Saving the Planet.....Just a Couple of Questions

I think sometimes Tesla, people get caught up with what we are used to using as resources and items and they don't think about repercussions about certain things..., I believe it to be part of it...Good morning? lol

This is from an article I wrote for my monthly column in our magazine (June 2011) after I returned from a conference in Calgary:

I was checking in on the net while gone and saw that they were forecasting frost in some parts of the Adirondacks last week….so, is this Global Warming? Oh, wait, they don’t call it that anymore! Climate Change! Oops, no, they are not using that name either now it’s: ‘Anthropocene’ which can be defined as Global Climate Disruption (caused by humans, of course). Seems just around the time that their ‘facts’ are in danger of being dismissed, they invent a newer cuter title to play on the conscience of our fellow citizens. While at the Congress, we had the pleasure to listen to a gentleman who has written books on this subject, though from the opposite direction of the people we generally see and hear talking about the climate of the world. Bruno Wiskel has written several books, including, ‘The Sky is Not Falling – Putting Climate Change on Trial’. He spoke at length to the group and explained many of the urban legends surrounding Climate Change or Climate Disruption, if you will. His take on this is that for the most part, the people that are touting Climate Disruption are the people that are making money off Climate Disruption. His book is available-it’s a good read and will give you several rebuttal arguments when you happen upon a misinformed person that thinks that snowmobiles are causing environmental issues.

Hmm, came here hoping to finally have the opportunity to knock you off of your pedestal. Dang you Tesla, once again I can't fault what you say.

A lot of those third world people are daily survival tough. Not the same as the street survival tough some of us over here develop. Our street toughs would have a hell of a time making it in a third world environment.

A very excellent article. Most people don't want to think for themselves and has allowed the Government to manipulate their thoughts because they are too busy. The biggest loss on Earth, is the loss of COMMON SENSE!!!!!!

Question: How can mankind save the planet; when mankind cannot save ourselves? Why now just enjoy the planet which is easier to do!!!

I enjoyed your article, Tesla, and thought you made some excellent points. I think the best "environmentalists" are those who do their best, but often don't speak out. I too question many of the issues you did. I think in many cases, the conservation buzz words are being utilized by those who are more interested in money and influence. Promoting conservation is good business these days, but not necessarily good for the environment, IMO.

Today....I'll try harder to love and respect you more.

Tonight....my thermostat 1 degree warmer, my shower 4 minutes shorter.

When this roll is finished.....no more paper towels, tomorrow I wash the clean-up towel and hang in to dry in the sun.

Alright Tesla, I can make no denials to your statements, but I shall endeavor to answer your questions.

A good place to start would be with question #1, but you can only answer question #1 by answering all of your other questions first, which actually makes question #2 question #1 etc. Still with me on this?

2) I watch PBS, listen to NPR, very nearly exclusively. They talk a lot about climate science. Strangely I have never seen nor heard a climate scientist.

Lots of suits and no lab coats is one of the chief qualifications of being a climate scientist. Struggling through two years of junior college to achieve an Associate's Degree in Meteorology qualifies you to refer to yourself as a climate scientist as well as get you a job as a t.v. weather person.

A climate scientist does not need to due any actual research. The only data he has to collect are the results and writings of under and post-grad students. Read thru them and figure out which of the big words he has learned provide the spin required by whomever is paying them to speak.

Primarily watching PBS or tuning in NPR doesn't separate you from the same spin as everybody else gets, except maybe for the ones who don't have t.v.s, radios or computers, not even a newspaper. Go to a liberal site and you get the tree-hugger spin. Remember the Democratic Party really isn't one party. It is made up of a bunch of special interest groups and led by a group that utilizes fractionation to gain control. Most liberals are not tree huggers.

Now dial in a conservative site and you get the we have to survive now spin. Remember the Republican Party is made up of people who are driven by unification and basic values and led by a group of industrialist pagans who utilize moralistic principles and militaristic regimen to gain control. The "Tea Party" segment of the Republican Party is hard to define. You have some TPs who are more moderate than a portion of the base and others who are so far out to the right that it is humorously frightening. Most conservatives are not goose-stepping, moralistic industrialists.

Most educated people and many more uneducated (un-industrialized) cultures do have concerns about the environment. This has only become a left/right issue because of the media and the fringe groups have made it that way. I am sure that you will find the bulk of Americans in agreement that we need to take better care of our planet. I am sure that you will also find the bulk of Americans in agreement that it is a bit egotistical to think that we are causing the current climate changes on such a dramatic scale.

Suits look authoritative, lab coats look harried. Tis as simple as that. Takes care of number two, which is really number one. I'll be back to take a shot at #3 which is actually number two.

Anybody dare to disagree with me? Go right ahead, maybe I'll learn something new.

