Comments jwebb has made

Wow, I wish i didn't get emails about these comments.  We were talking about the decline of the agrarian section in America, specifically smaller milk producing farms.  What we ended up with was GFM lecturing on fasting/colons/kidneys- how about a fast from a 500 word comment?  I will assume that your 30 year career as a health restoration researcher which led you to 3 claims of epidemics is well documented, but you seem to over-generalize other items.  Calling nurses obese is rude, I saw a fat person riding a Vespa yesterday, so i guess all moped riders are fat?  Saying that wiping our butts with leaves would make the world a desert in a month- guess those rainforest tribes just aren't wiping enough?  Let Umbra figure out if a bidday is a good use of water resources, it isn't part of this discussion.  So please- tell me how my ancestors lived on my farm well into their 90s off of what they could grow or milk...  Tell me how different breaking down milk proteins is from gluten in my body.  Inform me without snide comments or baseless claims so that I feel like i learned something to make myself healthier and still support my farming neighbors.  This site hopefully does support the small scale farmer or i wouldn't be here.  Period.  It allows all of us a chance to learn from each other.  Talk, don't lecture

Let's not cut and paste comments, take the time to use your own thoughts and ideas- or at least provide the original information to give a little credit and honesty.  Perhaps the real point in this article, and not exactly in the following debate, is that I haven't seen another hypothesis combating AGW.  So Dash and SME- present the facts that support your argument so we can have a debate.  Sean brought up ice core data, and CO2 atmsopheric levels.  All I got from your points were attacks on commenters.  Tell me we are cooling and show me the data and peer reviewed report.  Tell me glaciers are growing and that ice sheets break off all the time.  Tell me we're a CO2 starved planet and that China's building of coal fired power plants is a good thing because Walmart saves us money.  Show me where in the past measures that improved human health were "economy crippling." I guess OSHA is responsible for my high property tax, the FDA makes my vegetables too expensive, and the EPA should have left the superfund sites alone so i can send my kids to the private school of my choice?  My opinion is that the leave us alone approach gave us robber barons and indentured servitude, which would be nice if I wouldn't be in the serf class.  I drink the water that Dow chemical discharges into our rivers, I eat the genetically modified food that hasn't been tested, and I would like someone trying to keep me safe.  How about the war on terror or war on drugs crippling our economy and incarcerating a higher percentage of Americans than any other industrialized nation?  Tell me why we should spend money on those but not worry about health?  I personally don't want to pay your Medicare (cough- socialism) bills if you smoke and get lung cancer, but that's just the government we live with.

Ugggh, the only thing i can equate this switch too is when Playboy hired Maxim editor Jim Kaminsky so instead of in-depth reporting and focus on substance you get the "Posts with the Mosts" and "Whack-a-Poll" diluted content for the quick clicking demographic of which i apparenlty have grown out of.  I don't care about Umbra on TV, i don't care what writers look like (well hello Kate), and the bag over the head image is down-right repulsive.  Seriously- who came up with that?  A white guy with cloth/paper over his head and holes cut out- sound good at the board meeting?  The colors are horrible and since we have so many ads popping around i guess i don't need to donate any more??  Good luck cleaning up the mess

Correcting

I believe that this answer lacks some scientific help.  Usually Umbra gives specific numbers- such as in turning the heat down this study found that X kW were required to raise the heat back up as opposed to Y kW to maintain the temperature.  Even the link she uses for EERE says: "But when a heat pump is in its heating mode, setting back its thermostat can cause the unit to operate inefficiently, thereby canceling out any savings achieved by lowering the temperature setting".  If my heat pump has to run continuously for 2 hours to heat my house back up when i get home instead of running off and on for 2 hours while I am away, the amount of energy used is more for the continuous cycle.  Show me some studies, facts about the heating system, not about insulation which wasn't the question.On Umbra on turning down the heat posted 11 months, 4 weeks ago 21 Responses

NOVA

C'mon- Extrapolating DC sprawl to Virginia is like saying that NY sprawl is a collective sample of New Jersey voters.  They do take all of our DOT funding for all the fun I-95 bypasses, but I don't think this story put forth any issues for the would-be Virginia voters.  Are they even registered?  What "issue" do they see as their biggest concern in the election?  Ending the war in Iraq, retiring Supreme Court justices, health care, the Life/Choice debate, etc...   As a W&M alumni I can tell you that the liberals in Williamsburg are mainly students and not locals.  I would bet that James City County went for Bush both times.  Williamsburg is right next to the only other democratic leaning population in Virginia- mainly Hampton Roads/Virginia Beach.  The populations there and in NOVA helped to bring us Senator Webb and Gov. Kaine, but to say there is a "southern Virginia" is a misnomer.  The juxtaposition is between those two population centers and rural Virginia- full of farmers who can't break even and workers who see their good factory jobs going to China and Mexico.  Tourism and courting IT industries is the path my part of  Virginia is taking to find new growth. I hope Melinda's next post from Virginia has a bit more bite.  Good snub on UVa though!On Talking with voters in northern Virginia about the environment and the election posted 1 year, 3 months ago 2 Responses

