Comments Grevangelical has made

If you don't mind mediocre readers...

try Librivox http://librivox.org/ It has the disadvantage of only having open copyright books, but for old things it's pretty cool, especially for poetry Emerson, Elliot, Dickinson all those poets who should always be heard rather than read.

Now they just need people to volunteer to read the IPCC reports...On MP3 players and digital Science posted 1 year, 5 months ago 4 Responses

Jonas is right (partially)

Rich countries need to poor several hundred billion dollars into building (for free) an efficient infrastructure (electric trains, solar heating, solar/wind electric generation) in the world's poorest countries. It'll save money in the long run in stability, climate change adaptation costs, and be a better way to waste money than on military aggression...

A global fund for oil aid would work if it attached green development strings, but I think that would be viewed as very patronizing and not appreciated by poorer countries.On Goldman says oil 'likely' to hit $150-$200 by 2010 posted 1 year, 6 months ago 58 Responses

A few things

First: Stop with the insults and ad hominems, everybody! We are rational beings who can look at the evidence without resulting to slurs. I don't care if you feel that you are being baited, you do not have to respond in kind.

Second: According the the IFA (International Fertilizer Industry Association, who may be inclined to favor fertilizers a little). http://www.fertilizer.org/ifa/statistics/indicators/ind_r ...

The main fertilizer raw materials are energy and hydrocarbon feedstock, phosphate rock, sulphur and potassium salts.

I think that implies that hydrocarbon feedstock, specifically natural gas, is an important component in many fertilizers. No I cannot (without more research) name a specific industrial fertilizer that uses hydrocarbons, but neither can I name an industrial fertilizer at all.

Third and finally: There are techniques that are specifically oriented towards poorer countries, including those in Africa. Biointensive agriculture has proven effective in producing more food per energy input and being more reliable than conventional methods. These non-industrial methods also contribute to sustainable community, and not just as buzzwords. The Common Ground Project in Kenya is one example of an ongoing project that has greatly benefitted the natives through non-industrial methods. The success of this and other programs in less industrialized countries is in part because it does not ignore the well-being of the natives (in fact it gives responsibility of the project to the residents of the area, Jonas is right that foreign control of projects is not a good idea) and addresses anthropocentric issues like AIDS and education. Strong native communities with a hand in their own future and not some national or international government are essential, but they must also understand that care of their land is necessary to long term prosperity and even survival. The fact that the green community and the humanitarian community are at odds over foreign policy shows that either one, or both, have not thoroughly researched the issue. Both environmental sustainability and alleviation of humanitarian issues must be achieved; otherwise neither can be.

</preach>On Nitrogen fertilizer is in short supply posted 1 year, 7 months ago 53 Responses

Spaceshaper: to troll

Internet trolling is most likely a term referring to trolling for fish (dragging multiple baited lines behind a moving boat). The goal of internet trolls is to bait "suckers" into conversation and preferably get them to overreact.On Global temps may drop this year but, alas, world still warming posted 1 year, 7 months ago 132 Responses

ABEC vs. ABECC

The site linked in the opening post is a parody of ABEC's website (made by the NRDC apparently) and not an actual organization. Click aforementioned link and laugh.On Mysterious new pro-coal organization posted 1 year, 8 months ago 4 Responses

Err...

Pretend that without in the first sentence doesn't exist...On Hillary Clinton brings an environmental issue to the fore in Nevada posted 1 year, 10 months ago 9 Responses

Hey, nothing wrong with bulging backpacks...

A backpack easily trumps a trailer in an icy winter, I still enjoy bragging about carrying my tuxedo to Orchestra Hall to sing in the Chorale. Not to say that this isn't a good idea during the non-frozen portion of the year and in warmer climes. On British supermarket expands bike-trailer program posted 1 year, 10 months ago 4 Responses

In defense of the accusers...

It is a very poorly written poll, there are three options one direction and only one clearly biased option in the other. It also doesn't take into account shades of gray like "only waste biodiesel should be used as fuel." If you create a "with us or against us" choice then people will naturally line up against you or with you. It's almost always a propaganda mistake.

Anyway, biofuels are generally a red herring and do not seem to be useful/sustainable for large global populations.On Profit motive is eating the planet posted 2 years, 1 month ago 5 Responses

Schools cutting buses to cut costs...

