On the plus side...
Jan. 19th, 2007 06:20 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
conuly
If we're about to hit peak oil, or have already hit it - well, that source of warming will be dried up soon. Of course, as I've said, coming decades are just going to be fun, but still.
My mom is saying "We're safe, we're on a hill, not that close to the coast". Well, we're on a somewhat steep hill, but we're only about a quarter mile away from the water, and if the city starts flooding, I don't think we're going to have our municipal services then.
I mean, lots of people would leave then, so we'd have plenty of room to plant trees and crops and have some chickens and sheep and yummy bunnies - but no electricity. Which would be a serious bummer. I keep telling her, we should put up solar panels, invest in a nifty hamster gym (for humans - y'know, with bikes and treadmills instead of wheels. Just 'cuz it'd be really damn cool) but I don't know if she's listening.
I read a really whiny editorial the other day, talking about how climate change is totally natural and has happened many times before, and how therefore we shouldn't be taxed soooo muuuuuch on our gas for our SUVs. He actually said that.
Now, aside from the fact that our oil is dirt cheap (and I wonder why he thinks we're at war right now, tell the truth) and running out.... Frankly, he had a point, if he'd been clever enough to connect the dots and actually make it. It doesn't really matter why global warming. I know there's a strong correlation between our actions and rising temperatures, but he's right. Correlation isn't causation. There could be any number of reasons adding up together for this.
What matters is that the climate is changing, and not only are we not doing much to fix it, we're also not doing anything to adapt to it.
This strikes me as immensely stupid, and yet pretty much what I'd expect from people.
I'm feeling much better now than I was this morning, that's for sure. Honestly, it's like being back in school, with a knot right in the middle of my stomach. Still, all those years of being educated have helped - I'm pretty good at ignoring that sort of thing by now :)
My mom is saying "We're safe, we're on a hill, not that close to the coast". Well, we're on a somewhat steep hill, but we're only about a quarter mile away from the water, and if the city starts flooding, I don't think we're going to have our municipal services then.
I mean, lots of people would leave then, so we'd have plenty of room to plant trees and crops and have some chickens and sheep and yummy bunnies - but no electricity. Which would be a serious bummer. I keep telling her, we should put up solar panels, invest in a nifty hamster gym (for humans - y'know, with bikes and treadmills instead of wheels. Just 'cuz it'd be really damn cool) but I don't know if she's listening.
I read a really whiny editorial the other day, talking about how climate change is totally natural and has happened many times before, and how therefore we shouldn't be taxed soooo muuuuuch on our gas for our SUVs. He actually said that.
Now, aside from the fact that our oil is dirt cheap (and I wonder why he thinks we're at war right now, tell the truth) and running out.... Frankly, he had a point, if he'd been clever enough to connect the dots and actually make it. It doesn't really matter why global warming. I know there's a strong correlation between our actions and rising temperatures, but he's right. Correlation isn't causation. There could be any number of reasons adding up together for this.
What matters is that the climate is changing, and not only are we not doing much to fix it, we're also not doing anything to adapt to it.
This strikes me as immensely stupid, and yet pretty much what I'd expect from people.
I'm feeling much better now than I was this morning, that's for sure. Honestly, it's like being back in school, with a knot right in the middle of my stomach. Still, all those years of being educated have helped - I'm pretty good at ignoring that sort of thing by now :)
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
no subject
Date: 2007-01-20 12:53 am (UTC)Amazon link to the first book here - http://www.amazon.com/Mindstar-Rising-Peter-F-Hamilton/dp/0812590562/sr=8-9/qid=1169254316/ref=pd_bbs_sr_9/103-5263290-1717429?ie=UTF8&s=books
no subject
Date: 2007-01-20 01:09 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-01-20 01:09 am (UTC)I get this great magazine, HOBBY FARM, and I think it will be a move or two down the road. They recently had something about grains in small spaces -- how even a small family farm can have enough room for grain to sustain themselves.
no subject
Date: 2007-01-20 01:11 am (UTC)As for my bunnies, they can come from a pet store.
The chickens - everybody in this area has some form of poultry. It's bizarre. It's turkeys getting loose and blocking access to the street, and cockcrow in the morn, and for a while, ducks. No pond, just quackquackquack all the time. Clearly, it's not that hard to find chickens in the city.
