posted on February 12, 2002 07:43:14 PM new
soon we will have back the green fields and forests that attracted our forfathers to this land, (I will post city dwellers a picture) and with this season you can make a small change for the good of all. By planting with your family and friends in mind, plant an apple or other fruit tree for years of enjoyment. the miniatures and super dwarfs are now so small they can be planted almost anywhere, Gurnee in Yankton SD is an old standby But May, Earl May I think is a real great one too. I remember one of the area parents had made a deep rut with his tire in the winter years back, he put cement in the rut with some wire and made a small pond only held about 30 gallons of water , there was one goldfish and one water lily, (a marliac at that !), at one time or another without him knowing it every kid in the neighborhood had determined that Jeff's dad was ''cool'I remember when he died years later when I brought up the pond at the funeral, I ended what I had to say with this story, and that Jeff's dad was "cool'Theres a new family in that home now but when I ran into them they told me that they had built a Gazebo with a swing near that little pond and that when they added the plants and a fish the Kids told their father that that was really 'Cool', anyhow he tracked me don because he had told the story about buying the house and the pond to someone, and after that told them what the kids had said, then their New neighbor told them the story about the kids years before and the funeral. my whole point is that some things mean a lot to people and you don't have to be a millionaire to make an impact. Have a good time, Plant that tree or perennial plant (scientific for comes back each year), or put in a little pond or other change that reflects on how you felt.
on a special day
posted on February 12, 2002 08:48:47 PM new
Speaking of trees. There is a community group in my city dedicated to planting and maintaining trees. They have partnered with a non-profit organization to offer surplus, bare-root fruit trees, to residents for a donation of $1.00 to $5.00.
These trees would have been burned if not distributed. They even offer classes on trimming and mulching, and ask that you use non-chemical planting methods. I'll be getting my tree in March. What a great way to recycle.
posted on February 12, 2002 10:38:30 PM new
That was beautiful, auroranorth! However, it will end up as a dead planet with the soil wshed away. And what nutrients that are in the soil to grow scarce crops will all be man made. The will be "zoos" for trees, just like there are for animals. The only people who can afford pond-raised seafood are the rich, because the oceans will all be dead. The only greenry left on this planet will be the palacial estates of the ultra-rich who will be able to afford to filter their air and water sufficiently to live well. Americans will be so poor that peasants of the past in europe will look well-off indeed! Americans will have no rights -- except to be slaves to the Rich and Powerful. There will be no representation in governments anywhere as corporations will own everything of value, eveery square inch of land - both above the sea and the rights below it. Just to breath clean air will cost the average person too much of their income and it keeps them poor and sick -- so that the Rich can charge even MORE for their medicines and prey on the dying.
I won't go on.
Borillar
"Friends don't let friends vote republican"
posted on February 13, 2002 03:23:45 AM new
You should listen to him, TS, because he's right. Your little girls will see a far uglier life than you have seen.
posted on February 13, 2002 04:55:59 AM new
I know what your thinking bonilar but nature
has a say too, Things will get better if we work at it, and I know that sounds a lot like arbiet macht frei. I guess the point really is to make a small piece of the world in your own image. I remember years ago taking on a vicious corrupt nearby local government. Me and a few others made things a lot better for a lot of people who sat on their fat asses and did a lot less than nothing to return the favor. I have thought about it a lot, and the conclusion I have reached is that as far as my participation I did it for me, and as a return the favor to the Wallace, Washington, Jefferson and Lee's and freedom loving people who gave a lot more in the past. I know that it seems like your good effort will be consumed by a raging sea of filth. But then the chinese have a saying that if 10,000 people say a foolish thing, it's still a foolish thing. Plant that tree or do that good thing for that little guy who stood up to those commie tanks, we owe him and others like him.
posted on February 13, 2002 06:08:48 AM new
on the other hand that's 90 percent less resources they have to continue holding power,
hate to quote a popular movie but 'nature will find a way'', They can only defy reality with their money, power and trappings of wealth for so long. before one day the people will be beating rocks against their clothes in the Chicago river looking at what's left of the buildings and talking about the Gods who built them.
you must fight, you must resist, you were put here to fight, you were given the mind and the will to fight.
When a people is driven to their destruction, by the instrument of governmental authority. it is not only the right it is in fact the duty of every given member of that people to rebel.
