Comments hikerreese has made

  • venting a dryer

    Gwyn, thanks for your comments.  I wouldn't vent the dryer in the house though.  We did that in Alaska and moisture condensed all over the inside of the house.  Our insulation got wet and had to be replaced.  On Ask Umbra's video advice for saving money on your heating bill posted 10 months, 3 weeks ago 4 Responses

  • the majority of large americans

    Too good Bob.  This could take off.  People eat spam.  There is no telling what crap some people will swallow.  This is true figuratively and literally.

    This guy's gonna read his labels close though.  I don't want anything to do with it.On Test-tube flesh, coming soon to a hot dog near you posted 11 months, 3 weeks ago 15 Responses

  • wear ski goggles and use studded tires

    That and watch out for snow plows.  I quit biking in the snowiest part of winter last year because I got hit by the snow flying off the snow plow.   When it gets too snowy, I switch to x country skis.  I picked up a used pair for twenty five bucks.  On Umbra on winter biking posted 1 year ago 18 Responses

  • nuther cookbook and other stuff

    I still eat meat but have cut way down.  I enjoy a lot of the middle eastern veggie foods like hummus and falafel.  

    You can't go wrong with Indian food either.  Try some of the Molly Katzen cookbooks like the Moosewood Cafe.  I think that is the name.On Umbra on shifting to vegetarianism posted 1 year, 1 month ago 19 Responses

  • It's April Fools Day.

    Guess what?  Al Gore isn't running for president either.  I had a good time reading the comments though.  On New campaign plans to relocate polar bears to Antarctica posted 1 year, 8 months ago 27 Responses

  • clarity

    Guns and hunting are allowed on National Forests, BLM land, state land, and private land if you get permission from the owner.  National Parks are the only place you can't carry a gun.  they are not dangerous places right now either.  I am all for hunting but you don't have to do it everywhere.  Also, there is some value for wildlife populations to have refuges from hunting.  The reseed other areas which is presumably good for hunters in the long run.  

    I have been in a lot parks and not seen the "infestation" of dope growers described in the right wing press.  Mostly some people want to carry a gun because they want to poach.  Others just like to carry gun because they fear bears.  Even in Alaska where I live, bears are an extremely minor threat. Hundreds of times more people get lost in the woods and die than get attacked by grizzly bears but I know people that won't go in the woods without a gun but never carry a lighter, compass or map.  They just like guns and go into withdrawals without em.  They can't understand the fact that millions of us feel threatened by guns.
     On Ban on loaded firearms in national parks may be lifted posted 1 year, 8 months ago 20 Responses

  • Nader needs to get over himself

    I agree with Davedenali.    He won't tip the election because he will get votes from people that are so far out on the margin that they are meaningless in the election.  Nader is not significant anymore.  People learned in 2000 that Democrats and Republicans and not the same.  there a a few that still love Nader that way but they are few and would not have voted anyway.  

    Would I support a ban on campaign contributions? yes.  
    Would I support runoff elections?
    yes.
    Do I think a vote for Nader has any value at all in the meantime.  
    No.  

    Nader isn't going to end the war because he isn't going to be elected president.  On Ralph Nader jumps into the presidential race posted 1 year, 9 months ago 31 Responses

  • more questions

    The destruction of 99.5% of Sherwood forest isn't unique. 100% of the passenger pigeons in the US went extinct.  ditto for dozens of other species.  There are less than 2,000 of old growth forests left in the Midwestern US.  I don't know how many acres there are in the Midwest but a lot less than 0.5% of old growth remain. English history on this regard seems pretty strait forward.  Some rich guys got greedy and nobody had the power to stop them.  It's good to see that somebody is trying to reverse that.On Groups band together to save Sherwood Forest posted 1 year, 11 months ago 4 Responses

  • title

    Apparently somebody is trying to put the bone into bonobo.  