The district of schools that I used to attend stopped offering buses to students under 1.5 miles away from their schools. This increased driving by both students and parents. I'm betting that scenarios like this are far more common than encouraging walking to pollute less. On Municipalities try to encourage students to walk to school posted 2 years, 2 months ago 8 Responses

"New" data

If this new data is the same that is circulating in skeptic circles, then it is accurate but not global.

http://data.giss.nasa.gov/gistemp/graphs/Fig.D.txt

The data only reflects the temperatures of the lower 48 United States, to portray this information as global is either dishonest or simply poorly researched. So unless you can provide numbers from a valid source that the information you refer to is actually global, I'm not going to believe it.On 'The temperature record is unreliable'--But temperature trends are clear and widely corroborated posted 2 years, 3 months ago 8 Responses

Hurrah!

As an ex-gilnetter myself I'm glad that the exemption passes will not be allowed. All environmental reasons aside it would be a source for resentment and further arguments in a dying community. Not to mention that the permits would probably all be snatched up by larger operations and family fishers would still get nothing.

Preserving a wild area for any breeding species is essential to preserving the biodiversity of creation and in spite of the difficulties this creates for fishers it must be done.On Latest victory protects Pacific sea turtles posted 2 years, 5 months ago 5 Responses

Irritatingly enough Gristmill doesn't like degrees

On Who knew the stoic people of Minnesota were so advanced? posted 2 years, 6 months ago 13 Responses

Yeah, that's my home

Although our wonderful governor ignored the environment completely his first term, maybe winning reelection by the closest margin of any Minnesotan governor in recent history helped. Well, that and having a House and Senate that are willing to overrule any veto on environmental issues.

One of the best parts of this bill is the complete ban on all future coal plants and the gradual (too gradual, I'll admit) phasing out of all current coal power. That and the efficiency standards make me very happy.On Who knew the stoic people of Minnesota were so advanced? posted 2 years, 6 months ago 13 Responses

An ignore feature?

I've seen other forums have individually modifiable ignore features, so certain posters can be blocked by the individual if they don't want to deal with them. I can think of a couple of our friends for which that would be useful.

Of course, I've moved Ralph through several stages of denial and gotten him to actually talk (mostly) civilly, so replying to skeptics isn't always fruitless. On Churchill, not Chamberlain posted 2 years, 6 months ago 58 Responses

Much better tone, so I'll address the issues

Ralph:

"Grevangelical -
But the biggest unanswered question is this - If America and the world are to reduce carbon dioxide emissions from fossil fuel combustion 80% or more, what do you propose as a replacement?   Carbon capture technology is many years away, and will likely be prohibitively expensive when it is commercially available.  How shall we power our lives?  Or are you content to ratchet down the economy, force people to lower their standard of living, all based on the dubious belief that a minor rise in atmospheric CO2 concentrations will cook the planet?"

First, I do not trust the IPCC or any information fed to me by a governmental body. However, since the IPCC does not do its own research it has citations of all the studies that it uses. I can read through the report and then read each of the studies to see if anything was lifted out of context or if anything was ignored. Okay, so I only read the studies that interest me, otherwise I'd still be on the first page of the report. I also try to keep up with all the reports released in Science or Nature on the topic.

As of yet all my problems with the IPCC and their process is that they are consistently months behind the leading curve of research. There are new papers that are published before the reports are released that have no accounting, which is why the most recent report uses CO2 concentrations of 550ppm as the maximum to avoid over 2C? temperature change. The most recent studies suggest that this concentration is probably 100ppm to high to be reasonable.

The Landsea controversy, however, is an issue that was essentially resolved by the heavy bureaucracy of the system. Landsea resigned but the report he was working on doesn't specify the degree of increase in hurricane winds, and thus doesn't contradict Landsea's numbers (that the change would exist but would be miniscule) on increased hurricane wind-speeds, which is the reason he stated for leaving. Even though he quit his point of view won out and the conservative IPCC let his standards remain on the table until the next report comes out.

Getting China and India to cooperate is a incredibly difficult problem, but to some extent they've already started. Standards for fuel efficiency in Chinese cars are significantly higher than US standards and continuing to increase. The pollution (both greenhouse gas and otherwise) largely comes from industrial procedures, which means that the United Sates and Europe are to blame as the major importers of Chinese industrial goods. Until the US starts to clean up its act it is going to have a nearly impossible time dealing with China and India.

I should only agree to address your final argument if you agree that climate change actually is an issue, otherwise it is logically inconsistent to even posit this argument. However, there are many solutions.

