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oldsoldier's Blog

by oldsoldier from southeast Guilford

Last Post 50 days, 15 hours Ago


All this talk about global warming, which, by the way is real, is just that talk. We need for industry to take the lead, and get things started. First we need hybrid vehicles that are affordable, and the more they make, the cheaper they will be. Auto makers are patting themselves on the pack because they have a few out there, but how many of us can buy them? Next, E-85 is not the answer, unless of course you have 10,000 acres of corn growing out back. E-85 is expensive to make, gives poor mileage, and will make any thing related to corn go up in price. Cattle farmers will pay higher prices for corn to feed their herds because the corn farmer can get a better price at the refinery, so your hamburger will cost more, and your milk. The wheat farmer can make more money raising corn, so the cost of a loaf of bread will go up, whoops, it already has. But you get the picture, let your imagination run wild, you won't like it. And why do we not have affordable electric cars? In my case, an electric would be the perfect second car, as it probably would for a lot of two car families. Where are the windmills that can generate electricity? I read recently about a power company in New England that wanted to put some along the coast to make use of the winds there, but the elite residents said it would spoil their view. Hey, Duke Power, I've got a big field out behind my place, and there is always a strong breeze and often pretty strong winds. Let's talk. The recent decision not to reopen the White Street Landfill to make use of available capacity and avoid the 140 mile round trip to Montgomery County made by our garbage trucks. I grew up in northeast Greensboro, and lived there most of my life. The smell is not that bad, folks, and it would save a ton of money. The county had no problem with putting an asphalt plant next to those folks over on Liberty Rd, and that is a bad smell, to say nothing of possible health effects down the road. I won't go into possible reasons for one over the other, but if you look into it, you can figure it out. And while I'm on my soap box, and talking about the landfill, this new deal about HD TV next year, how many old tv sets will be discarded because of this unneeded piece of legislation? Somebody has a really good lobbiest working there . Even Lorraine Ahearn, not my favorite columnist, wrote about the use of those cheap plastic bags at the gocery store, that can't stay together long enough to get your groceries into the house, but will linger forever in the dump down in Montgomery County. What do we have against Montgoery County, by the way?Anyway, thats enough to get us started,give us some decent alternatives to what is messing with the ozone, and show us how with a sacrifice here and there we can save our planet, yes our planet, not the planet, we will screw up Mars when we get there, but for now, we have work to do here. And one more thing, be careful with those new light bulbs, they can be hazardous to our health.
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openmic read my blog
Apr 16, 2008 | 6:46 PM

About the windmills, Duke Power already has lots of tall towers supporting power lines that could also support windmills. Nobody could use the "spoil the few" excuse since the towers are already there.

About throwing away old TVs that can't get the new digital TV signals, if you don't want to buy cable or satellite TV or a converter box why not use them to play movies or video games? By the way, it's not "green" to buy a projection, plasma or LCD flatscreen TV to replace your old CRT TV because all of those use a lot more power than a CRT TV.

About "What Can We Do?", as individuals we can try really hard to conserve gasoline and also buy only what we really need -- cut out some of the toys and gadgets.

DW45 read my blog view my photos
Apr 16, 2008 | 9:37 PM

Windmills make as much sense as anything else.....might be pretty...

I feel like Don Quixote anyway, trying to chase the price of gas!

HE-KE
Apr 16, 2008 | 11:09 PM

What people need to do is stop driving so much. The cause of Global Warming is all the trucks and vehicles.And we use to much engery, we the people are the cause of this problem, and we need to work harder as people and try and change our way of living.

patcancook read my blog view my photos
Apr 17, 2008 | 4:19 PM

I'm telling you, if just 1/2 of all women in this country would quit working (those with another source of income of course, like a terrific husband who would agree) sell your gas guzzeling mini and suvs, do you seriously know how much $ your family would save? I ran the figures, and I couldn't believe what we spend just on make up, hair, clothing, gas, upkeep to vehicle, and extras.........almost$533 a month. That's a whopping $6396 a year.........not worth it

cook2712 read my blog view my photos
Apr 17, 2008 | 5:07 PM

Global warming is a farce, a scam, a bunch of bull shitski if you will. Its just not the truth.

gadget410 read my blog view my photos
Apr 17, 2008 | 8:44 PM

I don't believe that global warming is a farce, the fact that the Wilkins ice shelf broke up and fell off much sooner than expected is to me quite startling. The idea that it is man's fault or that we have the power to completely change the course of the planet by doing one action like CO2 limitation is probably the farce. There have been two mass extinctions according to the fossil records. Scientists are still not 100% sure what role climate change may have played if any but it is believed that a much hotter planet may have done a large part of that extinction.

