Comments (0) They say that older refrigerators consume almost twice the power of modern refrigerators and that they contain gases that are harmful to our environment. I don’t how true this is – but this image is great. It looks like a refrigerator that’s had a great Christmas. Come to think about it for a moment – I am starting to look like that too.
It’s a sign of the times I guess. People are not the only ones being frustrated in this world. Of course, my feelings are that this bird shouldn’t be out trying to find trees instead of using light poles. My second thought is that we should be ground based lights that shine upwards and outwards rather than eyesores like this. Just my thoughts – I guess the bird would agree. Grow trees rather than grow more light poles!
There is frustration all around us these days. Plus Sized and Skinny Jeans – do they go together. Some people say yes – I am not so sure. It’s not that I am against plus size people – heck I am heading that way myself. I know I look horrendous in jeans. Perhaps I am shopping in all the wrong places!
Should I be in looking in a Franchise or Chain or Both? Chain stores are cheaper but their staff members are often rude and fairly short on any information when it comes to products. Franchised stored are often a little dearer (sometimes way dearer) but at least the people working there have a little more knowledge of their products.
How are these all related? Our society seems to be changing so rapidly. Take that poor bird. By the time it finds a tree it can peck away at, it’s bill will be so damaged from hitting metal it will probably not make a dent anyway. We are modernizing, but not to our advantage. There are a lot of plus sized people around – and I am becoming one of them. Why? Our world is so modern we don’t do anywhere near enough to burn of the energy we consume. We used to walk miles everyday. These days we hardly do any walking – at least, not meaningful. We want everything on auto – even our lives I think.
Take the Evolution of the Library. It used to be somewhere that we could go to do research and to borrow books. Go to a library now and you see computers, audio tapes and videos. These of course are being replaced by CD’s and DVD’s. Books – yes there are books but not as many now as ten years ago. Research – use one of the computers.
If you work at home, say as a medical transcriptionist, there are some Things a Home-Based Medical Transcriptionist Should Do – one of these is to get up and take a good daily walk. Sitting at a computer all day just leads to extra weight – I know, I am a classic example.
What we need is plenty of exercise, a winding back of some of the technology so we have to do some things ourselves. I wonder how many people actually grow their own fruit and vegetables these days. They say you need Healthy Eating for a Healthy Smile. The world needs healthy consumption for a healthy planet. It’s not just the birds that are becoming frustrated – so are we.
Right now – I am taking some of my own advice. I am off for a good walk so I can burn off some of this fat. With a sensible diet and plenty of exercise, I wont need plus size clothing, I can keep my smile, shop at my favourite clothing franchise and dump the library for my local bookshop where I can order books I like.
Comments Off Okay – so can we do anything about climate change ourselves. We can install water tanks to collect rain water; we can install solar hot water panels to heat our water; and we can install solar energy cells to generate electricity. There are a lot of articles around that promote solar energy – here is one that describes how to build your own solar panel system. Will it work or is it another beat up – you be the judge.
Beyond the shadow of doubt, solar energy has a lot of benefits. For instance, today many companies and big industries that depend on oil are getting worried because oil wells are drying up. In a few years, there will be no oil in the wells. As for solar energy, you will never have to worry of it being depleted. It will always be there, as sunlight is a very consistent source of energy. Fossil fuels emit harmful chemicals, which are referred to as green house gases into the atmosphere. These gases have led to global warming which is a crisis if not dealt with immediately can be disastrous. Read more
Comments Off Is ethanol a real solution for global warming or is it really replacing one product with another. This article discusses biofuels and their role in our future. Whilst biofuels could be one solution – what is never discussed in these articles is the effect of transferring food stocks to biofuel production. Will people go hungry so we can feed our hungry cars? You decide:
At the heart of the biofuels pros and cons debate is the fact that we need a great alternative fuel source as a planet. This source of energy needs to be efficient and able to replace oil as the primary fuel for vehicles and heat.
With global warming becoming more tangible for even the biggest skeptics, ethanol and biodiesel seem like the answer to the planets needs. Read more
Comments Off Another take on building your own solar powered energy system. I know solar panels can be expensive – however, if it is as easy as these guys suggest, we would all have done it years ago. Still – it is another approach that may be worth considering. What do you think?
