Comments danielbarker123 has made

  • we already are

    People are already learning to eat in the lab.  The essential ingredient in animal is (cyano)cobalamin, vitamin B-12.  It is now synthesized in the laboratory, allowing vegetarians the freedom of not eating liver.

    I have written repeatedly, and ask your help, to various aquatic groups about synthesizing those two essential omega-3 fatty acids, thus alleviating the need to eat fish on a regular basis.

    I have been eating flexitarian since 1992, my goal is living on six pounds of meat a year.

    We need to tell everyone that eating meat consumes massive petroleum, water and land, we are destroying rainforests to grow crops to fatten cattle.

    I believe people are becoming aware.On Meat of the future may be grown in a lab posted 1 year, 7 months ago 14 Responses

  • trust our own government

    We know we cannot trust our own government.

    And this is a good thing!  We are better off if our government fears us than if we fear our government.

    When I ran for Congress in Utah, 1st. district, 2002, a state delegate called me about the Second Amendment.  He told me the purpose of the amendment was that the Founding Fathers wanted to insure the populace would not be subservient.

    When we want to take on the right-wingers, we need to beat them at their own game.  Liberals oppose ownership of guns.  When you think about the CIA spying on Greenpeace and other groups, this might not be smart.  

    If Leftist groups were armed, the CIA would leave them alone.On Security firm spied on green groups, documents show posted 1 year, 7 months ago 1 Response

  • stop the madness

    Does anybody listen?

    For years the 'extremists' have been preaching about meat.  Now people are beginning to listen.  I have been eating flexitarian since 1992 - my goal is to eat less than six pounds of meat a  year.

    People are starting to learn that eating meat consumes forty times the fossil fuel.  Are you opposed to the war in Iraq?  Not if you indulge in hamburgers and hot dogs.

    I have a simple solution to meat.  Let the Humane Society sell meat.  That would solve our problems.  On Clinton, Obama questioned on climate change at religion forum posted 1 year, 7 months ago 7 Responses

  • China and the Olympics

    Forget about the environment - China does not care about human rights. Last year I sent a letter to His Holiness about asking the Chinese government to play the Tibetan national anthem for the Tibetan athletes.

    His Holiness the Dalai Lama has asked people to boycott the Olympics, and I agree. On China announces plans to modify weather for Olympics posted 1 year, 10 months ago 5 Responses

  • the drought in the Southeast

    Give me a break!

    We are responsible for the drought.  How many children do you have?  Do you have more than two by choice?

    How big is your home?  Do you brag about your home? Do you envy having a bigger one?

    I have made the commitment to one child and adoption.  Controlling growth and development is the answer to everything.On Severe drought in U.S. Southeast leaves Atlanta water supply in question posted 2 years, 1 month ago 5 Responses

  • stop the fire

    As a founding father pointed out two centuries ago, the price of freedom is eternal vigilence.

    From big business to big government, we must never trust.  This is just the latest example.

    I fully support groups such as PETA to investigate animal abuse; PETA does a good job finding problems relating to animal health much faster than the government can.

    It is easy to demand business to not hurt anyone.  Obviously a corporation can insure it doesn't go around shooting people.  It is the indirect hurt that is so much harder to confront.  There are literally hundreds of thousands of chemicals, we only know the full effects of just a handful, and about six to eight new ones are introduced each day.

    If business were to stop all operations until every chemical were fully tested to see how it interacts with all the hundreds of thousands of other chemicals nothing would get done for decades.

    Bottom line:  let us live with nature.  Let us consume less.  I practice family planning, I have no children and plan on having one child and adoption.  We complain about what corporations do then go out and buy an appliance we don't need.  Is it any wonder billions of people without food and other basic needs hate us enough to commit terrorism?On This Gives Us Paws posted 2 years, 3 months ago 1 Response

  • China cleans up it's act?

