Comments splashy has made

Perhaps he will show up again, in another venue. This could just be a getting out of the limelight thing. I hope so, he's really very good at what he does.

We can't walk and chew gum at the same time? Why not do both? It's not black and white, all or nothing, it's and.

So, one wonders why these pesticides are being used around children to begin with. At one time no one thought it was a problem, but these days you would think everyone should know it's an issue for children, not to mention adults.

If they work at home, as does Al Gore, then they need more room. Sounds like one is an artist, who needs room to create and store the artwork. That can take up a lot of room.

Besides, if they generate all their own power in a way that doesn't add to the CO2 footprint, why not have more room? One doesn't have to be cramped to live green.

I think that universal health care, if it can be achieved with the plans being put forth now (still debatable), would actually lead to better work on the climate issues. That's because more people with good ideas will feel free to strike out on their own, starting innovative new businesses without the fear of losing their health care and the burden of providing health care for their employees. A percentage of those businesses will be in the field of alternative energy and other things related to mitigating climate change.

Freeing up the potential of people here in the US is paramount. With or without the government sponsoring them, the creativity and innovative work of people are what will make it happen.

Therefore the laws need to be changed, so that organic farmers like in the article have some kind of recourse when their livlihood is damaged by these practices. It is definitely unacceptable this way, where a corporation can tromp on anyone they like without any punishment.

About the bags of cleaned, chopped veggies: I use the frozen ones that are fairly big chucks for soups, like the California style veggies. You don't have to chop them, and by just adding some chicken stock or some other kind of stock you can have great soup in about 10 minutes.

I remember when all girls had to take Home Economics in 8th or 9th grade, where they learned how to cook, sew, and do other houshold things. Perhaps they need to bring it back, but for all children. At the time I had already been cooking and sewing for myself, so it was an easy A. My mother was into all her children being self sufficient, probably so she wouldn't have to do it for us. :-)

In my case, I had to learn to cook because of food allergies. It's difficult to get prepared foods that don't have one or more of the things that bother me.

Makes sense to me. Let the ones that are doing it the most, and that obviously can afford to pay for doing it - as opposed to the lower and poor classes - get going on changing their ways.

Make it a competition! Don't they love that? That's one of the reasons they chase the almighty dollar, to get more than others, to keep score. This is just another way to direct that competitive attitude, so they can have bragging rights and feel superior to everyone else.

I've been relieved to see that cans with veggies in them are now plastic free, at least where I buy them. It's also great that some of the big retailers have taken them off their shelves.

I'm wondering about the smaller retailers. Can they get their investment back from those that supplied the BPA containing items? I hope so, so they can sell better goods without it hurting them too much.

As someone that was around when the transition was made from pasturing to feedlots, the animals do suffer from not being allowed to go out in a pasture most of the day. There are more foot problems, they can't spread out the way they want to, and they wade in feces all day, no matter how clean you try to keep it.

Can you imagine standing on concrete all day rather than the ground and grass your feet are designed no stand on? That's the life of feedlot cattle.

Here's a new idea: tax carbon and take that money to pay people not to log their land. We would love it! We have let our trees grow for over 40 years now, and don't plan to cut them ever if we can avoid it. So, we would get a chunk of that for leaving our getting to be mature trees alone.

"My guess is that electric race cars are going to be the next big thing. Electric motors are ideal for racing, with their fully available torque and instant responsiveness. Think of how fast a remote control car moves when you consider the scale. Racing will undoubtedly contribute a lot of valuable research to electric car development in the future. If you've ever been to a NASCAR or open-wheel race, you know how polluting they are, and I think racing fans will imbrace fume-free racing."

That's what I was thinking. I remember seeing some racers driving the Tesla and them being very impressed with it's performance. In fact, we may see some of the best innovations coming from the racing world. They have the drive, the money, and incentive.

Gee,  I might even be interested in racing if they go all electric, with no fumes and far less noise. It could open up a whole new expanded fan base! I can see it now: yuppies, hippies, rednecks, etc. all cheering them on. :-)

As I see it, we don't need to know the chemical changes or structure to know that in the past there have been all kinds of things that ended up being a problem. It took years to find out, and by then the damage was done to people's lives and the environment that for some were permanent.