One that I am personally fond of is the use of natural biomes to sequester carbon and produce fuel that can be used in existing coal plants. A recent University of Minnesota study (press: http://www1.umn.edu/umnnews/Feature_Stories/Natural_prair ... ) shows that a mixture of prairie grasses can yield 60-70% of the energy that coal does in existing fluidized bed technology of coal-fired power plants. Since the grasses are perennial and native they require no weeding, herbicides or fertilizer they are cheap and environmentally friendly, not to mention will increase habitat and food sources for wild animals. Furthermore, they greatly enrich the soils naturally, especially when native clover or other nitrogen fixing plants are included in the mix. Furthermore, 60% of the mass is kept underground, which means that as a fuel prairie grasses could be carbon negative.

Of course, even with a million acres in Minnesota that could be restored to natural prairie it would provide only a small portion of the solution. However, since they can be stored they could be burned exclusively when there is not enough power being produced by the various other elements of a diverse grid.

You see, Ralph, no one element is enough to make a system stable. As many different methods of producing power as possible should be incorporated in order to protect our investment. Of course, the most important thing we could do would be to use less energy, through efficiency and conservation. In the two years I've been able to cut my energy usage down to half of what it once was and I've been happier and had fewer monetary problems. I'm fairly certain that almost everyone in America could do as much with little inconvenience, and then there would be a lower trade deficit and more disposable income. I don't see how efficiency and conservation could possible be seen as a bad thing to do, even for global warming deniers.On Vote! posted 2 years, 6 months ago 96 Responses

Ralph's arguments

1. It's all China's fault, they produce more CO2 than us despite using less than we do with nearly ten times the population only the size of economy really matters.
   
2. Global warming isn't happening/isn't caused by CO2.
   
3. Global warming will be more good than bad.
   
4. Economic death and mayhem to solve the problem. Oh no! Okay, just because every credible economic report on the subject says that energy efficiency and global warming prevention will protect and improve the economy doesn't mean it actually will.

Followed by calling everyone you oppose treasonous and assuming stupidity.

Finally, of course, the emphasis on PhD by someone who clearly doesn't understand either the greenhouse effect or the carbon cycle which I learned in elementary school. All the information you just rebutted is found in the Skeptic's Guide, or in the relevant articles in Science or Nature.

Maybe if you knew something about the topic you could come up with more logical skeptical arguments, like aliens using death rays to heat the atmosphere.

As for the topic at hand, if the skeptics are honest doubters, uninformed or have new arguments, treat them seriously and politely. If they call environmentalists names (commies, treasonous, etc.) and don't use facts or common sense then either ridicule or ignore them.On Vote! posted 2 years, 6 months ago 96 Responses

Thank you

This is one of the best imaginative exercises that I have read in a long time. It isn't necessarily hopeful, since it is likely that during my lifetime the surface area each person is entitled will be down to under 4 acres.On Your share of the world posted 2 years, 7 months ago 16 Responses

Update Minnesota

I had a meeting with my Representative Kate Knuth tonight. We talked about all kinds of environmental issues (she has a Master from Oxford in an environmental science) one of the subjects that I broached were the Northeast and West coast compacts. Governor Pawlenty and the Legislature actually are trying to build up a Midwest compact as well, but Kate hadn't even thought about trying to bring Minnesota into one of the existing pacts until I brought it up. She's going to send out feelers in the Legislature and we'll see if it's a possibility.

It was nice to talk to someone in politics who knew as much about environmental issues as I did for a change. We talked about everything from prairie grass cellulosic ethanol, to how poorly corn ethanol works and the recent Minnesota bills that require a statewide 80% reduction in greenhouse gas emissions by 2050 (unfortunately with only targets set and nothing in place to keep them). I wish all the officials I elected were that knowledgeable on what really matters.On More exciting than it sounds posted 2 years, 7 months ago 13 Responses

Happy thoughts!

Wow, until it got to global warming the whole pdf report felt like it was saying that everything was better now then before. That's almost exclusively due to environmental efforts to get clean air, water and soil protection in place (of course, it clearly ignores that part of the truth). It makes me feel like the whole thing is more possible. I can't believe that a skeptics report has cheered me up this much.

Then there was the climate change aspect, again almost everything was true (with a few exceptions and a Science "citation" that doesn't seem to exist) but they deliberately left out elements of the truth to support their viewpoints.

Meh.On AEI brings us the good news on climate posted 2 years, 7 months ago 9 Responses