- Thai's Irrawaddy Dolphins At Risk Of Extinction wp.me/p6qvQ-uM 6 hours ago
- You're seriously telling me we are able to do this but still haven't got Noel Edmonds off the TV? I give up. youtube.com/watch?v=k_lWUv… 15 hours ago
- And this one isn't in there. I FOUND IT. That is me decapitated in the photo... lulu.com/shop/michael-g twitpic.com/9s5fml 15 hours ago
- A photo you can find in my Nepal book, available here. lulu.com/shop/michael-g… twitpic.com/9s5eol 15 hours ago
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NEPAL - Michael Greenwell
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Quote for indeterminate time period
"The truth is so often the reverse of what has been told us by our culture that we cannot turn our heads far enough around to see it."
- Howard Zinn
There are so many articles and guides to cut your carbon emissions and environmental impact at home and with your car and so on. Most of what they say is intuitive anyway (switch lights off, don’t leave things on standby etc).


Action!
Very nice.
I’ve been wondering about flying though. I have heard that anyone who has flown a long haul fligh has already increased their carbon footprint to a size that will never be realized by someone who never flies long haul. At the same time I have heard that flying is the most effeciant way to travel it’s just the distances involved. I don’t know what is true here as I have never seen any reliable satistics and it’s mostly just factoids thrown at me by “conservative” friends.
Also, I would like to see some thoughts on why we should reduce carbon emissions besides “stopping global warming” which I think is now impossible. I have some ideas of my own which include connecting localization of consumption with reduction of world poverty and inequality as well as ending the oil wars. I think you are better informed than I am in general on these topics. What are your thoughts?
hi justin
as rob newman says at the end of the history of oil thing, after peak oil there will be less and less energy available to us NO MATTER WHAT WE DO so we have to make a major switch. the question is if it is to be done in a horrific way or a sustainable way.
The reduction of carbon use also has a knock-on effect in stopping the all round damage to the environment, atmosphere and the depletion of the planets biodiversity. this is because of the way that fossil fuel energy is obtained. that is a good reason in itself.
wil have more to add later but have to pop out now.
loved number 4 but number ten ripped it. finally humor delivering the news of how far we really HAVE to go.
Number 4. Don’t know about hunting but those dumb-ass pheasants make interesting clouds of feathers when struck at speed in my very own SUV …
Seriously though there are those who genuinally need these vehicles and not all have super high emissions. My own has lower emissions than many saloon cars and doesn’t come anywhere near the emissions of most ‘sports’ cars … don’t hear so much in the press about those!
Pheasants though! Honestly they deserve it!!
thanks rev
justin the broader point is that we have vastly overshot the planets carrying capacity. therefore anything that can be done to reduce consumption is not oly good but necessary
alasdair – maybe so but even if its emmissions were zero and it used hydrogen or something a car never be truly green if you consider the apparatus that is necessary to extract and process the materials to make the thing, build the roads to drive it on etc
we all have some bug changes to make soon
(i am feeling a bit apocalyptic this morning)
That’s precisely teh type that bothers me most! Working in the macho Trucking Industry I see way too many middle-aged men AND women driving those stupid things for No Reason What-So-Ever. Oh yah, except for wanton ignorance and other residuals of Ego-Fear.
#3 sounds like an actually viable li’l adventure ’round Helloween, eh.
;-}
You are, of course, absolutely right! Regrettabley though, unless we all move to a large centralised conurbation with an excellent public transport infrastructure the viability of getting rid of high emissions (use and manufacturing) vehicles won’t happen. Getting rid of the car is a simplistic approach.
Of course it doesn’t help when alleged ‘green’ taxes aren’t ring-fenced to enhance the public transport infrastructure. Fuel tax is more a tax on rural living where jobs are oftern few and far apart or in low-paid sectors such as food, hospitality and tourism.
In my own example I recently had to take on a second vehicle in order to take the lad to nursery
, it’s 7 miles away and buses only come along every two hours or so. I could get a bus there, but would have to wait in a bus shelter (although there isn’t one) for another hour with a grumpy baby only to have to immediately go and wait for another bus which wouldn’t get me were i want to be on time and then another bus with another wait ………. I think you might begin to see my point. It’s all very well to put up taxes and demand change but people can’t always do it alone, the government (both of them) have let the public down badly on this issue.
I’ve considered converting the latest car to LPG but that’d cost more than the vehicles worth!! We have a part-time 4×4 (SUV) to get the mrs out in wet and snowy weather to work and a clapped out Seat Ibiza for local run arounds … oh! That’s another thing! In order for the mrs to get to work by public transport for a Monday morning start she would have to leave home on Saturday and then stay there until Friday night … so that she could get home on Saturday morning (it’s only 35 – 40 miles away).
Alasdair
Points well taken. As an American from western Colorado I know how hard it is to get through daily life without a car. On the other hand, depending on how important it is to you, you can always make some adjustments.
Action is the main thing.
By the way, a FWD is never necessary (we can have that debate if you want). And, I beg you to reconsider your opinion of pheasants.
Justin,
Pheasants are possibly the most dim-witted creatures to be deposited on the face of the planet … they are the only creature I have seen that acively throws its self under the wheels of speeding vehicle! Although I have seen sheep push others out onto the road as a car approaches!!
On the 4wd thing, the elements can often conspire to reduce the efficacy with which a 2wd vehicle can move. My mrs keeps four days holiday aside in case of being snowed in, however, failing that she has to go to work … without the facility to switch to 4wd it’s plausible she wouldn’t make it out of the street. The road leading to our house is ‘unmade’ in so far as it isn’t entirely dissimilar to a river bed, whilst it may be argued that a 4wd isn’t necessary I don’t fancy the chances for the longevity of a less sturdy vehicle!