    Anyway, how do they know that other animals don't enjoy sex.  My dog seems to think its great.  I will admit he doesn't seem to have much finesse.On Congo nature preserve set up to protect bonobos posted 2 years ago 5 Responses

  • distrust

    the article is correct. Oil could be cheaper but the price is high because we have a corrupt government.  I am not saying that oil has not peaked but it could cheaper right now.  The peak of oil taking  years.  Oil was peaking five years ago and price were half what they are now. It will take a while before we actually run low. It would not be good for the price of gas to go down either.  We need high gas prices to reduce consumption but the increase in fuel prices should be the result of higher fuel taxes.  The revenue from the gas taxes should pay for alternative energy development.  

    It does not surprise me that the US Department of Energy says prices will stay high.  the Bush administration intends to continue to let the oil industry dictate energy policy.  Of course they are going to raise prices.  On We have $100-a-barrel oil due to speculation and fear posted 2 years ago 54 Responses

  • leadership

      We need is real leadership and I don't see it in the front running presidential candidates.  This article presumes that the Democrats running for president will actually follow through on their promises but prices will only rise dramatically if the new president makes radical changes and that is not going to happen.  We will all be disappointed by their lack of substantial action but glad that Bush is gone and glad he wasn't replaced by Romney.  I make myself sick but I am going to vote for the Democrat next November even though I have little faith in them.  A Democratic candidate could have fresh turds coming out of both ears and look good because he/she will be compared to Bush or Mitt Romney. On Everything comes down to whether fighting climate change will hurt ordinary voters posted 2 years ago 12 Responses

  • sounds like Bush

    Remember when W said the US was addicted to oil but then went on to commit no change whatsoever.  Romney's committed to drill in the ANWR though.  That fixes things.

    the only good thing about Mitt is that he would easier to defeat than Giuliani.On A look at Mitt Romney's environmental platform and record posted 2 years ago 4 Responses

  • Republican Senators are human

    Last year Lisa Murkowski came to Juneau to debate the war with Veterans for Peace and while I didn't agree with her position on the war I came away with the impression that she is respectful of other people.  What is lacking is any response from Rep Don Young or Senator Ted Stevens.  Their silence on this one issue would not be so deafening if their mouths weren't screaming insults at anyone with a differing view.  Rush Limbaugh is a nice guy compared to Ted Stevens and Don Young. On Alaska Senator defends young constituent against Limbaugh's attacks posted 2 years ago 9 Responses

  • good post Umbra

    Brave post Umbra.  Unfortunately, you won't get through to some folks.  There will always be the gashog drivers that swear that global warming couldn't be caused by vehicles and you will always have cat lovers that stand in denial as well. You encouraged me to bring my cat inside.  It isn't easy. she is quick and runs between my legs when I walk out the door. On Umbra on cats and birds posted 2 years ago 72 Responses

  • Joke

    There is no such thing as a bad joke about Hazelwood nor Exxon for that matter.  Exxon Valdez fudge sauce indeed.

    The recipe sounds great!!!  On An unseasonably warm night and a doomed-to-melt dessert posted 2 years ago 11 Responses

  • local and state laws

    States almost never use a stricter pollution standards than the EPA requires them to use.  When the EPA weakens pollution standards, States follow suit and weaken theirs as weak as the feds let them.  If we eliminated federal laws and the EPA we would have pollution laws but they would be a lot weaker and enforcement a lot spottier.  

    We like to think that local governments are more honest than the feds and sometimes they are but they are powerless.  Locals governments can't afford scientists so they are forced to trust corporate scientists or the EPA.  Without nationwide pollution laws polluters would shop around and find city councils that are either polluter friendly or have no ability for enforcement.  

    Private property advocates complain about the US Fish and Wildlife telling them they can't destroy critical habitat for endangered species.  They also claim the right to pollute their land.  Ron Paul is their champion.  On An interview with Ron Paul about his presidential platform on energy and the environment posted 2 years, 1 month ago 55 Responses

  • Scary indeed

    Either this blog is full of trolls from the Ron Paul campaign or there are a lot of people that don't know anything about real land.  

    Paul wants to sell off the National Forest, drill in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, lower the minimum wage, and he against ratifying Kyoto.  Why is Grist giving him space?  He wants to get rid of the EPA for Christ sake and actually believes that private land is better managed.  