dancomer read my blog
Apr 18, 2008 | 1:40 AM

Allow me to say this about gas consumption. Poor people, which is by far the majority of folks in this great nation, are consuming only what they have too. It is the top ten percent of income earners whom are abusing it and even if you raised the price to ten dollars a gallon it would not deter them from their monthly vacations and operation of many personal vehicles and rvs'. I see these people all the time, coming in from out of state even on a week day non-holiday just to drop in to have dinner with an acquaintance or play golf!

gadget410 read my blog view my photos
Apr 18, 2008 | 3:35 PM

Dancomer, the students that I teach are not "rich" but they continue to drive and live exactly like they did when gas was $2.00. There are several of them within carpooling range,and I have asked why they don't try and buddy up to save some money. I get the response of well "Johnny" might not want to go to the mall after class and I do or I don't want to have to go back home when class is over because Mom/Dad will want me to do something. The excuses are so frivolous it isn't funny. They may change some as they get older and on their own but I doubt it. I still pass the same cars, trucks, and SUV's with the same single occupants they are also unwilling to change their habits. I think there will be a breaking point money wise that people will come around but we have not reached it yet, it may be $5.00 a gallon that makes them realize they don't need a Hummer, Suburban, Escalade, Excursion...etc. to go to work and back we have roads instead of trails and most of the luxury SUV's have never been in 4WD or off road. The SUV other than a family transporter or recreation vehicle is a pretty inefficient and unnecessary mode of personal transportation, it is however perceived to be a status symbol to many owners. I finally sold mine, and while it was nice vehicle it wasn't $100 a week fill up nice. We seem to have this misconception that we are entitled to drive around in a vehicle that gets 10mpg and should be able to fill it up for $20. Whether you think it is a conspiracy or we are really reaching a point that easy cheap oil is no longer readily available, we have shown that i

gadget410 read my blog view my photos
Apr 18, 2008 | 4:10 PM

if gas goes up to $2.00 or $3.00 we still consume it at the same rate, why would the price ever come down? If the oil company continues to sell just as much and make record profits who can blame them....it boils down to the fact that even though gas prices have changed dramatically drivers haven't.

dancomer read my blog
Apr 19, 2008 | 10:11 AM

Gadget410, of course "kids" are not going to try to conserve anything. Most of them still live at home and don't have to pay any of the bills to begin with, plus they're maxing out their credit cards to buy gas, cds, dvds, booze, or whatever. But I still stand behind my remarks about the elite people who live in the gated communities. I also know that many millions of " the hard working poor " can barely afford to drive to their job, because I am one of them. Not that I am without any hope or optimism, but people do have to speak up in order to make changes happen.

gadget410 read my blog view my photos
Apr 19, 2008 | 11:14 AM

Dancomer, I agree with most of what you say, but it is going to be up to individuals to make the changes. The government and other companies want to keep people dependent on them. I also see a trend with a lot of todays youth that concerns me, many feel that the government should do more, I even had one student propose that the government provide gasoline cards like food stamps. I strongly feel that it is going to be up to each individual young and old to make changes that will actuate change, but at this time I just don't see people making any changes right now. I mentioned that I got rid of my SUV and bought a used Honda that gets about 30-35 mpg. I still drive down the same road and as I make my way I see the same drivers in the same inefficient vehicles who only complain every time they fill up that vehicle. I then hear the argument that I owe so much on this thing I can't afford to get rid of it. If you work a regular job that requires you drive individually and you do not carpool or ride share you can't afford to not git rid of that vehicle. The folks that bought these vehicles really couldn't afford them in the first place but as a status symbol they bought them in an attempt to appear to be something they are not.

DW45 read my blog view my photos
Apr 19, 2008 | 7:14 PM

I "go" as little as possible, but there are still sooooo many have-tos.....school, work, Doctor.....What else can we realistically do?

gadget410 read my blog view my photos
Apr 19, 2008 | 10:36 PM

DW we lack the public transportation that is so common in big cities and more efficiently in Europe. The only suggestion I can make is trading for or buying a more fuel efficient vehicle. If this is not possible keep your vehicle in the best condition possible as mentioned on Caddyboy's recent blog. Trip planning and carpool to work and school as much as possible. If consumption levels will drop so will prices at the pump but as long as we continue using the same amount or near the same amount at now $3.50 a gallon the petroleum companies will only sit back and smile.

DW45 read my blog view my photos
Apr 19, 2008 | 11:00 PM

You're right, Gadget.....I keep a good tune-up, and tires fully inflated.....lots of us country folks run less than the recommended tire pressure (for more surface contact) in the Winter.....That does have a real effect, and sometimes we forget to pressure them back up -

When we DO forget, we're basically running on a smaller tire, especially around town.....therefore, more RPMs for the same speed.....

Right now, I'll listen to all the good advice available.....wasn't being a wise-ass.....