Earth4energy is a do-it-yourself guide created by expert electric engineers to teach how to build your own solar energy system as well as wind power generator with easy to understand step-by-step instruction plus it come with 4 videos series which helps you to easily accomplish your task in more effective manner, plus you save a lots of money in building solar system if you follow their instruction.The main reason behind the success of Earth4Energy is that everyone now wants an alternative source of energy because of couple of reasons like to minimize their electricity expenses, to backup electricity because of energy crisis, to build own electricity power plant, to prevent our earth from global warming and many more. Read more
Comments Off Climate change – is really a conspiracy or a fact of life that we need to deal with? This article suggests it’s perhaps a conspiracy to take control of power supplies. I am not so sure I agree. However, it is worth throwing into the debate – let’s face it – any action we take is going to be expensive so where will the money come from?
The Copenhagen Climate Summit in Denmark had great expectations. Countries from around the world were suppose to bring their proposals on climate change enactment. Instead of an open, honest summit countries were being accused of not being transparent in their approach. Case in point.
The 100 billion is suppose to be an annual figure by 2020 which can plunge the U.S. into a deeper recession. And do you think for a minute that most of the monies will not come from the United States? People complained about President Bush throwing money around. The Obama administration with bailouts, stimulus cash and a proposed healthcare legislation have a deficit in the trillions of dollars. And this is not including hundreds of billions of dollars allocated to cap and trade at the Copenhagen Climate Summit.
Comments Off It seems the world cannot make up it’s mind about climate change and whether or not we should take any action. Part of the real problem of course sits fairly and squarely with the scientists involved. They really have not explained their case very well at all.
I will add that our media is somewhat to blame as well. They are after the sensational rather than the real news so if one expert says something completely different, the media will run with that for a week and not give any real exposure the 1000 other experts with a consensus opinion – they are boring you see.
We need facts and we need lots of them but we need them in a language that everyone can understand. Not in scientific talk that only another scientist can understand.
Where are we going with climate change and doing something about it – it seems no where fast. Perhaps we as citizens of the world need to act to force our politicians to act. Having said that, until we have all the facts relating to climate change, we are in the same boat as the politicians – why take action if it hasn’t been proven to us that action needs to take place.
Come on experts – give the details in plain English so we can all start pushing in the right direction.
If you are a scientist – start feeding me the info and I will blog it to the world.
Australians have proven over the years that we are quite inventive. We are world leaders in some technologies and often take a leadership role in political matters, particularly those in our neighbourhood. When it comes to the world climate talks in Copenhagen, we could have arrived being world leaders in taking action – instead, we are no different to most other nations, we are looking for someone else to take the lead so we can follow.
I don’t know if the Rudd Governments plans are right or wrong. What I do know is that some form of action was being planned. Going to Copenhagen and waiting to see what everyone else does as the Abbott wants, really makes us look quite weak. What is worse, every other nation is doing just that – waiting to see what everyone else does. Going in with legislation in place could have been a starting point for more action – instead – we, and our children, are left with nothing.
Comments Off There is a lot of talk about climate change these days. I am not a scientist so it is hard to decide who is right.What I do know is that our climate is changing. Now whether or not it is cyclical or man made, I don’t know but it’s sure getting hot in the kitchen today!
I think we are still in Spring – let me check the calendar. Yup, it’s November so that’s Spring for us in the southern hemisphere. Trouble is, someone forgot to tell the weather man that. We have had a week of above 30 degree Celsius temperatures. A couple of days of 35 or 36 but yesterday sure was the wammy of the year – 41 degrees in the shade. For those that still live in Fahrenheit measurements, that’s a balmy 105 degrees.
There is one thing I do love about these sort of temperatures and that’s the storms we get in the evening and last night it was a ripper. They say there were over 9000 lightening strikes in the area. I can believe it. The lightening was incredible, probably the best I have ever seen. One day I may even learn how to video it.
The lightening last night was not your standard flash of light followed by the boom. No, this time the lightening danced around the night sky lighting it up like a Christmas tree. Each flash lasted seconds, some as much as three or four seconds. Rain – not enough to settle the dust.
If this is Spring, I hate to think what Summer will bring. Climate change, what climate change – they call it unseasonal weather. Yeah right!
