President Obama's climate change speech.
brianlux
Posts: 42,055
For those who haven't heard it yet, here's the speech President Obama gave earlier today on climate change. On a personal note, I've waited many years to hear something like this from a major world politician, especially the President of the United States. It's been a long struggle and there's still much more work to be done but let's put aside partisan politics for a moment and be thankful for the hope this brings to our kid's and their kid's future. Thank you, Mr. President!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eO93F4KjcQg
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eO93F4KjcQg
“The fear of death follows from the fear of life. A man [or woman] who lives fully is prepared to die at any time.”
Variously credited to Mark Twain or Edward Abbey.
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http://www.nytimes.com/2009/09/23/us/po ... d=all&_r=0
Edit- sorry- wrong speech! Here is the one he made today:
http://blogs.wsj.com/washwire/2013/06/2 ... te-change/
On the downside for hippies ... I mean environmentalists ... is he pretty much signed-off on the Keystone pipeline in his speech.
This brings up an excellent point, Jason P. We think we can continue our "Happy Motoring America" habits endlessly. We cannot. We would be wise to cut back hugely on our personal, one-person-per-car driving habits. We would be wise to cut back on all of our energy usage. The president's speech was a good step forward, but, as I said, we have much more work to do.
Yeah, ok... "hippies".
And that's what true environmentalism is about, JP. Not a slogan. Not a groovy green t-shirt and skate board. Hard work. Years and years and years of relentless hard work to keep the planet habitable for you young whipper snappers. I'll be frickin' dead before this planet kicks the lot of us out.
And, yes, the president may well yet approve the Keystone pipeline. Like I said, we still have a lot of work to do. In fact, I've got to get back to it right now.
We have a star! An effing star! WTF? :fp:
You can spend your time alone, redigesting past regrets, oh
or you can come to terms and realize
you're the only one who can't forgive yourself, oh
makes much more sense to live in the present tense - Present Tense
You can spend your time alone, redigesting past regrets, oh
or you can come to terms and realize
you're the only one who can't forgive yourself, oh
makes much more sense to live in the present tense - Present Tense
Better than those who don't smoke pot and kill the planet every day. :roll:
You can spend your time alone, redigesting past regrets, oh
or you can come to terms and realize
you're the only one who can't forgive yourself, oh
makes much more sense to live in the present tense - Present Tense
Well, us all continuing to drive our cars emitting gas into the air is pretty much killing it. I am guilty as well. :roll:
But my point is that hippies are not bad and are not all the same.
You can spend your time alone, redigesting past regrets, oh
or you can come to terms and realize
you're the only one who can't forgive yourself, oh
makes much more sense to live in the present tense - Present Tense
I josh around with brianlux, but I know he is a good person, are as most that post in AMT. we are all PJ fans after all.
Peace.
Republicans were the original conservationists, yet now they seem to forget their roots.
Another good point, JP. If you listened to or read the speech you noticed Obama said this:
"See, the problem with all these tired excuses for inaction is that it suggests a fundamental lack of faith in American business and American ingenuity. (Applause.) These critics seem to think that when we ask our businesses to innovate and reduce pollution and lead, they can’t or they won’t do it. They’ll just kind of give up and quit. But in America, we know that’s not true. Look at our history.
When we restricted cancer-causing chemicals in plastics and leaded fuel in our cars, it didn’t end the plastics industry or the oil industry. American chemists came up with better substitutes. When we phased out CFCs — the gases that were depleting the ozone layer — it didn’t kill off refrigerators or air-conditioners or deodorant. (Laughter.) American workers and businesses figured out how to do it better without harming the environment as much.
The fuel standards that we put in place just a few years ago didn’t cripple automakers. The American auto industry retooled, and today, our automakers are selling the best cars in the world at a faster rate than they have in five years — with more hybrid, more plug-in, more fuel-efficient cars for everybody to choose from."
So, yeah, there is still more we can do with technology to lessen our impact on the earth. But the solutions are not always so seemingly simple. People will say, why don't we put solar panels on every building in the world? Solar panels are helpful but the amount of resources and energy necessary to build and install that many solar panels is just not feasible.
Until a truly clean and safe method of harnessing energy- even all that energy the sun provides- our best choice at this time is to reduce our energy consumption and (maybe most importantly) reduce population growth.
Good points, thank you! We all like to kid around here and humor is one of our best traits but sometimes we joke about the things we are most uncomfortable with.
Maybe when the next Republican President is elected they will roll back to that. :roll:
But yes, climate change is serious. See, if I was rich I'd buy things that would be less harmful to the earth (i am sure most people feel the same way). But since most of us are poor we do what we can to get by, which in most cases we negatively affect the planet. :(
You can spend your time alone, redigesting past regrets, oh
or you can come to terms and realize
you're the only one who can't forgive yourself, oh
makes much more sense to live in the present tense - Present Tense
Why is it that we need to joke about things that we're uncomfortable with? Is it so hard to face things head on that we need to disguise it all as a joke? This may be why mental illness is such a huge problem.
Again, good points.
So back to the topic- what seems important about Obama's speech today is not the expectation that something will be done immediately about carbon emissions from power plants and other industry (though of course that would be great) but rather that perhaps we are finally moving toward a recognition of human impact on environment and climate and the need to collectively work toward solutions. It's a little mind boggling that it has taken so long for this to happen but as always- better late than never.
Right...THERE.
Catharsis for me in laughter from it, and I love them for that.
Worldwise - and probably not limited to our environment - we have a ways to go (I think we always will; pretty much dictated by [our] nature), but as I've mentioned before, do whatever we can no matter how seemingly insignificant or babysteplike - and try to better apply the resources we have.
Just basic responsibility, really.
(ha! - as I prepare to hit 'send', Runnin with the Devil kicked in)
:twisted: <
obligatory