    Let's be honest.  The PRoC invaded Tibet in 1959, and if they want to clean up their act the first would be to reinstall the Dalai Lama as leader.  Earlier this year I wrote a letter to His Holiness the Dalai Lama recommending the IOC play the Tibetan national anthem at the opening ceremonies.  I ask everyone to do the same.On So That's What Those Trains Are For posted 2 years, 3 months ago 8 Responses

  • coal mine

    We have been through Price and Helper many times.  I have been to the coal museum in Helper, where the trains used to add a 'helper' locomotive to get over Soldier's Summit.

    In 1998 I rented a car and drove through Price and Helper.  When I got to the bottom of the canyon I noticed a black vein in the rock where they blasted through to widen the road.  I parked my car and found some black shiny rock on the side of the road.  It was native coal.

    I believe all coal mines should be unionized!  If a miner reports a safety violation  in a unionized mine operations are shut down until it is fixed.  If a violation is reported in a non-union mine the worker is told to keep his mouth shut or lose his job.

    Boycott all nonunion coal!On All So You Can Have Cheap Electricity posted 2 years, 3 months ago 5 Responses

  • electic cars

         This is to inform you that I have written the Federal Emergency Management Agency over an official document concerning electric cars.
         After the recent hurricanes we experienced and residents stranded on highways, FEMA stated that residents should carry additional fuel in case of  stuck in traffic.
         I wrote FEMA that an electric car consumes no power when it is not moving, a small amount of power when it is moving slowly, and creates power when it is decelerated.
         On Go Get 'Em, Plugger posted 2 years, 4 months ago 1 Response

  • Give me a break!

    Give me a break - we drive SUVs, so what's the big deal? If people cared about the planet, there would be no trucks on the road.

    How many of us ship goods, and travel, by rail?  How come Amtrak spending is down and nobody even knows?

    We really don't care about the planet- but don't take my word for it, ask Michael Moore.  Mr Moore certainly doesn't care about destroying the planet when he eats too much.  (I wonder how many people have starved so that Micheal Moore could eat his meat.)  Eating meat requirs forty times the fossil fuel as vegetarian - I know, I eat less than six pounds of meat a year.On Be Still Our Beating Hearts posted 2 years, 5 months ago 6 Responses

  • solar power

    How much do you know about solar?
    In California, the average consumption of electricity is one kwatt.  How much do you use?  
    Assume you reduce power consumption to one kwatt.  Then you will need a kwatt system.  At five dollars a watt, that is five thousaand dollars.

    The system will procuce one kwatt for about four hours a day, peak sunlight hours of ten to two.  It will produce less other times of day.  So you will need additional power panels, bringing the cost up to about ten thousand dollars.

    Then you factor in cloud cover, which averages forty percent.  So you need additional solar panels.

    Next, the solar panels produce DC, and your house runs on AC.  You will need a power invertor.  The prices have dropped dramatically, a three kwatt invertor is about three hundred dollars.

    Last, you will need batteries to store your power when the sun isn't shining, which costs thousands of dollars.

    All told the system could easily run forty thousand dollars.

    Now here is how you make one change and reduce the cost by at least ninety percent.

    Decades ago a French physicist studying solar cells increased voltaic output by reflecting additional light on the cell.  At the end, he was able to produce an astounding one thousand times the rated output, an increase of one hundred thousand percent!

    What does this mean?  Simple - instead of merely mounting solar cells on your roof, install reflecting cells (which cost a fraction of the price) and project the sunlight off the house and onto the solar cells.  This has two benefits.

    The first one is obvious - by concentrating the light, we do not need the tens of thousands worth of solar cells.  Can you guess what the second benefit is?  In the summertime, reflecting sunlight off the house eliminates heatbuildup, keeping the house cooler.  The solar system can easily be designed to do a parallel job, reflecting infrared (heat) rays on the west side of the house which will also help keep the house cooler.

    I hope you find this encouraging to go solar.On Umbra on installing solar power posted 2 years, 5 months ago 7 Responses

  • stop global warming

    Give me a break - no one takes global warming seriously.  Here is a quick reality check.

