Well i am willing to do my part to stop global warming .. Only prob is .. there is nothing I can do .. I happen to need my v8 f150 for work .. usually about 100K a day .one guy in a truck.. Make an electric heavy duty truck and i am there.I don't use a lot of power.. but then in B.C. it is hydro electric .. no greenhouse gas there. I am not a great consumer either. and with no major manufacturing here in B.C. we are not contributing much there either.. I would like to stop buying Chines . they are the great polluter right now.
So where can I start to make a difference..We did not have much of a summer this year so far .. global warming did not help us there much.
I think there's little things everyone can do. I appreciate that most people, myself included, don't want to make major changes to their lifestyle to offset something that is somewhat controversial and may or may not affect them directly. That's just the way people are. That being said, I'm a big fan of energy-cutting measure that don't have a big impact on my lifestyle. For example, for your truck, did you know Chrysler makes a V8 hemi engine which shuts down some of the cylinders during cruising, improving fuel economy:
http://www.carpages.ca/go/autonews/...technology_for_reducing_fuel_consumption.aspx
There are also things like compact fluorescent lightbulbs, energy efficient computers, energy efficient appliances, etc. that you can switch to the next time you're shopping around for one of these items that have comparable performance but use less energy.
I all ways appreciate . how some people are quick to bring out the ignorant card to re-enforce there ideology . and shame others in to believing as they do, talk about religion. environmental issue . seem to galvanize the popular opinion .. a the truth and nothing but the truth
For a Canadian . it is a non issue . because we are not a major contributor to polluting . or global warming. .Yes on an individual bases.. i am sure we each contribute . an equal amount as any other western world partisipent .. But as a country, no.We live in one of the largest countries . but only a population . of 30 million... We definitely see the effects of global warming because we are in one of the most environmentally sensitive areas of the world. with many deverce ecosystems,and we may be allowing it to happen .. But we over inflate our importance in our ability to influence the the rest of the world ..Yes we here about how we are respected. .and Canada is always looked upon as a voice of reason.. I think that is where the ignorance come in. we are ignorant of how small we really are. Canada makes up less then. 0.5 % of the population of the world . That is 3 Canadians . for every 650 everyone elses.
Global warming .. yes it exists . and all the hot heads and hot air being spewed forth is not stopping it. and with out a clear vision for the future of man . we are just going to have to adapt to the consequences .all the nice documentaries . scientific reports .. and name calling is not going to hold it back. because it is now part of the environmental cycle
I think it's a shame to look at another country or another person and say, "they're worse polluters than me, therefore there's nothing I should do." It's the old saying right, if everyone thought that nothing would ever change. It's also a classic case of two wrongs not making a right. As an Albertan and as a Canadian, what concerns me is the fact that our media glosses over how absolutely horrible the oil sands development is for the environment. They are levelling mountains, pumping water or steam into the ground... just horrible. Even our ex-premier Peter Lougheed said that (
http://www.thecourt.ca/2007/08/16/the-alberta-oil-sands-the-economy-and-the-environment/) and you know if Lougheed says it, it must be bad, because he was so protectionist about the oil sands during his time as premier.
As for climate change itself, I think the reason it's so divisive is that to some extent it's a leap of faith: people are trying to predict the future based on what scientists are saying. It's not something we can actually see for ourselves as an A-B cause and effect relationship. But that's true of a lot of things. For example, you can always find someone who abused their body but managed to live till they were 95, but does that mean you get away with the same thing? You'll never know because there's not another "you" out there to test with. By the same token, there's not another Earth out there that we can pollute the shit out of and see if it actually had an effect. But at some point, you just have to look at the facts, accept the best our science has to offer at this time, and act accordingly. This is why it also bugs me when some people say, "oh they were predicting an ice age in the '70s, now they're predicting global warming therefore they're full of shit this time." The scientific method by definition is a self-correcting thing. Information is only accepted as true until something better comes along, and that's ok. If we spend our whole lives waiting for some ultimate truth before acting, we will be waiting forever.
