Saw Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. give a lecture on "It's Not Easy Being Green" and "Crimes Against Nature" last night at UTC. He really knows his stuff about what is going on with the environment. He talked about how the coal mining in West Virginia has torn down large mountains because they dump the rocks and soil into the rivers then the mountains are gone. He said the rain forests are being torn down then the area that once produced wonderful green plants and trees becomes desert. He said when he was a child he would go fishing with his family in New York and still takes his children except now they can no longer eat the fish because of mercury poisoning in the fish from waste dumping. The Bush administration had so many people that worked against doing anything for the ecosystem because of their ties to major oil companies. So we are eight years behind working on this problem. I don't think Bushy believed in it. We know that other countries have reduced or have no ties to dependency on the oil from Saudi Arabia. The US could do it, too. Maybe in as little as three years. He made a comment about in ten years we would all be driving electric cars and selling the extra current back to companies that would use it for power by turning them off for just 15 minutes a day. It was eye opening to hear him talk about T. Bone Pickens idea to use windmills to generate power to other states from Texas. However, the grids don't connect right now. That is a way to put people to work building these grids and creating jobs. There are all sorts of ideas about mirrors in the desert to generate power, they would also have to be built, more jobs. It was wonderful to hear there is a solution to the problem. Not just a dead end because it will just go away. The planet is ours to use but we need to take action now or we will no longer have a place to live. So what that we can come on the internet to say we don't believe in Global Climate Change. If everything goes to hell in a hand basket then we won't have anything to pass on to the next generations. I will now step off my soap box.
Is it possible that we are ruining the earth?
by Bubblie 29 Replies latest jw friends
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beksbks
Bubblie I'm afraid this site is some pretty barren soil for planting this particular seed of thought. I believe with all my heart, that we are having a negative impact on the globe. To what extent, doesn't really matter, because if it isn't as bad as some say now, it will be if we don't use our noodles and change our ways. Exploring alternative sources and ending our dependence on fossil fuels is nothing but a good idea. The only downside is for the oil and coal companies. I quite frankly could care less about them.
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Elsewhere
I don't think it is possible to "ruin" the earth as it does not have a "perfect" state. The earth is constantly changing.
The organisms alive today could not have survived on the earth 2 billion years ago because the atmosphere and oceans were very different in their chemical makeup, temperature and Ph.
The earth is constantly changing, and yes, we most certainly can contribute to that change.
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LockedChaos
The planet would kill us all off
before we can damage it too much
Electric cars get their recharges from,
the electric grid
Most of the U.S electricity comes from
...........................Coal, dirty old coal
Wind power will help
Wave power will help
Solar panels will help
Methane capturing will help
We also need to better utilize Natural Gas
It only makes sense to keep our house
in order
Nothing is simple, but it should still be done
We cannot be fanatics or Luddites about it though
We need rational, comprehensive solutions
Not ideologies and wishes
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purplesofa
Bubblie, thanks for sharing.
I hope T Boone Pickens can get something done with his ideas. That we wait so long that we look back and say he was a man before his time.
There is so much advanced technology out there. Even today, Barak Obama was saying, .........IF we can put a man on the moon.
I have stared to become more aware of what I can do as an individual concerning out planet. I have been online looking at many sites and have saved as "Causes"
I don't have money to give, or any great intellect, I can only do my small individual part, and sometimes that is just supporting a group that is very active and helping others to become more aware.
Like you were very inspired and shared with us, we need to keep talking about this issue, it certainly was not a priority with Bush. T Boone Pickens tried to talk to the Bush admin and they would never meet with him.
We(mankind) really need to get out of old thinking, much like leaving the WT, and get busy doing some radical things. It's amazing the energy we will be able to generate if we just give it a chance and we can feel good about the changes, ourselves and where we live.
purps
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aligot ripounsous
Well, I'm quite convinced (30 years JWism ?) that men will simply never be able to make it as far as managing resources of the earth in responsible and equitable ways is concerned, because the rich want to remain rich and the poor think that they have a right to drive 4WD too. Amazonian forest is reported to have shrunk by 17% between 2000 and 2005 and who is acting in a practical way to prevent it ? American troops swept through Iraq for less than that. And if a planetary authority were set up to rein in greediness, it would soon become oppressive. That's why I keep hoping that Jehovah will step in, but how and when, if ever ?
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SacrificialLoon
We are. Sure there will likely be life here no matter what we do, but our actions are making the Earth less human friendly, and we are changing it very rapidly on a geologic scale. Everytime there have been rapid changes there have been mass extinctions.
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moshe
There is little difference between human caused destruction and one caused by a natural event - the end result is the same. Humans are puny creatures in the cosmic scheme of things. We are living is a small window of history that will in the future be called, "the happy times." .
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WTWizard
It's not the companies that are trying to create products that enhance life for us that are ruining the earth. It's the regulations that are keeping them from taking risks to develop better, more efficient ways to create those products that are keeping us trapped in pollution-generating modes. Remember, every atom of mercury in those fish is a waste of mercury that could have been used elsewhere.
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SacrificialLoon
It's the regulations that are keeping them from taking risks to develop better, more efficient ways to create those products that are keeping us trapped in pollution-generating modes.
No, it's because the environment has always been an 'externality', and because it's considered an externality usually nothing was done by private industry until government forces them to.