Comments Off The Mary Valley – in the region I call home, today welcomed the news that every feared would go against them – the blocking of the Traveston Dam. If you know this region, and the people in it, the Mary Valley is one of the most fertile and scenic regions in South East Queensland. The creation of a dam and the flooding of this area would have been a travesty – and a sad waste of land.
That Peter Garrett, former frontman for Midnight Oil and now Federal Minister for the Environment, had the foresight to stand up to the Queensland Government and knock the proposal on the head speaks volumes – especially since they are from the same political party.
I cannot help but think that privately, Anna Bligh, the Queensland Premier, is somewhat relieved to see this decision. The original decision was made by her predecessor although he was acting on her strong advice but as time has gone on, the whole proposal has started to look too ambitious. The Government’s own Auditor found over 1000 issues that needed addressing.
What now for Queensland and their future water needs? That of course is the next question. What now for Gympie and the Mary Valley? That too will be interesting to see. So many lives have been devastated by the original decision. Homes have been forcibly bought by the government with some already demolished.
For myself, I had mixed feelings about the dam. I didn’t like the idea of flooding what is fertile land, nor did I like the idea of forcing people from their homes. If we had to have a dam, I also saw the benefits particularly for construction workers now and, down the track, for tourism.
Now it’s time to rebuild. For those families affected by the threat of a dam, I hope they can now start to rebuild their lives.
Comments Off I have to wonder how green the Greens are when it comes to politics. And I don’t mean green as in novice – I mean green as in environmental. We have a situation now in Australia where the Government wants to go down a particular path in an effort to reduce green house gases with the big focus world wide on carbon reduction.
Rightly or wrongly, the Federal government wants to introduce a system of carbon credits and carbon trading. The long term aim is reduce the amount of carbon produced.
The opposition groups in the Australian upper house have rejected the legislation and are now proposing changes – basically rewriting the legislation before it comes back into parliament.
The Greens are the political group that have me befuddled the most. We have had ten years of climate denial in Australia. The former Howard government basically denies there was a climate problem. Even I have doubts so I can understand their position somewhat.
We have gone from a position of denial to a position of nothing is better than making a start. At least, that seems to be the view of the Greens. Now my thinking would oppose that. Making a start would get people thinking, talking and acting to make some changes in their lives.
I can understand the Greens want more controls put in place. However, as I stated, a start is a start. Instead, the people of Australia along with businesses both small and large are all being left in limbo not knowing when change will happen, what that change will be, and how much that change will cost us in terms of jobs and our weekly expenses.
What is the biggest fear faced by humans – the fear of change. I don’t agree fully with the legislation either but I do know one thing – once we make a start we can then think about any fine tuning that needs to be done. The Greens? They seem to be more about political grandstanding than actually doing anything constructive about the environment.
AS temperatures soared to 45c (113f), most of Australia held its breath. We all know what high temperatures, strong winds, a dry earth from a decade of drought, and idiots with nothing better to do with matches than cause mayhem, can do to our fragile environment.
And that was the sorry tale that many Australians woke up to on Sunday morning. Almost half of the state of Victoria turned to ashes in what has been described as the worst Victorian bushfires in history. In fact, the worst bushfires in Australia’s history.
Estimates are that nearly 200 have or will lose their life, 33 people from the one hamlet have died. At last count, over 750 homes had been destroyed with countless schools, halls, churches and businesses in ashes. In some areas, complete towns have been wiped out. I don’t mean tiny villages either, I am talking small towns with populations of around 1000. Australia has not known such devastation since cyclone Tracy wiped out Darwin many years ago.
One can only imagine the terror that many families have endured. In fact, it’s not only the families. Emergency services such as firefighters, both paid and volunteer, state emergency services, police and ambulance. They have all been involved in the fight and now, when a lot of the danger is over, they must help with the clean up. It is their job to search burnt out properties and vehicles trying to account for every person known to be in the burnt out areas.
I know lightening caused many of these fires, however there is now evidence to show that quite a few were also deliberately lit. Why? That is the question on everyone’s lips.
Australians are a resilient lot. We will band together, forget issues that often divide us, and get stuck in to clean up the ruins and yes, rebuild again. Hundred’s of thousands of dollars have already been donated including $100,000 from Football Federation Of Australia along with a pledge to replace soccer equipment in all schools and clubs.
In what many would consider sheer irony, the northern parts of Australia are recovering from cyclone damage and suffering from huge floods – the weather at its extremes.