    This week's issue of Parade magazine features a front page article on the housing market.  Of interest was the size of an American home.

    Homes in America are actully 50% bigger than 1970!  If we really cared about the planet, why are houses getting bigger as families continue to get smaller?

    Also, why does everybody still drive oversized SUVs?  And, of course, why do most Americans eat too much meat?

    If we want to stop the insanity, we need to put the oil industry out of business.  By electric/hybrid cars that run on something besides petroleum.  For heavens sake, live in a small home.  And eat vegetarian.

    I think too many Americans are waiting for 'big government' to solve their problems for them.  On Measure Twice, Cut One of These Days posted 2 years, 6 months ago 2 Responses

  • alcohol emission standards and liquor

    This is crazy!  We should not be turning food into alcohol...whether to power our cars or our brains!  (Sorry, I couldn't resist the temptation of comparing ethanol and corn for liquor.)

    It is bad enough the Bush adminstration increased the amount of emissions for ethanol plants to equal corn for liquor plants.  Using corn for either is terrible when Mexicans are beginning to starve due to rising corn prices.

    I ask everyone to vote against every candidate in favor of ethanol from corn.  We must vote them all out.  We must boycott ethanol plants that are causing starvation.On The Err Up There posted 2 years, 7 months ago 1 Response

  • Darfur and drought

    I find it sad that Africans in America do not care about their brethren in Africa.  The wars in Darfur started with drought.

    Already we are seeing the first signs here.  Communities are running out of water.

    What can we do?  I have made the commitment of family planning.  I have no children, and plan on one child and adoption from a poor nation such as Darfur.On Calling All Hawks posted 2 years, 7 months ago 4 Responses

  • saving the rainforest

    Listen up, liberals, as long as people continue to have babies and eat meat, the rainforest will be paved over for a parking lot.

    I have no children and plan on one child and adoption.  How many children do you have?

    If you want to save the planet, don't have children - one child is enough with adoption.  There are plenty of poor children to go around.

    We might have stopped them from the Amazon, but as long as we continue to eat too much meat some other forest will be destroyed to grow the soybean.  So the battle isn't over until we stop funding the destroyers.On Don't Make Me Pull This Cargill Over posted 2 years, 8 months ago 1 Response

  • Oscar green?

         I thank TerraPass for getting celebrities to go green.    
         It is obvious celebrities fly private jets.  I understand concern about security (how many actors publicly in favor of gun control pack heat on their Learjets).
         There is a sane solution.  If you fly private jet, you produce your own fuel from carbon dioxide.  The same way a plant does.  So, if you consume five hundred gallons of jet fuel to fly to the Oscars, you produce five hundred and ten gallons of fuel.
        We should also discuss how we waste energy on meat.  How many of actors last night are vegetarians?   According to PETA it takes 40 times the energy to produce a pound of protein from beef as from soybean.  We should encourage celebrites to disdain from meat.
            And last we should stop the biggest threat to the planet, development and growth.  I practice family planning.  I have no children, and plan on one child and adoption.
       On Things are getting strange up in Hollywood posted 2 years, 9 months ago 6 Responses

  • savng water

    What can we do about saving water?  First, eat vegetarian - it takes a lot more water (and fossil fuel and land) to raise meat than crops.

    Second, we can practice family planning and reduce the demand for water.  I have no children and plan on having one.

    Daniel Barker
    Lakeland, Florida  33809On A chat with freshwater experts Peter Gleick and William K. Reilly posted 3 years, 4 months ago 14 Responses

  • running out of fission material

    Ijust realized, the idea of running out of fissional material in six or seven years is hogwash.

    We know the main source of heating the interior of the Earth is low-level fission.  Do you really believe, in less than ten years, every earthquake and volcano would disappear, the plate techtonics would settle down, because we removed all the source of heat for the world?

