responses

The potential danger of CCS leakage

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lake_Nyos

1700 people died when a large volume of CO2 was released from a volcanic lake.

I also have concerns about long term sustainability of CCS. It invites people to  continue burning fossil fuels until they are all gone but I doubt there is enough stable storage capacity. e.g. the stoichoimetric carbon equivalent of one barrel of oil is not one barrel of CO2 but something closer to 3 barrels of CO2. Aside from all the depleted oil fields to be refilled with CO2, people talk about saline aquifers but where does all the displaced salt water go? How certain can you be that there will never be any leaks?

I believe CCS has a part to play in the future but it will make almost no difference before tipping points are crossed. I doubt if CCS will ever mitigate more than 10% of emissions. That's a significant wedge so I would support continued research (on a reasonable budget) but every extra dollar spent on CCS now is a dollar not spent on proven effective solutions which keep us further from disaster. CCS is not the saviour of the human race.On Hawkins to industry: 'deal with it' posted 1 year, 6 months ago 12 Responses

Nuclear isn't cheap

I used to live in Japan and everyone always said that electricity was very expensive. My power came from the Toukyou Electric Power Company (TEPCo) which is about 40% nuclear. Clearly nuclear isn't cheap. They had to shut down a bunch of reactors for several months to conduct safety inspections and repairs which had been neglected. I would not be to quick to increase nuclear power anywhere in the world. There are better options.On Industry bottlenecks will delay any reactors for years, maybe longer posted 1 year, 6 months ago 11 Responses

It's not just speed but acceleration

Jackrabbit starts burn through a lot of fuel. In the city, I am constantly catching up to cars that sprinted away from me on the green light and then had to slam on their brakes at the next red light. Press the gas a little more gently when accelerating and take your foot off the gas a lot earlier to reduce braking.On Easing off the gas eases gas use posted 1 year, 7 months ago 29 Responses

Less meat!

I don't have any numbers but I would guess that cutting meat consumption in half would equal most or all of a wedge.On The 14 wedges needed to stabilize emissions posted 1 year, 7 months ago 28 Responses

Time warp?

Someone please slap Bush with a calendar and remind him that April Fool's Day was two weeks ago.On President Bush's speech on climate change, 16 April 2008, as prepared for delivery posted 1 year, 7 months ago 10 Responses

Sounds like more pie-in-the-sky geoengineering.

 How much mining will that involve? How much dust blocking sunlight and congesting lungs? What about all the other problems involved with the fantasy of unfettered consumption?On U.K.'s Labor Party embraces nuclear but is slow to move on the big climate challenge posted 1 year, 7 months ago 3 Responses

My response that I sent to the Statefarm YT acct

"Jim" has nice legs from cycling that he can be proud to show off in shorts instead of a fat ass from sitting in a car.

State Farm is an insurance company that surely knows the high cost of climate change that is going to overwhelm them in the future. It's stupid to be producing ads which denigrate effective action and promote ignorant selfish continuation of bad habits.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

No wonder that account disabled comments on their videos. They would be swamped by a tonne of well-deserved snark.On 'State Farm can get you back behind the wheel' posted 1 year, 7 months ago 10 Responses

A carbon tax is so much simpler

This just highlights the advantages of a (revenue-neutral) carbon tax. Simple, no-gaming, easy to measure.On Does additionality matter? posted 1 year, 8 months ago 29 Responses

Erm ....

"The physics of a water column dictate that the bottom of the column is always the coldest part"

>_<

I'm not supporting Jabailo but I have to point out Pangolin's error. Water is densest at about 4 degrees. In an unstirred frozen lake the bottom is actually the warmest part as colder water begins to organize itself into crystals which become part of the floating ice. Some natural stirring occurs in spring as the surface warms up toward the denser 4 degree point and sinks down through  colder less dense 1-3 degree water. Once the column is all ~4 degrees then further warming will create a temperature gradient with the coldest water at the bottom.On Arctic ice alarmingly scarce, say NOAA, NASA, NSIDC posted 1 year, 8 months ago 4 Responses

Bush's nose is soooo long

that he can sniff the butts of Big Fossil without leaving the oval office.On Notable quotable posted 1 year, 9 months ago 1 Response

Even that improvement isn't as big as you think

They've usually been sold without a box in Canada for as long as I can remember so there is no improvement here.On Cadbury eggs will come with less packaging posted 1 year, 9 months ago 4 Responses

Bad and good in Japan

I was never able to get a reasonable answer from anyone. Blame it partly on the language barrier as I am not fluent in Japanese. An ambulance driver posted at a sports event once told me they didn't want the battery to run down. Canadian ambulances at similar events don't seem to need to idle.

Most Japanese people seemed to shrug off the question. I have the feeling that they are taught to leave the engine idling somehow because it was so prevalent but no one would confirm that for me. Typical examples that I witnessed daily included people parking at home and then chatting on the phone 5-10 minutes before going inside; cars idling while the owner was grocery shopping (often with a baby left alone inside); returning shoppers starting their engine and then loading the groceries and feeding the baby before pulling out of the parking lot; families eating fast food in the parking lot with the engine running; truck drivers having a midday nap with the engine running; etc, etc, etc.