The issue is we don't know how it's going to affect us and the environment, so why would we want to be guinea pigs for this? There could be things created by doing this that we can't detect, because we don't know about them. If you don't know, you don't have a test for it - you don't know what to look for.

I'm not willing to be a guinea pig so they can make a profit making plants resistant to poisons, and possibly spreading that to the plants they are trying to get rid of. That's my bottom line.

What happened to the halfway decent goals they had - making food more nutritious for instance, that I read about decades ago? Why did they have to go into putting pesticides into the plants, and making them resistant to chemicals? Was all that altruistic stuff just to lull people into letting them become the what they have become; trying to take over all food production so people will have to pay them to survive? I am so disappointed in Monsanto. I had hopes for them. Now, I don't know why I was so naive. I  should have know that profit would rule, tempting them to go in the direction they have taken.

My big problem with buying locally is they just don't have the same hours I do. You have to get up early in the morning to go to the farmer's market, or you just don't get anything worth buying. Or, you have to really work at it to make arrangements, going to the farm and picking your food, or whatever. Either way, they don't run on the same schedule as this night owl does.

It just doesn't fit into the lives of people like buying in the grocery store does, especially if you include those that are open 24 hours a day like the Wal Mart supercenters.

I did it at one time, but it just became too difficult. I loved the local food, mostly organic, but between having to fit their schedule and having to come up with the total price for the entire year, then preserving it myself, I just don't have the time or energy any more.

Goats can be a pain in the rear, as they are real Houdinis when it comes to breaking out and they like trashing things as they will eat all kinds of things and tear them up. The billys also smell very bad. They are horrible.

That being said, mowers are loud, also smell bad, and don't leave fertilizer behind. Not only that, but you have to ride them over and over again, while the goats can pretty much do it on their own.

If you have very good fencing and some way to keep an eye on them, goats are the better choice IMHO.

It seems that it will take a while for the mileage to be raised in vehicles, while the gas prices go up pretty much continually. I remember 26 cents a gallon.

Therefore, the tendency to drive more miles because your vehicle gets better mileage will be offset by the higher price per gallon, leading to about the same amount of miles driven, at the same total price spent.

Gas prices rise fairly quickly when they do rise, better mileage in vehicles is a slow process (unless they atually start letting us buy the ones that have been sold in other countries for years now). It all evens out after a while, and I'm thinking that's what they are thinking.

Interesting. Do you think you could fit a 3' by 5' painting in packaging that adds about a foot on each side (making it 4' X 6' X .5') in it? That's what we need to be able to do.

Update: I looked it up, and yes it would fit. The problem is it's out of the price range we would have been able to afford. I read one review and the gas mileage is a bit better than what we are getting with our Honda Element, but not as much as you would think with it being a hybrid. Perhaps it weighs a lot more.

Does it have carpeting inside? I hate carpeting - it would be a deal breaker. Too hard to clean.

Not that I'm looking any more, but you never know.

I'm hoping that businesses will spring up that can retrofit existing vehicles to become hybrids. I would jump at the chance to change our Honda Element into a hybrid. That's the only way to get something small, square and roomy as a hybrid that isn't a full sized SUV. For now, you just can't get that. It's either a small car in the Prius or Insight, or a big SUV like the Highlander. The Element has a 4 cylinder engine, which is pretty good, but if it were a hybrid it would be that much better.

Here's hoping!

Um, I think that really it's herbicides that would kill the dandelions, not pesticides. Pesticides are for insects, herbicides for plants.

But, since there are so many dandeliens, then it would be herbicides everyone is talking about, right?

Otherwise it would be about chiggers, ticks, and other insects.

Just trying to make it all clear to everyone. There is a difference between the chemicals, although all of them are probably not what you would want in your dandelion wine.

Would this produce electricity for you when the grid is down? If so, this is a very good investment considering that disasters can happen that cause blackouts (like the ice storm we had in our area this last winter that knocked out the electricity for as long as two weeks or more for some). You would still have heat, electricity, and everything you need if you are also stocked up.

Gee, in the case of something like a very lethal pandemic you would be relatively self-sufficient if your gas supply held up.