Just call me the "Why-Guy" You got the questions and I got the answers. If I don't know the answer it probably isn't worth knowing. The only question which has ever really stumped me was "why am I so full of bull?

Good morning Tesla. Glad to see you out and about. This was a really written piece my friend. I'm glad you posted it on what looks like an ultra-quiet weekend, gives me a chance to try and layout some at least plausible answers to your profound and appropriate curiosity.

Take a doting grandmother, add a three-year old blond girl who likes to bat her eyes, throw in a rambunctious 3 month old puppy dog and you end up with a grandpa who can't stop laughing.

Hope you are having a good weekend too.

And yet these same people are still involved in the movement. Rather than protect the integrity of the movement and tar and feather these folks, the carbon creepies dismiss their little faux pa's as inconsequential to greater goal.

"That's not what they said, even if that is what you heard. You just don't get it." Ever have that one thrown in your face? Speaking two different languages using the same words is really frustrating, especially when you can't find an interpreter.

It is my observation that people who are committed to an ideal have a tendency to form a mental block. As long as it is one of their people speaking, it's ok. They don't really listen, they just nod their heads in agreement. Quite often when one of their people mis-speaks they really don't hear it. Brain freeze.

A lot of these talking heads are really forgettable type people. Background people. These people can return time and time again and spew more garbage because very few people will actually recognize and remember them. This is a good thing for the fanatics, as there really not as many people out there who are capable of being as constantly disingenuous as these folks are.

There may not be any harm to the greater goal, quite frankly because there may not really be a greater goal as such. At least I haven't gotten a good explanation about what it is from anybody yet.

Two down, now the next one which would have been the one after but now it is this one.

Hate to break this to you, but a PNAS paper was just published this week demonstrated that there has been no statistically significant warming since 1998 (and actually statistically significant cooling in the last couple of years). Almost all of this was due to "Natural" causes such as fluctuations in the solar cycle, the SOI, and volcanic sulfates. If you "believe" in anthro climate change, then are you are ignoring facts.

I meant this one. Same difference.

4) China arguably one of the world's worst polluters. Also supplier of perhaps, let's say, 60% of consumer goods sans groceries in the US. Where is the call from the environuts for a boycott?

I'll accept your 60% number does sound close to me. This one is going to be a little more intricate to explain though I will try to keep it simple. Part of that simplicity will be to just say that China is a socialistic style county.

Earlier I mentioned that the Democratic Party is made up of several factions. Quite often these factions can contradictory to each other. On this issue the tree-huggers find themselves directly in the way of Obama and his buddy Soros.

I must provide a side note here.

It is a common belief that Obama, Pelosi, Reid etc., make up the Democratic Party leadership. Just as the Republican Party has it's "Tea Party" fracture, I believe there is a fracture in the Democratic Party also. The "Obama Socialist" fracture. On a daily basis I become more and more convinced that Obama is nowhere near being on the same page as Reid and Pelosi. I don't believe he even has any respect for them.

The tree-huggers are up against Obama and his cronies including a certain guy named Soros.You don't cause problems for a nation which is living the basic lifestyle you are aiming for. Especially not if these problems would push them more towards a more capitalistic form of life. Dare not open the door for new unions to form in China, not even a crack. New unions would start out just like the old unions did, all about more rights for the workers and a better standard of living. The tree-hugger just aren't going to get the support they need to take any real action against China.

As far as the Republicans go. China is investing a lot of money in the U.S., Chinese goods are cheap and the mark-up taken is astronomical. Is a businessman going to bite the hand that is feeding him? Probably, but only when it is advantageous to do so and cash flow wise that isn't a good idea right now. Isn't really being made a big deal enough by the media to have any vote gain potential anyway.

Tesla- You did a lot in your article to point out the hypocrisy going on in the environmental movement. The actual environmental movement has been largely taken over by corporatists and big oil. The original activists have been pushed out by a new slick breed of suit and tie wearing campaign manager with a law degree. The whole, "Save the....," is all about running campaigns using media, legal action, and lots of donated money mostly coming from a group of wealthy donors with close ties to (=ownership of..) big oil and energy concerns.

It is no mistake that this movement has become a narrow partisan interest group. By becoming a part of the Democratic party the environmental movement is doomed to the sort of half success that makes sure all of the slick campaigner types have never ending employment. After all winning would mean giving up the cushy job with high pay. One never wants to win entirely....that would take away from the premise of needing never ending advocacy to, "Save the world."

Who do the slick campaign operators want to go after to save the world anyway? Well let's see...they can't go after big oil cause that is the biggest donor they have, the natural gas and other energy companies are all part of the basket of stocks that the wealthy donors own...can't go after the chemical and pharmaceutical companies because that would alienate all of the corporatist donors. So we arrive at the sacrificial victims.