It's just not right to put $75.00 of fuel in something that doesn't fly!

cook2712 read my blog view my photos
Apr 20, 2008 | 11:55 AM

Before you get too excited about global warming read some of what 19,000 scientist say:

http://www.globalwarmingisafarce.com/

DW45 read my blog view my photos
Apr 20, 2008 | 12:31 PM

I didn't check all the links, but I always questioned the end of the world because a certain ice shelf calved off.....

The other fact is, Al Gore gets a heckuva lot more publicity than the average weather guesser.......

gadget410 read my blog view my photos
Apr 20, 2008 | 3:51 PM

DW and Cook, I am not saying that you should believe everything about global warming. I do not go along with everything Al Gore says but there are plenty of other scientists who agree that the earth is getting hotter, whether man made or natural occurring it has happened before man was here and resulted in a 95% extinction of land and sea life on the planet. I think that we should be cautious with our actions, think about the ozone hole caused by CFC usage in the late 40's no one knew that the use of chlorofluorocarbons would attack the UV protective ozone around the earth. Instead of volcanoes that may have been the cause of planetary temperature increases in the past, Industrialization may be contributing to this increase. The melting that is occurring in Greenland and the Antarctic ice shelf has never happened before in recorded history, maybe it is nothing but in my mind it sends up a flag to pay closer attention to what may be going on. If it ever reaches the break over point regardless of whether it is a natural event or man made, the current yearly melting days are growing slightly longer while the freezing days are getting shorter. If the land based ice melting grows we will most definitely have a detrimental sea level rise that will affect coastal areas around the world. I have personally seen some evidence of this that makes me concerned, recently a construction company in Florida about 20 miles inland began clearing an area for development. They found some "rock" formation they could not identify. The "rock" wasn't rock it was sea coral a type that will only

gadget410 read my blog view my photos
Apr 20, 2008 | 3:53 PM

grow and thrive at a depth of about 20 feet below the sea. The same thing has been noted in fossilized coral in Barbados.
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2005/04/0504281801
23.htm

I just think it is insane, not only from a public health and environmental stand point, but also from a financial standpoint that we need to change our dependence on fossil energy if we continue with business as usual our children and our children's children will pay the price. This has happened before, in the 1970's Arab oil embargo new technologies that had no need for oil were emerging, the Arab's saw this as writing on the wall and out of fear of becoming obsolete dropped the price of a barrel of oil so cheap that these new companies and technologies went bankrupt. I am hoping that if we make the switch this time we will never go back and the Saudis and others will have to go back to herding sheep for a living, instead of living in palaces, buying jets and converting them to flying palaces and funding terrorism.

DW45 read my blog view my photos
Apr 20, 2008 | 6:09 PM

Gadget410 - Glad you're here, thought of you when I read the Yahoo News Headlines just now -
Seems now since various parts of the world are experimenting with BIOFUELS, many Middle East (oil producers, no less) countries are STARVING because of the attempted use of soy, wheat, sugarcane, etc. to amke these said biofuels.....

I ain't real sure I believe that.....

Another point about global warming is the fact that this planet is horribly overpopulated - and we're losing more wood/ wet lands everyday to "civilization" and natural erosion.....I don't want to have a moratoriom on childbirth (like China) anymore than anybody else.....But one day, we're gonna have a serious price to pay for raping this planet!

Anyway, this story was out of Paris (AFP) -

I also read where Bush's Pollution/ Global Warming Policies don't apply to the big Petroleum Companies, and the large coal and gas companies in Wyoming, etc.....What a surprise!

gadget410 read my blog view my photos
Apr 20, 2008 | 7:46 PM

DW, I feel the same way I am glad there are people like you around... if we don't all work together to come up with alternatives you are correct this world is going to be in trouble. A good example of this is the immigration situation we are also dealing with. The answer is not to try to bring as many people as possible to the U.S.!! We will only succeed in destroying our country we must find ways to help those people where the are right now and improve their lives as they currently exist. The research I have done also backs up exactly what you are saying, petroleum has had the silver spoon of government subsidies in it's mouth since it's birth. It is ironic that the whole reason petroleum became what it is today is because we were using whale oil for lighting needs and almost hunted them to extinction until Edwin Drake drilled the first oil well and refined the crude to make kerosene. The early gasoline and other by products were dumped into streams and rivers as undesirable until the automobile came along. It is time that we say enough is enough and start doing something, I am fearful that it may be too late in some cases to stop the damage that has been done and as you say we will have a serious price to pay.

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oldsoldier

Married,1968 to present, 2 sons, 6 grandchildren, retired after 40 yrs at the same company. A veteran of the U.S.Army in the mid sixties, and conservative politically. I am concerned about what is lacking in the education our children are receiving in school. When I talk to my grandkids about history or geography, it is totally new to them.

Member Since: 7/25/2006