Actually, animals that are allowed to be out in pastures are in less contact with humans because they are outside all day, especially if the humans are careful how they deal with the feces. The animals eat better food that does not encourage the growth of diseases if they can get to plants outside. Of course, they don't grow as fast, so those that only think of profit don't like that.

Sunlight also helps to disinfect things, and while the animals are outside their indoor quarters can be scrubbed down.

I'm just happy to hear that the way we've done it for years - buying mostly 4 cylinder vehicles for the gas mileage, then holding on to them for 15-20 years until we just have to get another one - has been the most ecological way to do it.

Of course, this program wouldn't work for us, because we already have a higher mileage vehicle, unless they offer a hybrid mini-van that gets better mileage compared to our 4 cylinder. We would go for that in a heartbeat.

Wow! A Rupblican that tells the truth, except she doesn't admit they ARE the party of big oil, big business and the rich. That is very obvious.

I take offense at this statement "Fortunately, the Republican Party represents a shrinking perspective typified by baby boomers and their predecessors that the Earth is an endless store,..."

Don't you realize that the Boomers in the Republican party are not all the Boomers, and that much of the environmental and alternative energy movement was pushed by Boomers who saw all this coming back in the 70's? Who do you think has been toiling in the wilderness on alteranative energy sources and environmental issues all these decades? It's been the Boomers - the ones that dropped out of the mainstream in disgust and went into trying to develop ways to be separated from the corporatists. They are the ones offering all this technology and ideas now, after decades of research and experimentation.

I'm so tired of this idea that Boomers are all like the Republicans in this article. It just isn't so. Look around a bit more and you will find all kinds of liberal Boomers that get it. They just aren't as loud as these are. They were arrested, jailed and otherwise abused back in the day so learned to fly under the radar as much as possible.

Thanks for the list. Amid all the noise it's been difficult for me to see what has been done. I'm encouraged.

The fewer graphics and other bandwidth hogs, and the more text, the better for bandwidth, which lowers the footprint.

Since I'm not a parent there is no invested interest in this for me, but it seems to me that parents should be up in arms about this. Who would want this for their children - the corporatists indoctrinating them into being only "consumers" for profit? 

It's sad to see. When I was in school they actually cooked the food.

Yes, that would help in either following the conversation or moving on to other comments. Thanks for pointing that out.

It's all about confusing the issue as much as possible, like the tobacco companies did.

I get so frustrated with my Senators, Lincoln and Pryor. Pryor's father (the former Senator) was great, but Pryor is a pitiful excuse for a Democrat.

We tried to get some Greens in there, to no avail.

I'm reserving judgement myself. It was loading very slowly several days ago, but now it's lightening fast. I was waiting until it loaded quicker to check things out.

I imagine the Gristmill could be added back. These kinds of websites are fairly easy to put things into and adjust the look of. Perhaps a few verticle lines to separate the columns would help those that feel like it's cluttered.

That is not the only issue with the conversion

There is also the issue that many people that can get analog but not well, will not be able to get ANYTHING when they finish converting.

For instance, where I live, in a valley, we were able to get a couple of analog channels that wasn't the greatest, but at least we could be warned if there were bad weather coming and could see the maps. We can't get digital at all most of the time, with a converter box or with our new LCD TV that has digital reception. We tried both. We even have a booster on our antenna, but it doesn't help.

Fortunately we can afford the essential services with Dish Network, which is less expensive, but if we really fall on hard times we might have to cut that off.

So, if people are really poor and can't afford  dish service, they may be cut out of getting a signal at all in some areas by the switch to digital.

Fortunately we DO have recycling of TVs in our area, which is good.On Umbra on the digital conversion posted 9 months, 1 week ago 4 Responses

I have an idea that might be useful

If no one else has thought of it. Instead of storing heat, why not have something like huge cylinders/blocks/weights that are lifted with the power generated, then let gravity pull them down when the sun is not shining? Maybe have many of these, so you don't have all your eggs in one basket.

They go up when the sun shines, then gradually come down, turning turbines, when it doesn't. They should be able to store energy, for as long as they are off the ground (although they could be underground too, taking up less room. Hmm, perhaps compressed air could lift them, then it could turn the turbines while they come down. Not much pollution involved there.

