Solutions to Global Warming

brianlux
brianlux Moving through All Kinds of Terrain. Posts: 43,735
edited January 2012 in A Moving Train
As much as I try to lessen my impact on our environment, I'm often amazed at all the little things I learn all the time that can be done to live lighter on our planet. I've been looking at this issue in terms of solutions for a long time but I'm always learning something new that way. For example, it was only about four years that some told me that if I plug my TV into a power strip and then turn the power strip off after turning the TV off I can save energy. Easy! Useful!

So I thought it would be helpful to have a thread where we share ideas along those lines.

I would like to encourage (please) any one interested in discussing any causal (who done it/ what done it) or ontological (existent or non-existent) issues on Global Warming to go to the "Global Warming Discussion" thread rather than jam up or derail this one. Thanks!
"It's a sad and beautiful world"
-Roberto Benigni

Post edited by Unknown User on
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Comments

  • cincybearcat
    cincybearcat Posts: 16,951
    brianlux wrote:
    For example, it was only about four years that some told me that if I plug my TV into a power strip and then turn the power strip off after turning the TV off I can save energy. Easy! Useful!


    Sounds good until you realize your DVR does you no good then. ;)
    hippiemom = goodness
  • BinauralJam
    BinauralJam Posts: 14,158
    Nuke China, give Byrnzie a heads up first ofcourse.
  • brianlux
    brianlux Moving through All Kinds of Terrain. Posts: 43,735
    brianlux wrote:
    For example, it was only about four years that some told me that if I plug my TV into a power strip and then turn the power strip off after turning the TV off I can save energy. Easy! Useful!


    Sounds good until you realize your DVR does you no good then. ;)

    That's good to know but what about solutions? Please don't just go to the negative here. Solutions, please!

    I didn't know that about DVR's (but then I don't have a DVR.) So if you run a DVR into a power strip and other way to conserve energy using a DVR?

    Seriously, I don't know anything about DVR's- we rent movies once in awhile and have a few music DVDs- that's about it. So time to learn something new- awesome! I hope we all can learn something here.
    "It's a sad and beautiful world"
    -Roberto Benigni

  • cincybearcat
    cincybearcat Posts: 16,951
    brianlux wrote:
    brianlux wrote:
    For example, it was only about four years that some told me that if I plug my TV into a power strip and then turn the power strip off after turning the TV off I can save energy. Easy! Useful!


    Sounds good until you realize your DVR does you no good then. ;)

    That's good to know but what about solutions? Please don't just go to the negative here. Solutions, please!

    I didn't know that about DVR's (but then I don't have a DVR.) So if you run a DVR into a power strip and other way to conserve energy using a DVR?

    Seriously, I don't know anything about DVR's- we rent movies once in awhile and have a few music DVDs- that's about it. So time to learn something new- awesome! I hope we all can learn something here.

    Well really, you should unplug EVERYTHING you don't need on at that moment. Including coffee maker, toaster oven, etc. But then you can't use timers to have coffee made in the morning of course.

    Also, cell phone chargers...shouldn't keep them in all day either, unplug when unneeded. But like I said, that goes for everything.
    hippiemom = goodness
  • Jeanwah
    Jeanwah Posts: 6,363
    Line dry your clothes and sheets rather than using a dryer. Sheets that are wind dried smell so much better any way!
    Lower your thermostat a couple degrees in the winter, raise the air conditioning a couple degrees in summer.
    Plant trees!
  • bgivens33
    bgivens33 Posts: 290
    For me, first and foremost, I make a huge push for nuclear energy. I don't believe we can "conserve" our way out of global warming. I find it admirable, but too many people just don't care.

    Secondly, the government needs to stop subsidizing all energy. Subsidies cripple the market. Take the money saved in the subsidies and pour it into the universities and other research groups(NREL). Along with that, don't support green energy just because it is green. Support it because it is a good source of energy. I've been to a few lectures and all things considered, ethanol seems to use just as much energy to produce than it provides. The country falls in love with "green" energy without really even looking at sustainability.