Sheep might be a little harder... I guess I could raid the SI zoo...?
no subject
Date: 2007-01-20 01:27 am (UTC)That's really weird about the poultry there, but that could come in handy. I only knew of one person who had them in Brooklyn, over in Bergen Beach where my parents lived.
I want chickens and sheep. Pig are big here, and cows on the other side of the river (Wisconsin). You can actually smell the pigs if the wind blows the right way, even though there are only a handful of farms actually within the city limits, and they are not pig farms.
Explain to me though why, if pigs are such a big thing here, the farmer's market only has BEEF. Heh.
How is the well situation in SI?
no subject
Date: 2007-01-20 01:29 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-01-20 09:04 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-01-20 01:18 am (UTC)Well, it's true that there are any number of things that could be the cause. But if you look over the research of climate scientists (such as at http://www.realclimate.org and at http://tamino.wordpress.com ) you will see that what is the cause is indeed human behavior. And the thing is, we really could do something about it, if politicians would stop dicking around about whether they want to deny its existance or not and the media would take some fucking responsibility in reporting the truth rather than what's considered "fair and balanced".
I like your ideas, frankly. Do whatever you can because every little bit helps. It has to.
Furthermore, if the Greenland ice sheet melts (as it is well on its way to doing) then sea level will rise 23 feet. If the West Antarctic ice sheet also melts, that amount will double. That's also not including the water from the melting of glaciers and from the oceans' thermal expansion. In other words, that better be a really tall hill.
no subject
Date: 2007-01-20 01:27 am (UTC)How much landmass was there when the dinosaurs were alive and kicking, then?
no subject
Date: 2007-01-20 01:35 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-01-20 01:49 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-01-20 03:52 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-01-20 12:53 am (UTC)Amazon link to the first book here - http://www.amazon.com/Mindstar-Rising-Peter-F-Hamilton/dp/0812590562/sr=8-9/qid=1169254316/ref=pd_bbs_sr_9/103-5263290-1717429?ie=UTF8&s=books
no subject
Date: 2007-01-20 01:09 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-01-20 01:09 am (UTC)I get this great magazine, HOBBY FARM, and I think it will be a move or two down the road. They recently had something about grains in small spaces -- how even a small family farm can have enough room for grain to sustain themselves.
no subject
Date: 2007-01-20 01:11 am (UTC)As for my bunnies, they can come from a pet store.
The chickens - everybody in this area has some form of poultry. It's bizarre. It's turkeys getting loose and blocking access to the street, and cockcrow in the morn, and for a while, ducks. No pond, just quackquackquack all the time. Clearly, it's not that hard to find chickens in the city.
Sheep might be a little harder... I guess I could raid the SI zoo...?
no subject
Date: 2007-01-20 01:27 am (UTC)That's really weird about the poultry there, but that could come in handy. I only knew of one person who had them in Brooklyn, over in Bergen Beach where my parents lived.
I want chickens and sheep. Pig are big here, and cows on the other side of the river (Wisconsin). You can actually smell the pigs if the wind blows the right way, even though there are only a handful of farms actually within the city limits, and they are not pig farms.
Explain to me though why, if pigs are such a big thing here, the farmer's market only has BEEF. Heh.
How is the well situation in SI?
no subject
Date: 2007-01-20 01:29 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-01-20 09:04 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-01-20 01:18 am (UTC)Well, it's true that there are any number of things that could be the cause. But if you look over the research of climate scientists (such as at http://www.realclimate.org and at http://tamino.wordpress.com ) you will see that what is the cause is indeed human behavior. And the thing is, we really could do something about it, if politicians would stop dicking around about whether they want to deny its existance or not and the media would take some fucking responsibility in reporting the truth rather than what's considered "fair and balanced".
I like your ideas, frankly. Do whatever you can because every little bit helps. It has to.
Furthermore, if the Greenland ice sheet melts (as it is well on its way to doing) then sea level will rise 23 feet. If the West Antarctic ice sheet also melts, that amount will double. That's also not including the water from the melting of glaciers and from the oceans' thermal expansion. In other words, that better be a really tall hill.
no subject
Date: 2007-01-20 01:27 am (UTC)How much landmass was there when the dinosaurs were alive and kicking, then?
no subject
Date: 2007-01-20 01:35 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-01-20 01:49 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-01-20 03:52 am (UTC)