Fuzzy math

Let me see- when Kyoto says reduction they actually want a reduction related to 1990 levels.  Exelon comes out and says by 2020 they will reduce more than they currently emit in 2008, huh?  Where's Gore when you need him?  So basically they are saying that if they come up with a better generator, they should get credit for reductions from selling that to other utilities.   No talk of cradle-to-grave measurements. Even better, 23% of their future reduction is from you and me being more conservative.  They get credit for us using less and paying more for it.  I sure hope they get some government subsidies or credits for that hard work instead of citizens.  Maybe they should give us a plan for what they'll do with the increased nuclear waste and aging plants in 2020, 2100, and however long those plants will be a hazard to public and environmental health.On Nuke-power company Exelon announces big emissions cuts by 2020 posted 1 year, 4 months ago 4 Responses

Are we comparing apples?

While you suggest that a small fraction of the US fleet are diesel vehicles, I would bet (not the whole farm, sorry Erik) that vehicles used to produce and transfer crops/food to our stores are mostly diesel.  I also think that if we paid the true cost of fuel that European countries do, then the "goodies" wouldn't be needed here either.  When you start talking about the controversies regarding palm oil you also take the US biofuel market out of the equation as we don't have the climate for production nor the ability to import at a cost-effective level. Let's move the discussion towards why subsidies go to crop producing businesses that use petro-fertilizers and not entirely to algae and grass biomass production.  At least fuel produced in the US is regulated for environmental, safety, and worker rights.  Not sure how that goes in Iran, though at least they will have nuclear power and not need to get to all that natural gas, right??On Why are biofuels losing steam in Europe -- and barreling ahead in the U.S.? posted 1 year, 9 months ago 4 Responses

Wow

I don't think I have ever learned more from a comment string, with many thanks to Samuel's respones.  If I can add one question: no-one has touched on any agro-business/fertilizer/pesticide lobbying on the issue.  It seems to me that all of those affected by the ruling have been taking money away from the commercial farmers buying GM crops and the specialized pesticide/fertilizer soups U.S. companies sell to developing countries.  Why can't we fine/de-list the co-ops that don't pass inspection?  I would like to believe that organic produce I buy hasn't been crossed with GM crops, but shouldn't we start testing that as well if costs apparently aren't part of regulatory decision making?  Do we really need more labels?On Organic coffee deep-sixed posted 2 years, 7 months ago 40 Responses

Too Old?

I too was looking for "A Sand County Almanac" to be on the list.  Some other early naturalists would be Prost, Thoreau (and Emerson), Whitman, etc.  Perhaps on the more recent list I would definitely put Edward Abbey, Wendell Berry, and "Wilderness and the American Mind" by Roderick Nash which is a great, thought-provoking work.  On the kids side you can't have the Lorax and leave out Shel Silverstein's "The Giving Tree", crazy brits!On A top ten list from the U.K. posted 2 years, 11 months ago 7 Responses

Land Issues

I am stunned no-one has brought up one of the main issues behind the SprawlMart's of the world:  Land.  

First they have to rezone the land to build.  Usually the site is not the best location for the environment, but to see from the highway.  These stores pop up next to residential and basically brings in more surrounding businesses outside of a community center.  

Second, the sheer size of the footprint (same for Lowe's, H.D., Sam's Club).  These are all single level layouts, minimum landscaping, and tons of parking that they won't share with other businesses.  All of that impervious surface leads to increased runoff when they only have to design for maybe a 10 year storm, with more land set aside for drainage basins that promote mosquitos and invasive species.

Third, when they want to expand they just move a 1/2 mile down the road and build a bigger super center.  Their land holdings on old building space is growing every year.

A bit off the subject is that 'Ol Sam's dream of everything being made in America has fell to the greed of his grandchildren.  You speak about produce, but how much of what they sell does that account for?  We should be more worried about the fact that WalMart is China's biggest exporter.  Saving energy once merchandise arrives here is only half the battle, and I refuse to buy a DVD player that basically says we don't care if small farmers lose their land or have their health degraded for us.
~JaredOn An interview with Wal-Mart CEO H. Lee Scott posted 3 years, 7 months ago 22 Responses

Moonshiners doin' it for decades

In the Appalachians, sugar-based liquor (moonshine) has been a part of the culture and heritage, as well as fuel.  Due to the taxation problem, some companies (mainly logging or trucking) were able to mix the bootleg with diesel to save money.

As to the comments regarding any type of vehicle transportation, be it electric/fuel cell/etc., we still have to deal with the crumbling infrastructure of a 40's era interstate system stretched to accomodate today's vehicle fleet.  All of the repaving, patching, and new roads mean that we will be using oil products for transportation unless rail transit is used between village centers.On What lessons can America learn from Brazil's energy independence? posted 3 years, 7 months ago 14 Responses