    I know people disagree with this, but currently there is no alternative to oil and natural gas. I think coal can easily be phased out via nuclear energy(and the portion of the country that gets electricity from natural gas).

    The bottom line is, you can either convince people to lessen their dependency on hydrocarbons or you can provide them a better alternative. For me, the latter yields much better results.
  • gimmesometruth27
    gimmesometruth27 St. Fuckin Louis Posts: 24,737
    for there to be a true solution EVERYONE has to first admit that there is a problem.

    once that happens, then the solutions will come easy because everyone will be on the same page.

    until that happens, all we can do is offer small solutions like we are doing here.

    it is going to take the people to act, because the businesses and government will just continue with the status quo until the people force them to act.
    "You can tell the greatness of a man by what makes him angry."  - Lincoln

    "Well, you tell him that I don't talk to suckas."
  • brianlux
    brianlux Moving through All Kinds of Terrain. Posts: 43,735
    it is going to take the people to act, because the businesses and government will just continue with the status quo until the people force them to act.

    True for now, no doubt. Also, I would think that considering the world has a limited amount of natural resources and that corporations which rely on those resources (and continue to extract them at a break-neck pace) will eventually make themselves obsolete as the resources dwindle. You'd think corporate heads would see this and also see the wisdom in taking care of the planet that keeps us all afloat. But they don't seem to get that. This is why I try to do my own little part (in the ways all of you have mentioned here- thank you!) and continue to write letters and such.

    Getting people together to speak out is a great thing to do also-- and fun. Here's a picture of a gathering I organized a few years ago. This took place in a very conservative town here in the Sierra foothills with permission from the local police department:

    Stepitup07_007_lightbox.jpg
    "It's a sad and beautiful world"
    -Roberto Benigni

  • vhemt.6in.gif
    Rock me Jesus, roll me Lord...
    Wash me in the blood of Rock & Roll
  • Have a volunteer world wide suicide! If we can shed about 1 billion people off this planet.....Mother Earth would surely love it! That would be a great load off .....right?

    We just need to convince 1 billion people to kill themselves!
    Theres no time like the present

    A man that stands for nothing....will fall for anything!

    All people need to do more on every level!
  • CH156378
    CH156378 Posts: 1,539
    Have a volunteer world wide suicide! If we can shed about 1 billion people off this planet.....Mother Earth would surely love it! That would be a great load off .....right?

    We just need to convince 1 billion people to kill themselves!

    you first.
  • chadwick
    chadwick up my ass Posts: 21,157
    Jeanwah wrote:
    Line dry your clothes and sheets rather than using a dryer. Sheets that are wind dried smell so much better any way!
    Lower your thermostat a couple degrees in the winter, raise the air conditioning a couple degrees in summer.
    Plant trees!
    i know plenty of idiots who refuse to air dry their clothing. these dumbies are even folks i am friends with. to me, inside my head and heart, i say to myself, and sometimes quite often out loud, i say to them, that is stupid you don't hang up your clothes.

    they in return get pissy, bitch, moan, and complain. i call laziness and stupidity. careless and useless comes to mind as well.

    can you believe i even line dried my clothes when i was a cross country truck driver? i hung my clothing up with hangers and put em in several closets i had in back around the bed area. no need feeding the dryer quarters. also, i have been known to wear wet clothing because they weren't dried in a dryer.

    people are spoiled lazy shits. fact
    for poetry through the ceiling. ISBN: 1 4241 8840 7

    "Hear me, my chiefs!
    I am tired; my heart is
    sick and sad. From where
    the sun stands I will fight
    no more forever."

    Chief Joseph - Nez Perce
  • chadwick
    chadwick up my ass Posts: 21,157
    Nuke China, give Byrnzie a heads up first ofcourse.
    :lol:
    for poetry through the ceiling. ISBN: 1 4241 8840 7

    "Hear me, my chiefs!
    I am tired; my heart is
    sick and sad. From where
    the sun stands I will fight
    no more forever."