The Victorian bushfires may have been one of our worst disasters on record – but that is only a statistic. We will regroup and rebuild. We will get on with our lives. It’s the Australian way. We don’t quit – we fight on.
In my last post I highlighted some of the flaws in the latest push by Governments to produce small fuel efficient hybrid vehicles. Let me recap some of the problems:
Of course this is all based on an assumption that people will buy more vehicles more often due to their reduced costs. Some households will go from a single car household to a two or perhaps three car household – our young will be able to afford cars a lot sooner.
So what are the solutions? Public transport is one solution, however here in Australia no government appears willing to bite the bullet and push for a decent public transport system. They all pay lip service whilst running the services down.
Public transport needs to be viable and cost effective. You can only reduce prices so far so the answer has to be to make the alternatives so much more expensive. If city parking cost $40-$50 per day together with congestion taxes for our busiest cities, $10-$15 per day becomes the cheaper option.
Couple this with free, “safe” and well lit parking facilities in the outer suburbs and commuters would have the best of both worlds – using their car and public transport.
When it comes to cars themselves, rather than producing small fuel efficient vehicles, it is time that smaller 6, 7 and 8 seater vehicles were produced. I am sure that one full 8 seater is far cheaper to run than four 2 seater concept cars.
Of course there is one aspect to this whole argument that most people seem to forget – cars only produce 15% of all carbon emission. Power generation is by far the biggest producer of carbon – it’s ironic, one solution is to produce electric cars. What do they need? A power supply at every parking meter. Using the biggest source of carbon emissions to resolve the smallest source of carbon emissions!
That’s life I guess.
There is a big move here in Australia and, I suspect, the rest of the world, to produce small fuel efficient hybrid cars. I believe they are looking at a $15-$20,000 market. The average family car is priced in the $30-$40,000 range so they are looking at smaller cars for a much smaller price.
The concept is, on the face of it, quite reasonable. Smaller cars use smaller amounts of fuel. If the run on hybrid engines there is an even bigger saving. The price is certainly attractive. There is however a range of problems that I don’t think people have thought through very well.
Our government is looking purely at the carbon effect. Manufacturers are looking for survival so if a government is going to throw tax dollars, they will put their hands out. Besides, selling 2 million cars always sounds better than 1.5 million or less.
Australia is a car dominant society. Less than 10% of workforce rely on public transport to get to and from work. In fact car pooling is a bit of a rarity as well. We have our cars, we love our cars, and heaven help anyone who threatens our right to own and drive a car.
Where I take issue with the solutions proposed – that is, the small efficient hybrid car – is that it really won’t solve any problems. In fact, if anything, it will exacerbate them.
Single car households, when the time comes to replace their vehicle, will be able to become dual car households. Rather than spending $35,000 on a new sedan, they will be able to buy two small cars – and still have change. This will have the effect of increasing the number of vehicles on the road.
More vehicles equals more congestion which leads to road rage, car accidents and higher pollution. You can guarantee that two small cars will output more carbon than one medium size car.
Increasing car numbers also leads to other effects often not considered. Two cars means twice the number of tires required, and the associated disposal. We will also have the problem of trying to dispose of more car bodies in the future.
Small cars – even though fuel efficient and using hybrid motors are not the solution. The problem is far larger than just cars. In my next post I will highlight possible solutions to what is becoming a battle of self interests by many players.
One of my supporters in the 1000 Blogs Against Whaling has very kindly designed a suite of banners for those who support this protest against whaling to display on their blog pages. Michelle from http://itmightbelove.com and http://bestofstupid.com spent hours and hours – well maybe an hour or two, designing these 125×125 banners.
Please feel free to place one on your blog pages. Either right click on your preferred banner and save it to your computer – then download and use like any normal image, or link using the following link. Just replace the image number with your choice.
<a href=”http://myradicalblogs.com/index.php/about-me/1000-blog-protest-against-the-slaughter-of-whales/”><img src=”http://www.myradicalblogs.com/images/whale1.jpg” alt=”whale banner”></a>
That piece of code will place the first banner (whale1.jpg) and link to the protest page. The more that people link to that page the higher its profile will be. Change the whale1 to whale2 etc depending on which image you would like.
My thanks again to Michelle – here are the banner choices
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 whale5.jpg |
 whale6.jpg |
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