quote:Originally posted by Ringo: The problem is that everything in america is subsidised, meaning it's cheaper for them to buy a gas guzzling yank-tank than to buy a modern, efficient european or japanese car. And when fuel is that cheap, why would they care that their cares are woefully wasteful?
You've totally nailed it. And until we have to pay much more for a gallon of gas, the masses will continue not caring. I'm 100% in favor of a huge tax on gasoline here in the states. It wold be painful in the short-term, but much better for us and the rest of the world in the long run.
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You say that, but such is the unpopulaity of Bush, that at the moment I think anyone prepared to 'get troops out of iraq' would more or less walk it, even with a slightly hushed massive fuel tax bill.
Besides, the amount of money it would generate in taxes would be channeled into other stuff, like maybe totally subsidised healthcare, or into other green technologies.
Much as I hate on American cars, it's fair to say that our yankee cousins have made some pretty impressive technological breakthroughs and have the engineering and scientific ability to do great things, they simply need the motivation.
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Yes! My carbon footprint is less than that of the average UK household! In your face, Mask!
Now do it with the real answers...
I did, or at least I thought I did. What's the current rate of conversion of US dollars? I may have calculated my electricity usage wrong, but I'm willing to try again!
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I think you'd need to do it with actual kWh rather than annual cost, as there's probably no relation between what we pay for electricity and gas and what you do.
Driving 31,200 miles per year in something that does less than 30mpg I'm amazed your footprint can be so small.
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quote:Originally posted by Dedalus: I think you'd need to do it with actual kWh rather than annual cost, as there's probably no relation between what we pay for electricity and gas and what you do.
Driving 31,200 miles per year in something that does less than 30mpg I'm amazed your footprint can be so small.
I don't have my kWh figures readily available, but I'll get it over the wekeend and retest myself on Monday.
My footprint could be small due to the fact that my natural gas and coal usage are 0, and I don't travel by air.
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We need a non British quiz thingy. Because my brain hurts now from trying to do conversions.
You know, on NBC Nightly News with Brian Williams they were talking about the possibility of a black President or Hilary Clinton being nominated or both. I can't remember now. Anyway, how cool would it be to get either one of them! Although, I don't know if the US is ready for a woman president or a black president (which is really sad).
And yes, you can blame the south for Bush being elected twice. Jack asses.
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quote:Originally posted by Ringo: They don't factor in how many trees you cut down a year though, do they?
How drastically would that change things? I take down trees, use them for heat. The newly opened space allows for other trees to get big enough to harvest. It's a renewable resource for crying out loud.
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quote:Originally posted by ralph: If Hilary Clinton is elected as our next President, I'm moving to Canada. Seriously.
A and I were thinking of moving out of country as well. Not if Clinton gets elected, just because.
And I know my sister in law and her husband were seriously considering Canada if Bush got re-elected, but then he (her husband) got an amazing paying job and they stayed.
quote:Originally posted by ralph: It's a renewable resource for crying out loud.
Sorry Ralph, are you saying that trees are a renewable source of energy?? You do know how long it takes those things to grow don't you?
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quote:Originally posted by ralph: It's a renewable resource for crying out loud.
Sorry Ralph, are you saying that trees are a renewable source of energy?? You do know how long it takes those things to grow don't you?
Yes, I know exactly how long it takes for certain species to mature to the size I need to take them down. Properly managed, my land will produce trees for use as firewood for as long as I live. It's not like I'm clear-cutting my land and paving it over with tar.
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quote:Originally posted by Amy: And I know my sister in law and her husband were seriously considering Canada if Bush got re-elected, but then he (her husband) got an amazing paying job and they stayed.
I like to see a principled stand like that. Well played.
And ralph - isn't cutting trees down and burning them bad because you remove them as a C02-absorbing device, and burn them, release their embodied CO2. Not as bad as burning a non-renewable resource, indeed, but not exactly blame-free.
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quote:Originally posted by herbs: And ralph - isn't cutting trees down and burning them bad because you remove them as a C02-absorbing device, and burn them, release their embodied CO2. Not as bad as burning a non-renewable resource, indeed, but not exactly blame-free.
I never said it was blame-free. But when I remove them, smaller CO2 absorbing devices take their place, trees that had been previously blocked from sunlight by the trees I removed.
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quote:Originally posted by Amy: edit: we're not thinking Canada though.
Where are you thinking of going? Not *gasp* Europe!
Actually, no. We were thinking more like Asia. But, that's on hold right now...we have to sell the house and whatnot before we could make any big move like that. If we don't leave the country we're seriously considering the Pacific NW or HI.
(For non Americans that's the Pacific North West (you know, Oregon, or Washington (the state)) and HI means Hawaii. Just in case like.)
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