    Chief Joseph - Nez Perce
  • whygohome
    whygohome Posts: 2,305
    Educate yourself. Narrow-mindedness is a plague sweeping across this once great country.
  • chadwick
    chadwick up my ass Posts: 21,157
    whygohome wrote:
    Educate yourself. Narrow-mindedness is a plague sweeping across this once great country.
    meanwhile, thousands of people are flicking their cigarette butts on the ground whilst using a dryer when nice outside (or use a indoors clothesline) as their large tv runs 24x7. in their driveway, a 4x4 giant truck
    for poetry through the ceiling. ISBN: 1 4241 8840 7

    "Hear me, my chiefs!
    I am tired; my heart is
    sick and sad. From where
    the sun stands I will fight
    no more forever."

    Chief Joseph - Nez Perce
  • whygohome
    whygohome Posts: 2,305
    chadwick wrote:
    whygohome wrote:
    Educate yourself. Narrow-mindedness is a plague sweeping across this once great country.
    meanwhile, thousands of people are flicking their cigarette butts on the ground whilst using a dryer when nice outside (or use a indoors clothesline) as their large tv runs 24x7. in their driveway, a 4x4 giant truck

    Those people are everywhere.... so frightening!! But hey, that's their "American Right!!"
  • I say we enact strict population control methods! Implement a world wide suicide every January 1st! Also, take out many lifetime prisoners! Offer their families money if they agree to it! only healthy couples should have more than one child! Also, tell Muslims that there are really 144 virgins in heaven if pick up the pace!
    Theres no time like the present

    A man that stands for nothing....will fall for anything!

    All people need to do more on every level!
  • CH156378
    CH156378 Posts: 1,539
    I say we enact strict population control methods! Implement a world wide suicide every January 1st! Also, take out many lifetime prisoners! Offer their families money if they agree to it! only healthy couples should have more than one child! Also, tell Muslims that there are really 144 virgins in heaven if pick up the pace!

    you're a fucking loser
  • brianlux
    brianlux Moving through All Kinds of Terrain. Posts: 43,735
    Jeanwah wrote:
    Line dry your clothes and sheets rather than using a dryer. Sheets that are wind dried smell so much better any way!
    Lower your thermostat a couple degrees in the winter, raise the air conditioning a couple degrees in summer.
    Plant trees!

    Good ideas all! I remember years ago visiting my Amish grandma back in PA in the winter. One morning I looked outside and said, "Grandma, it snowed last night and you've got clothes out on the line- they'll never dry in this weather!" She smiled and said, "Oh sure they will. I hung them out this morning. They will freeze dry." And they did! A few hours later she brought them in, dry as can be. From early adulthood on she didn't live a traditional Amish lifestyle, but she never owned or used a clothes dryer. :)
    "It's a sad and beautiful world"
    -Roberto Benigni

  • honestly, I'm not convinced that global climate change isn't a natural occurence. Of course, I'm not one of those jackasses that uses that as an excuse to drive a giant SUV, I do my part, but mostly because I just think the amount of garbage, waste, pollution, is disgusting. we are a wasteful and pitiful race. Chadwick, totally agree with the cigarette butts as a problem. It's gross. Especially here in Winnipeg after the spring thaw. Those cigarette butts collect in the snow for 5 or 6 months, and the snow melts, and all we have are thousands of wet butts all over our city. It's gross to say the least.

    I was told how much energy my pc sucks out of the Earth by leaving it on overnight (I used to do this when downloading a big file), and stopped that immediately. It was pretty alarming. I also unplug everything that I can when it's not in use.

    I tried switching to those new bulbs, but I guess my house is too old and something didn't jive, because they would get really hot and burn, so I had to go back to regular bulbs.

    If you live in cold climes, weather strip your windows, and good. You'd be amazed how much energy is wasted by having a leaky house.

    Put those child safety plastic inserts in your household electrical outlets. You'd be surprised how much wind comes through those outlets.
    Gimli 1993
    Fargo 2003
    Winnipeg 2005
    Winnipeg 2011
    St. Paul 2014