Coal miners, wood cutters, and fishermen... those are the bad guys in the campaigns of the slick enviro-corporatists. Coal miners are making the joint dirty with all of their mining activity and the little companies that the industry has are too small to defend against a corporate financed campaign. Wood cutters were very small organizations and most of them were screwed out of business long ago. Fishermen are a never ending source of people to demonize and have very little defense against big oil's environmental henchmen. Did we leave anyone out? Perhaps some low level government employees and anyone who points out the hypocrisy that is going on?

Ps- It has been proven that a lot of carbo credit money has been going to renewable energy projects that don't produce even half of the energy that is claimed.

5) Renewable energy has been around for decades now, why isn't it being used more?

Greed.

Boiled down to it's barest essence this one only requires a one word answer. Wouldn't be right to leave it at that though.

Those who control our energy sources have done so for generations it is their family's source of riches and most importantly power. (No pun intended even if appropriate). It is much cheaper for them to just buy out, squeeze out and prevent alternative energy technology from becoming widely used, than it is to convert their own facilities. They also do not desire to relinquish the power they wield by controlling the oil market.

6) Why do the environuts allow individuals like Gore and that Kennedy fella to represent the movement to the world?

This is number five even though it says six and is basically already answered in number three which became number two.

However, I must ask. How many high school students would play hooky from a speech being made by Larry Flynnt about pornography?

7) Whatever happened to the local clean-up?

8) Where is the push for a national recycling program?

The easy answer is that people would rather sit in their little cubicles and use their computers to call each other names than get outside get to know each other and work together.

Actually these community cleanups are still attempted from time to time, but are usually short-lived because to many things are working against them. For one thing there are so many liability issues these days that old people, who are usually the beneficiaries of these community efforts don't want a bunch of people working on their property for fear of someone getting injured and suing the daylights out of them.

Then you have the logistics of everything. Throwing the trash in the back of a couple of pick-ups and hauling it to a dump is becoming an expensive proposition these days. Plus they will often make you separate the trash and even refuse to accept some of it.

Of course these days we also have a bonus issue to contend with when trying to clean up a neighborhood. The banks, those fine upstanding institutions that have foreclosed on so many homes, they post don't trespass signs, and don't want to spend a dime to take care of the properties. Many will send a one day crew out to change locks and do a quick cosmetic job when they first foreclose,after that they could care less, no matter how many years they stay empty. When one in five homes in a neighborhood is this way pretty hard to keep the rest of the neighborhood motivated. More people would probably be inclined to help in cleanups if it didn't seem to be such a waste of time.

There actually is a push on for a national recycling program. Has been for quite awhile in fact. Hasn't and won't be implemented until the Democrats and the Republicans and the unions can decide who is going to control it. In my opinion, THERE SHOULD NOT BE a national recycling program.I guarantee you that if we leave it to Washington, just like Obamacare they will try and force a program down our throats that will cost billions and make our lives more difficult. Other than establishing a standards and practices set of regulations the government should do no more than run a public service campaign encouraging recycling.

Those greedy businessmen, especially those right wing industrialist types necessitate that we do have some sort of regulatory oversight. Just like with the farmers, the small individual recycling yards are being driven out of business and a lot of your small time haulers and scrappers can't make a decent dime anymore.

I can actually demonstrate how the little guy is getting screwed from personal experience. As a General Mgr. of a plumbing company for years I made it a point to save and separate recyclable metals. Of course copper scrap was in abundant supply for us as well as brass and steel. Mostly a matter of just filling barrels and hauling them in. Made for generous Christmas and performance bonuses.

When I retired due to health reasons, I still had a couple of trucks and trailers of my own and decided to put them to good use. I hired a couple of guys so that I wouldn't have to do the heavy stuff. Hauling old cars, scrap from fires and torn down structures. Basically there used to be two types of steel that you hauled in. Clean or dirty. Clean meant pure steel such as car rims, girders, beams non-alloyed pipe etc. Dirty meant mixed metals with other contaminants and materials.

The definition of what is dirty and what is clean has gone through some strange changes. I took two trailers loaded with 16" 3/8 thick steel beams each about 20' long, about sixty of them total. This is used to be considered a great load, a veritable gold mine to the small operator. Took the load in. Went to the window with my ticket to get paid. WTF they were only going to pay me dirty steel price. Why? Because to get the top price on steel it now has to be cut into uniform four foot lengths. Now I ain't really much of a cusser, but WTF? I need to do their work for them? I need to open up a yard and buy saws and grinders and pay people so that all loads are taken in ready for the recycling yard to transport? Just to get the same level pricing as I used to.

I made the sobs reload everything and I do mean every piece. They didn't make a dime. I took my scrap across the border into Mexico, got a better price and closed down my operation. Outsourcing isn't my cup of tea, but to remain close to solvent I would have had to take my loads into Mexico. Without practices and standards the little guy doesn't have a chance just like the family farm doesn't stand a chance against Del Monte.