Comments naught101 has made

2?

But don't forget about the three Rs. Use it for a long time, and recycle it when you are done.

Er... that's 2, Umbra...On Umbra on e-books posted 11 months, 3 weeks ago 9 Responses

in relative terms...

Just for anyone else who wanted to put this in perspective, Wikipedia says that the US economy "was estimated as $13.8 trillion in 2007".

In other words, this $900 billion is about 6% of the total economy (same as the economic bailout package), and between 1/3 and 1/2 of the cost of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Sounds like a good idea to me...

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1990 levels???

Congress will draft legislation to reduce U.S. emissions to 1990 levels by 2020...

WTF? That make Australia's pissweakness look GOOD.

We're looking at at least a minimum of 5% by 2020 (although I think that might be on 2000 levels, meaning ~4%), and our increase has been almost double that of the US.

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Science?

I, along with many others, am still waiting for the announcement of a Science advisor.

GreenMom: I'd rather see someone with no political ties, for sure. (Not that I know much about this Lisa Jackson).

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nice

Great story.

Although AP isn't heavily associated directly with advertising (a la Chomsky's Propaganda Model from "Manufacturing Consent"), it must be to some extent: the papers that run AP stories would surely only run the stories from AP that suit it's advertising market, and depending on the buying model, that would potentially have the effect of making AP only write stories that it's buyer's advertisers would like. Hard to prove, because of the degrees of separation, and the number of news outlets that source material from AP.

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Prius

The problem with the Prius is that it's a beast. It looks so heavy (1.3 tonnes, it's heavier than the average sedan), and its aerodynamics can't be much better than a normal sedan.

The idea is good, but The Prius doesn't get much better milage than most 80s model japanese hatchbacks. What we really need in a town car is a plugin hybrid that's REALLY light, and has really low wind resistance.

Or just more public transport ;)

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bobclive

No, I can't say I did. Nor did I ever know that was a fact. But it seem that you probably have, and have some form of answer. I would love to know what the relevance is.

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obama...

I find it extremely depressing that ~4.5% of the world's population can restrict the actions of the rest of us this much - What happen if Obama caves? Or if he simply doesn't turn out as progressive as many have hoped? He's definitely under a lot of pressure from fossil fuel and related lobbies.

What we need out of Poznan is an agreement for strong, equitable targets and trade sanctions against any country that refuses to comply.

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I heard that...

...reading a book uses much less power, and 99% of the time has much more useful information.

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HA!

"[McCain]'s fought his own party"

The thing I love about this particular campaign is that BOTH candidates wear is as a badge of honour that they fight against the Republican party!

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A subtle difference

Saluki: there's a subtle difference between the environment movement and the spanish inquisition: scientific evidence.

There hasn't been any evidence refuting the anthropogenic global warming theory for years. Lindzen and co. don't deny that it's happening, they just disagree about the severity. You can choose to side with the radicals or the conservatives, but either way, now, or some point in the future, climate change is a serious issue.On Toyota may develop "Prius on steroids" posted 1 year, 1 month ago 22 Responses

Rebounding economy?

So you're saying the economy will rebound, only to have massive oil prices whack it on the head? Won't be much of a rebound, then, will it?

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huh?

where's one?

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discoursedb

http://www.discoursedb.org is a similar project, except lists whole articles, and not just quotes.

ameritocracy, like the debate itself, has bugger all on environmental issues

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not such a bad answer

Considering that A) he's never said he's an environmentalist and B), he isn't from the North West.

How many greenies from the Midwest know about Handford? Probably a fair few don't.

I'd much prefer his answer to a pre-written one that you might expect ("We're going to do our best to clean this up as soon as you vote us in").

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get out of our grist

I whacked my way through a few assumptive paragraphs, attempting to persevere, but gave up at:
I'm not calling for you to get off the farm and into the mall. But how do we bring our aspirations for the world into what we buy? This is the billion-person question.
No it's not. The question is:
But how do we bring our aspirations for the world into what we do?
I you can't get that, you won't ever really get sustainability. Because property itself is ultimately unsustainable (in assigning "rights" to some over others, including humans over other species).

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Yay!

And wipe out all the endemic species of penguins and seals, and other critters! I applaud the systematic approach taken in this ecologically-aware plan!

What the fuck? It's either not going to work, and the bears will die out anyway, or they'll become a weed species. Either way, no-one gives a shit about the bears, it's just a publicity stunt, and one that's going to backfire horribly if it goes ahead.

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What?!

So I did the measurements and found 140 gallons per minute, which is about enough for the purpose, but less than a 20 foot drop in elevation, which is the killer.

My friends in the Hunter valley (australia) have a 30L/min flow through their hydro setup (the creek flows much more than that), and only a two metre drop. When it's working, and combined with two 60W solar panels, they produce pretty much all the electricity they need (I think it's about 100W constantly, plus the PV). They don't use much - just lighting, a computer, and a small fridge really, but it's enough for them.

You have the maximum potential for a system 50 times what they have (assuming you use all the water, which I definitely don't think is a good idea)...

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Pushing a dodgy solution

CFCs are more efficient in operation than normal incandescents, but what about embodied energy? Especially when, as Sam pointed out, they break really quickly.

Low pressure sodium gas discharge lamps are MUCH MORE efficient than fluorescents (2-3 times, according to wikipedia, and sodium is much safer for health and the environment, and since it's a major part of salt, I would imagine that it's much more available...

Seems like a much better solution

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housing density

A good point, Matt, however in such situations, there's always going to be an optimal density, and related height, and I feel like this project goes way past that.

I have to agree with wiscidea. I think that the scale of high-technology in this project will leave it an empty shell in the coming decades (anyone have any idea when Russia is going to hit Peak Gas?).

I have a feeling that Russians should look at sub-surface housing. from skimming through a bit of this: http://nsidc.org/data/arcss078.html it's clear that temperatures are much more mild 2-3m down even in mid winter, staying at about 2-4 degrees C most of the year. Combine that with some good insulation on top, and you might even manage with body heat.

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on travel

justlou: does travel fall into the category of consumption?
yep. At least the kind of travel you're talking about is.

I'd like to point out that it's quite possible to spend decades in one place, and still not discover everything that's within walking distance. And the biodiversity in your local ecosystems (assuming they're not completely destroyed) is more complex than anything you'll ever learn from travelling for a short period to any other ecosystem.

The fundamental answer to this question is another question: why travel? If the answer is to learn, then I don't agree that travelling is the best way to learn (moving somewhere else for an extended period may be?), for the above reasons. There are also plenty of non-travelling methods of learning.

If it's escapism, then it's also not a valid reason to fuck the planet. there are plenty of other methods of escapism (reading, gardening, hobbies, what ever) that are just as valid, an much less destructive, or even creative.

If it's to help people (Aid work, etc), then there may be some value in that, but you've gotta ask yourself if the people you're helping wouldn't be better off if your country's government wasn't constantly screwing them over, and wouldn't it be better to fight the problem at the source?

Are there any other reasons to travel? I may have missed one or two (business doesn't count for me - use a phone)...

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what?

Is this supposed to be environmental? Of course it's a "very smart thing", if you have no ethics.. what's there to discuss?

The only thing I can see coming from this is that Wall Street and Co. will start to defend china's coal production instead of blaming to take the heat of western sources of GHG.

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