Now then maybe that act of rebellion is just saying no to the latest fad, or growing some of your own food, maybe it's telling the local politician what an asinine position they are holding, each can deliver in their own way with the gifts that they have.
posted on February 13, 2002 06:26:09 AM new
This article by Cheryl Seal defines the problem so well. FDR's support of the tree planting program is included.
Desertification: One of Earth’s Biggest Environmental Threats
Terrible environmental practices around the globe, including clearcutting, over-farming, shoddy open mining operations, and draining of wetlands have combined with warming global temperatures to fuel and accelerate a devastating negative feedback process in many regions of the world. This process of gradual drying and erosion, called desertification, quickly becomes self-perpetuating unless nothing is done to stop it. Dertification leads to the gradual change of an area from a moister, cooler enviornment to a dryer, hotter, more barren landscape.
The Dust Bowl of the the American Midwest in the 1930s was actually the beginning of desertification, brought on by clearcutting and overfarming. Many environmentalists early on saw what was happening and called for widespread tree planting and better land management. FDR vigorously supported this plan, but was just as vigorously opposed by the Republicans, who thought tree planting was a waste of time and money. We can thank our lucky stars that FDR prevailed and, through the CCC, began a massive tree-planting campaign. If he had not, and better land management had not also been implemented, the southern Midwest would by now be a “new Mojave” desert.
The U.S. is not alone, of course. Mao Tse Tung’s irrational crusade to “conquer nature” led to massive desertification in China, which is now being addressed through a huge tree-planting campaign. Other areas, such as Africa, have not been lucky enough to catch desertification in time. The Sahara desert, for example, is now gobbling up more arable land every year.
The problem of desertification world wide is escalating. In June, Takao Shibata, assistant president of the U.N’s International Fund for Agricultural Development said that desertification is one of the most serious and least well-known of all environmental challenges of our time. In the final days of the Clinton Administration, on November 17, 2000, the U.S. Senate ratified the Convention to Combat Desertification, which took effect on Feb. 2, 2001. The treaty hass been ratified by 174 nations.
Desertification now affects 70% of Earth’s dry lands, 30% of all the planet’s land surface overall, and is a serious problem in 110 countries. Each year, 10 million more acres are turned to desert, fueling the nightmare of regional famines and contributing signficantly to global warming. Desertification-related famine now costs the world $42 billion each year.
Desertifcation also has more subtle, but still lethal impacts. For example, dust from dried oult soil in Africa is routinely carried across the Atlantic on prevailing air currents and deposited in the Caribbean. Threre, the accumulated tons of material, often loaded with exotic fungal spores, has degraded the marine environment, choking and infecting coral reefs. On the other side of the globe, dust from desertification in China - is pumped across the Pacific to the northwestern shores of North America. Because dust particles act as a surface on which pollutants can condense, some of this dust is contaminated by pollutants from mining and industrial areas of China. In short, isolationism will not protect America from this world-wide problem.
Sneak Attack on Clean Water Act
Back in January, when everyone was still reeling from the awful reality of the Bush inauguration and his all-out assault on the environment and everything we all hold dear about America, his goons in the Supreme Court managed to make a ruling that may ultimately gut a major part of the Clean Water Act. The Court took it upon itself to remove CWA protections from ALL remote or isolated small water bodies and wetlands. Not only are these bodies some of the most critical components of their ecosystems, they are also among the bodies most in need of protection. Worse yet, they account for 20% of all remaining wetlands in the U.S. We have already lost over 75% of all original wetlands to draining and filling, while those remaining fight an uphill battle againt pollution. Removing protections from these small- and irreplaceable - oases of water and wildlife may prove to be one of the most horrendous environmental mistakes of the Bush Regime.
Crash Course in Fuel Cells: What they Are and Why They Are More Practical than Combustion Engines
In a conventional combustion engine, a certain high temperature must be reached (the operating temperature) for the fuel to burn and the engine to work. In the process, which is known technically as the Carnot cycle, about 80% of all the energy used is wasted, with roughly only one in every five gallons of gas you purchase, even in a fuel-efficient car, being converted directly into mechanical energy. Not such a great deal. This is because heat must be produced before mechanical energy can be generated.