    Think about it - the same guys opposed to 'nuclear' are in favor of it, under the disguise of 'geothermal'.  'Geothermal' is just the 'politically correct' way of saying nuclear, it is merely using the Earth's inner heat (from radioactice decay) for energy.

    Do these guys think if we used geothermal we would run out of energy in six years?

    The Earth has been around for billions of years, and plate techtonics has been operating for hundreds of millions of years, all powered by radioactive decay.  We have enough nuclear to last until we have another source.On No nukes is good nukes posted 3 years, 5 months ago 62 Responses

  • Could the battle for South Central Farm be coming


    We are facing a reality, running out of room.  More people means more development, more consumption of land, water and energy and other natural resources and a loss of habitat.

    If this 14 acres is not converted for development, it will just happen somewhere else.  As long as population continues to explode, so will 'progress'.  People need room to live, work and factories need room to provide goods.

    The best practical solution to allow room for everyone to live in harmony with nature is family planning.  I have no children, plan on having one one, and adopting a needy child.  Julia "Butterfly" Hill answered a personal question of mine that she is only interested in men who cannot have children.  On Could the battle for South Central Farm be coming to a close? posted 3 years, 5 months ago 8 Responses

  • national train

    Dear Grist,

         I care to comment on a national shame.  The conservative congress has recently (again) cut funding for our national train, and left it up to the states to come up with the money.  The Republicans have left it up to the states to fund Amtrak.  This is terrible - not only does congress subsidize airports and highways, after 9-11, the congress even subidized several private airlines!
         We need to reduce our dependence on oil.  Airplanes and cars (and trucks) gobble up most of our petroleum.  We all know before WW II, most goods were shipped by rail, and nobody complained.
         Here is what we should do: contact your Congressman and tell them you care about our use of petroleum and want Amtrak funding increased.  Write to your local representative and tell them to increase funding.  
         Next, start a public campaign to increase use of rail.  When delivering a package or having one delivered, asked how it is to be sent.  Demand it to be shipped by rail.  This will save money, as trucks and airplanes cost more.
         When Americans start using our rail system again, we will reduce our use of petroleum.  

    Daniel Barker
    6339 Egret Drive
    Lakeland, FL  33809-5652
    863-815-4534On As Freecycle grows, idealism and reality collide posted 4 years, 5 months ago 85 Responses

  • Foreign corporations lobby US Congress

    Editor,

         We all agree is is horrible for the US Congress to accept money from foreign corporations.  (I thought it was illegal - when I read about contributing to campaigns, the fine print always says foreign donations are not accepted.)
         The question is, does anybody really care?  I have a feeling most Americans don't seem to take the environment seriously.  We have elected a Republican government since 2000, and the conservatives have actually gained power each election since.
        We should go ahead and publicize the dirty doings of the Congress.  It remains to be seen if it will do any good.

    Daniel Barker
    6339 Egret Drive
    Lakeland, FL  33809-5652
    863-815-4534On As Freecycle grows, idealism and reality collide posted 4 years, 5 months ago 85 Responses

  • Massive Amazon illegal logging ring busted

    Dear editor,

        It's great the governemnt in Brazil managed to make some arrests and save some rainforest.  The question is, is this a sign of the future or just a fluke?
         We need to provide some alternatives to destroying the rainforest.  It is easy for us in wealthy nations to comment on what goes on in poor nations.  It is a different matter when millions of people try to get by on about a dollar a day!  It is no wonder so many people around the world don't appear to share our values; they are only trying to survive.
         May I offer my two-cents worth: pay the Brazilians double their salary for logging in renewable forests.  At their cheap labor rate, a 100% increase is nothing.  (From a dollar to two dollars a day.) That way, everybody is happy.  The rainforest is saved, locals make plenty of money, everybody's happy.

    Daniel Barker
    6339 Egret Drive
    Lakeland, FL  33809-5652
    863-815-4534On As Freecycle grows, idealism and reality collide posted 4 years, 5 months ago 85 Responses