Just a thought, in case no one has come up with it yet. There may be prohibiting issues that I don't know about. Seems pretty simple though.On Biggest California utility contracts for world's biggest solar power deal posted 9 months, 2 weeks ago 12 Responses

As someone that has had their bike stolen

And trashed out before I got it back, this is a great idea! You don't have to worry about it getting stolen, ran over, being in someone's way, getting peed on by a dog, and so on. I hope these would show up in all places where bike riding is a viable substitute for driving.On A very cool 'only in California' development ... bike valets posted 9 months, 3 weeks ago 7 Responses

Oops, the RUG pulled out from under them

Not the RUN.

My proofreading skills peak right after I post something.On Announcing energy efficiency order, Obama goes on stimulus attack posted 9 months, 3 weeks ago 10 Responses

So basically you have to eat more

To get enough nutrition. No wonder it's hard to get enough from foods these days. You have to stuff yourself. That makes it cost more to be healthy, cutting out the less wealthy from healthy eating.

Reminds me of my dairy days. Used to be everyone had a little Jersey cow, or a small herd, each of which only gave a gallon or so a day but the milk was very rich. You could churn butter out of it and still have rich milk. Then everyone started going for production, and bred huge Holsteins whose milk was far less rich, and more watery, but a much larger quantity. They also don't live as long, and have more physical problems because of their huge udders. They get things like ketosis because of their huge production.

Oh, and they are much less intelligent too. The Jerseys could fend for themselves fairly well, if they had pasture and a bit of grain and water. Holsteins not so much. They need far more help.On Industrially grown produce shows long-term nutritional decline posted 9 months, 3 weeks ago 5 Responses

Those all sound good to me Georgia

As to rationing of health care, better to wait than to NEVER get it. Obviously you must be getting health care, or you would be fine with waiting.

I think all of those things you listed are ways to pump money into the working people's pockets, so they can actually have SOMETHING to spend to get things going. Most of the people doing the jobs that will be subsidized earn around minimum wage. They are actually the ones that keep the economy happening because they have to SPEND IT, not the well to do that just suck out and stash money, keeping it out of circulation. Think of it as the lifeblood of the economy. The money has to move around to do any good.On House passes stimulus package with more than $100 billion in green spending posted 9 months, 3 weeks ago 6 Responses

Does a $7,000 tax credit help the poor

To buy a plug-in vehicle?

If not, then it's just another thing to help those that already have money, while hurting the poor who will only be able to afford to buy gas guzzlers the way things are going.

I always hate hearing about "tax credits" because that usually does not include the poor, who could really use the help getting to be more energy efficient. That's like getting help to make their homes more insulated. Doesn't happen because the programs that should be able to do that are unfunded, so the poor pay more in heating and cooling bills because they can't come up with the up front cost of sealing up their homes.On More drilling in exchange for comprehensive energy legislation posted 1 year, 3 months ago 24 Responses

There appear to be three studies

Linked to in the Buzz Away Extreme section if you scroll down some - Guelph Field Study, USDA Test, and Tick Study.

It looks like those might address your issues, but I don't know enough about studies to know if they are good ones or not.

Personally, I'm going to give the Extreme version a try here in Arkansas, tick city in the woods. We have all kinds of bugs here to fend off. I'll try to report back on my experience.On A buzzworthy review of DEET-free bug repellents posted 1 year, 4 months ago 12 Responses

You have to start at the extreme

To get anywhere. Gore is starting with the entire enchilada, in hopes that SOMETHING will be done. I applaud him for it.

We may all surprise ourselves with our ability to innovate and get things done!On Blogosphere responds reservedly to Gore's call for 100 percent renewable electricity posted 1 year, 4 months ago 14 Responses

Zipped up sleeping bags

Or folded cotton blankets work very well. I used them for years to do Yoga on, before Yoga was so popular and mats were not available. One of the nice things is they can be washed in your washing machine.

Ya make do with what you have sometimes.On Umbra on toxic yoga mats posted 1 year, 8 months ago 19 Responses

video of debate

I'm hoping there will be a video available to watch soon. I missed the debate entirely, and would really like to see it.On Reflections on Grist's presidential forum on climate change posted 2 years ago 62 Responses