In a fuel cell, on the other hand, fuel, which can be hydrogen, natural gas or other hydrocarbon compounds, is converted directly into electrical energy, which in turn is converted into mechanical energy. Because this process does not require the energy-intensive production of heat, fuel efficiency can, theoretically, be as high as 90%. When harnessed to a vehicle, at present, the efficiency is about 50% - more than twice as high as a combustion engine. In addition, smog and acid-rain forming pollutants such as nitrogen oxides and sulfuric oxides are all but eliminated, while CO2 is dramatically reduced. Fuel cells could eventually be used as an energy source for everything from cell phones to city buses and entire factories. A home fuel cell unit could provide an entire household’s energy needs without the need to be hooked up to outside power lines. Needless to say, the electrical utility industry isn’t terribly excited about fuel cells!
A fuel cell in its simplest form consists of a layer of material containing an alkaline electrolyte sandwiched between two other layers - one which acts as an anode (positive terminal) and one which acts as the cathode (negative terminal). The material used for these layers also acts as a catalyst. Oxygen is combined with the hydrogen from the fuel in a reaction that generates electrons and water (the byproduct). The electrons flow from the cathode to the anode through an external circuit as an electric current. Although fuel cells were once considered too bulky to be practical for many applications, they are rapidly being scaled down and made more user-friendly. Fuel cells are very versatile and can run on a variety of hydrocarbon fuels, including alcohol and methanol. Hydrogen is the cleanest, most ideal fuel cell fuel, but storage and infrastructure (as in a system of stations where you can “fill up” on hydrogen) present challenges. PCBs and Organochlorine Pesticides (POPs) in Butter
POPs (which include DDT) are just one example of pollutants that, because of their chemical characteristics, persist for long period of time once released into the environment. Because they hang around for so long, these compounds can, instead of disappearing, accumulate in the food chain and, in some areas, achieve toxic concentrations. Because such chemicals are stored in fatty tissue, they show up in fatty products, such as butter.
In a novel experiment, researchers at Lancaster University and the University of Exeter in the UK collected samples of butter from 23 countries around the world and analyzed the POP content. In an even more interesting wrinkle, the samples were collected by volunteers from Greenpeace.
Total PCBs: Worst: Czeck Republic, followed by Tunisa, Germany, Austria and the Netherlands (U.S. was 10th).
Total DDT compounds: Worst: India (twice the level of the closest contender), followed by Mexico, New Zealand, and the Philipinnes (U.S. was 18th).
Total HCH compounds: Worst: India (nearly seven times the level of the closest contender), Brazil, Spain, and the UK (U.S. is 8th)
DDT and HCH levels were much higher for areas where these chemicals are still - unbelievably! - legal to use: India and South and Central America for DDT; India, China and Spain for HCH.
The big point in all of this, of course, is that even though these compounds have been proven to persist for DECADES in the environment, the freemarket rightwingers think it is an infringement on their freedom that such things, esp. DDT, aren’t legal everywhere! In fact, some “science” fakes, notably Steve Milloy of Junkscience.com think we ought to use DDT liberally in schools to kill bugs. Better your child should be contaminated for life than to have to see a cockroach or, worse yet, deprive some chemical barons of easy profits.
Another type of persistent toxic compound, polybrominated diphenyl dethers (PBDEs), are used ubiquitously as flame retardants. Now PBDEs are being found everywhere in the environment, from the deep ocean to human breast milk. Most recently, a study by the University of Wisconsin showed that levels of PBDEs in Lake Michigan salmon are the highest ever recorded for fish in open water. Bon apetite!
posted on February 13, 2002 09:38:30 AM new
It does not have to be a tree In The USA there is a thing called the share program which stands for self help and resource exchange. basically this is not a government thing its a group of people who agree to give 2 hours of their time each week in the community activity of their choice, for this 2 hours you get to purchase one share of food for about half of what it is worth. Some things you can do, give blood or better yet find out what is happening to the blood given locally. Help out a shut in or someone less fortunate than your self, give time to a scout troop or similar organization, Plant a tree (those I planted in my teens are over 40 feet tall now, donate some time to your city or town (they wont know what to do with it)set up local activities for our soldiers if your near the bases, throw an egg at some imbecile politician or crooked lawyer, audit the books at your school,there is not a one of you who does not have a gift that can help make things right. anmd yes I know that scum bags run the place, but guess what it's nothing new . the reason the men at valley forge during the revolutionary war had no shoes was not because the colonials did not help out it was because of the profiterring of a few greedy jerks. The reason canada is not developed more is the profiterring of the scumbags we threw out in our revolution.