There are a lot of other really bad driving practices in Japan as well such as people not turning on their headlights until after they pull into the street and not looking both ways when pulling out of a driveway/sidestreet.

On the positive side, there are a hell of a lot more people who walk, bike, bus, and train to work. Road safety is also greatly improved by having rumble strips in the center line of most roads.

You can see some examples of Japanese road conditions in this set of the pictures from my cycling trip in Japan last fallOn Japan says it can meet Kyoto goals posted 1 year, 9 months ago 11 Responses

I don't buy the lightbulb heat argument

Most lightbulbs are near the ceiling, most thermostats are a lot lower. Unless there is a ceiling fan going all the time (which also draws power) it is unlikely that one's furnace actually runs less because of heat from incandescents. On Have you been naughty with your light bulbs? You need some good old command and control. posted 1 year, 9 months ago 33 Responses

Paper plates are lame

I think it's OK if people use paper plates a few times a year for special occasions but several times a month is too much let alone several times a week.

Our disposable attitude is one of the cornerstones of our environmental mess.On Umbra on paper plates posted 1 year, 9 months ago 15 Responses

Globalized pollution

If that's true, then why, since 1970 has pollution gone down precipitously and energy efficiency gone up something like 80%.

Pollution has not truly gone down. It has merely been exported to ther countries and the nice shiny merchandise resulting from that dirty manufacturing is imported.

One of the great fallacies expounded by Lomborg and his ilk is that wealth paves the way for improved environmental standards. Asia's pollution has skyrocketed compared to modest drops in First World pollution but most of their exports get sold to the First World. In a decade or two (if business as usual continues), China may well be rich enough to start cleaning up it's own backyard but how will do that? I expect they will just shift their heavy polluting industries off to the next region poor and desperate enough to take them on, probably Africa. What happens when Africa gets rich enough to demand a better environment? Will there be any place left to pawn off so much filth? At what point will climate change topple this pyramid scheme?

We have to accept the costs of our own greed and stop dumping our problems on others. Start with splitting carbon emissions from internationally traded goods between the importer and the exporter. China wouldn't need to build 50 dirty coal plants a year if First World demand for cheap stuff wasn't so great.On Why Al Gore isn't running for president posted 1 year, 10 months ago 25 Responses

We need more people driving slower but steadily

Part of the reason people keep braking unpredictably is because they are trying to speed which gives them little time to react in any way other than to slam on the brakes. I keep my top speed to the limit inside of always trying to drive 10 km/h too fast (10-20% faster than the limit). I would estimate this typically slows me down only about 5-10% and I probably save at least 5% on gas because of less wasteful acceleration.

I also think we need to slow down more (i.e. slower speed limits) to reduce the speed advantage of cars over bikes/transit. Once people know that a 10K commute only takes 10-15 minutes longer they might be more open to cycling.On Cures for congestion can come cheap posted 1 year, 10 months ago 8 Responses

Bookmark this page Pangolin

I'll be curious to see how many of your predictions come true. Too many probably.

I would change your arctic sea ice prediction though. August is too early in the melt season. I would predict that a record will be reached by mid-September although strong projections of a record may be obvious by August.On 2008 will see another peaceful transfer of power in the U.S. posted 1 year, 11 months ago 20 Responses

Yeah, riiiiight.

And because taxes will add about 30 percent to the overall cost of a case of bottled water ... it's a change that is going to price many shoppers out of a healthy alternative to sugary beverages, Vite said.

Because, you know, people can't afford to choose free tap water over expensive bottled alternatives (with or without a bottle levy).On Chicago will levy bottled-water tax, Big Bottle plans to sue posted 1 year, 11 months ago 2 Responses

Idling protocols

It's generally not recommended you stop your engine while in traffic (I presume due to the slightly increased risk non-starting/stalling) but I do it occasionally at traffic lights I know will take a very long time.

I would agree that 30 seconds is an appropriate limit.

Some people claim they need a really long warmup but I would say that more likely they need some repairs and maintenance done (unless they are dealing with -40 degrees). My 27 year old Corolla needs about a minute in the first startup of the day or it stalls, later in the day it only needs 5-10 seconds.On When is a Tundra a better buy than a Prius? posted 1 year, 11 months ago 47 Responses

Do some debunking preparation

You might look here (pdf) for a powerpoint of his schtick.

I can't seem to play the accompanying audio but from a previous speech I have downloaded that he claims a 4000 year old white spruce was found 700km north of the tree line which thus demonstrates a much warmer past. However according to his own graphic of the tree line it could easily be 700km north but only a short distance east of the treeline e.g. in a favourable spot not far removed from current forest. We don't know because the exact location is not given.

Keep demanding peer-reviewed evidence to support his claims.On Climate skeptic steps up posted 1 year, 11 months ago 11 Responses