    Old growth forest does not exist on private land.  Yes, I do know about the private hunting estates that have a speckling of big trees on them and these do provide places for Cheney to shoot his friends.  Large tracts of old growth exist in public land and nowhere else.  Many endangered species exist exclusively on public land because there is no way to stop development on private land.   US waters are vastly cleaner than they were in seventies thanks to the Clean Water Act.  Sure, the EPA is a bunch of bumbling bureaucrats but the fact that our waters are improving suggests that sometimes they have the power to stand up to corporations.  Bush feels the same way as Ron Paul about the EPA.

    We are on a runaway train fueled by corporate greed and Paul would have us remove the only brakes on the system that actually work.

    What is really sad is that Grist gave him the time of day and that many readers actually buy it.
    On An interview with Ron Paul about his presidential platform on energy and the environment posted 2 years, 1 month ago 55 Responses

  • the fence is a distraction

    Comparing the fence to bailing water out of a sinking boat is a great analogy but you have add two details.  a: there is a huge hole in the bucket and b: there is s working pump on board that could be used.  

    If you want to stop immigration, go after employers.  Politicians in both parties don't want to do that because they don't really want to succeed.  The conservation community is divided on whether we even should try to slow down the flow of immigrants.  We should continue that debate but we should not be divided on the fence.  It's a stupid idea.     On Why environmental groups have been slow to fight the border wall posted 2 years, 1 month ago 38 Responses

  • what about the fence?

    the anti immigration folks on this blog have completely ignored the subject of the article; the fence.  The discussion of whether the US would be better off with fewer brown people is a moot discussion because the fence is won't work. The government feels a need to build a fence through the Chiracauhau Mountains in Arizona for example.  They are 10,000 feet high and full of cactus.  A person willing to run through the desert for a hundred miles and climb 10,000 peaks laden with cactus is not going to be deterred by a twenty foot fence.

    This article rightfully points out that most environmental groups are ignoring an asinine and damaging fence because too many of their members are worried about the number of brown people moving into their states.  

    By the way, Edward Abbey disliked the Sierra Club for this very reason. they were overly concerned about garnering donations. I can't imagine Abbey wanting them to trash land to build a fence that wouldn't work. On blogger said they great mechanisms to aid wildlife on fences and highways often they don't work either.  Not the number of grizzlies south of the TransCanada Highway.

    On another note, Abbey was a great author but he was racist.  On Why environmental groups have been slow to fight the border wall posted 2 years, 1 month ago 38 Responses

  • hiker

    Exactly, an organically raised farm animal produces vastly less greenhouse gases.  A factory farmed animal creates massive amounts of CO2 because they are fed grains that require a lot of fossil fuel to grow and transport to the factory farm.  It takes about ten pounds of grain to raise one pound of beef in a feed lot which is why factory contribute so much CO2.  It does require any fossil fuels for an organic cow to eat grass. On Animal-rights group makes the stupid claim that enviros must be vegetarians posted 2 years, 2 months ago 208 Responses

  • PETA ignores

    PETA ignores the fact that food production is the number one cause of global warming and meat is only part of the picture; albeit an important part.  I caught and ate a salmon three weeks ago and I ate it with a baked potato.  The potato grew in a field over a thousand miles away and the fish from twenty miles away. I live in Alaska.  Fish are the only food produced locally.  They are not farmed and they are managed sustainably. Of course we should not ignore the fact that meat production is environmentally damaging but we should think about all of our food.  Last year PETA petitioned the state to eliminate all fishing for Chinook salmon in Alaska because it is our state fish.  Fishing is an important part of our economy and culture and it is the primary driving force for environmental protection in Alaska.  Protecting the environment for healthy salmon populations makes sense to my conservative neighbors.  Of course PETA'spetition didn't succeed and I am sure they knew it wouldn't.  PETA made the petition to prove to the world that they completely out of touch with reality.  There is a huge difference between a person that eats a pound of factory farmed meat every day and a person that eats organic meat once a week but a lot PETA folks are so out of touch, they can't see the difference. On Animal-rights group makes the stupid claim that enviros must be vegetarians posted 2 years, 2 months ago 208 Responses