Our writing do do talk of a cain or Loki. what I am trying to say is this it is much easier for civilized people to behave like savages, than it is for a savage to act civilized. LEAD BY EXAMPLE! You are in charge of your world now go out there and act like it!
posted on February 13, 2002 02:02:55 PM new
With the amount of money and so many Americans to wanting to parade around and act as if they are Superior Beings to the rest of the world, this plays in nicely with the Bush Agenda to destroy the world.
What? How Bazaar, you say? Read on!
While it is hard to lump any group of persons into a mould, from my dealings with the ultra-rich is they tend to be polite folk who enjoy a leisurely lifestyle. You could be sitting at a bar in Honolulu having a cold beer and merrily talking with one without knowing it. Few of them are real bastards portrayed by the media.
That is, until you remove their Comfort Factor.
Yes, that's the one thing that they all hate the most: being made uncomfortable! And that is what is going to turn this planet into a dead planet. That devastating our natural resources is carelessly creating their wealth is something that they prefer not to know about or to care about. They act indignant when someone provides evidence of their wasting away of our planet, brush away all unpleasant notions as pure nonsense.
Really? Really.
I surmise that most of them are not bad people, no worse than anyone else. However, their lack of concern over what their greed is doing to all of us will continue to fail to penetrate their minds, as it's just too uncomfortable to think about.
The worst thing is that when this planet is all destroyed; when deserts and bare rocks reign where once mighty green forests used to shade the earth; where once plentiful oceans teeming with wildlife now stands as sterile bodies of polluted water; that the very air that we have to breath and the food that we have to eat will be so contaminated that most people will die of cancer by the age of 25 -- you can bet you bottom dollar that the Rich will be happily ensconced in their own little world, totally oblivious to the pain, misery, and death outside their climate controlled and filtered palaces.
Borillar
"Friends don't let friends vote republican"
posted on February 13, 2002 02:15:31 PM new"efficiency can, theoretically, be as high as 90%. When harnessed to a vehicle, at present, the efficiency is about 50% - more than twice as high as a combustion engine."
EXACTLY!
That is exactly the point that I've been trying to hone in on when the thread discussion turns to the state of present technology. That most laughable of thoughts are that automobiles are so-advanced in technology! LOL! What a buncha CRAP that is! Go figure: for every 10 gallons of gasoline that you use to get somewhere, 7.5 gallons are washed right out the back completely unburnt! Yes, we're all dumping tremendous amounts of petroleum by going about our daily lives. And the more fuel that we consume, the more money that the oil companies make!
Think about it: in less than 60 years, we went from horse & buggy contraptions to placing a man on the Moon! You know as well as I do the number of fantastic advances in sciences that is so incredible that you'd think that we were getting our technology from an advanced race of space aliens! Yet, in 120 years, we've gone from a paltry 10% efficiency in gasoline engines to a mere 25% and that we are somehow pushing the very limits of science and technology when it comes to gasoline engine efficiency? Maybe you're that stupid to believe that nonsense, but the rest of us aren't!
If gasoline engines could be made (they CAN and they HAVE) that are closer to 85% efficient or more, much of our pollution problems will be over. But that means less profits for the Oil Companies and the Rich.
Borillar
"Friends don't let friends vote republican"
posted on February 15, 2002 02:19:29 PM new
I don't post as often as I did a couple of years ago. Probably because I use a different image host now. I do come back from time to time, just to read and leave comment. I prefer message boards to chat rooms because I just can't hang out somewhere and wait for something interesting to talk about, I don't have lots of free time, ya know?
I STILL try to go to ebay posts, forgetting sometimes that the chatter has been forwarded to the round table.
I suppose the best part about these threads is the feeling that I can say something. I mean, I can say something, without interruption, someone will read it and either respond, think to themselves...whatever, doesn't matter. Just like being at a social function, picking and choosing among the conversations.
It doesn't much matter if anyone cares if I've said something. I've gotten important information from messages left from people who probably think no-one read what they wrote. I've laughed at what someone I don't even know said. I like this, it works for me.
There is a community group in my city dedicated to planting and maintaining trees. They have partnered with a non-profit organization to offer surplus, bare-root fruit trees, to residents for a donation of $1.00 to $5.00.