Eco-friendly

Going Green has been the catch phrase of the decade and it doesn't look like it will be going away anytime soon. personally I think it has been mostly ridiculous. I also think earth-day (like most activist specialty days, weeks, and months) is kind of silly. this is not to say that i don't think curtain things should not be brought to the attention of the masses, i am just not sure that these awareness days really do anything. but that is just my opinion.

Any way this post is really about something I saw advertised recently, a car completely run on electricity. now if you have talked to me at all about global warming, climate change, greenies, you know I mock them profusely, and believe the global warming to be a hoax, and become encased in consumerism as a marketing ploy. I also think it is disgusting that environmentalist care more about a tree then their fellow man. But that is all beside the point.

The reality is I have no problem with alternative forms of energy, just make sure you take care of the millions of people who will be put out of work with the coal and oil industries are forced to close.

Any way about this car. The fact that it looks like they have built a car that will be able to actually run off electricity and be efficient is great, there is just one problem. electricity is for the most part generated through coal and oil, with some coming from water, and a very small percentage of solar, wind, Nuclear, ect. So instead of burning the oil in the car to generate it the car becomes part of your electric bill each mouth with is generated most likely by coal. this means that the person who owns this car will be causing more coal to be burned, and thus undoing the good deed they may have thought they were doing by driving an electric car.

Now if the home is powered by solar or Nuclear power then go for it buy this car because it will actually be good for the environment. But for most people in this country solar power is not an option, because it is not cost effective in all places. Where I grew up for example, solar power would be great in the summer, but in the winter when the sun goes down by 5pm and doesn't come up till 9-10 am, that is a problem.

Sense earth day was only a few days ago here is another thought I have had, recycled paper. sounds great, used paper can be turned in to brand new paper. the problem is that we think we are being earth concise by recycling it but recycled paper has a very disturbing side effect, toxic slug of some kind. okay now I must be honest and say that I don't know the specifics about this but what I know is that the waste from recycling paper is toxic.

another earth day thought, Sun chips, one of my favorite kind of chips, have new packaging that is biodegradable. I think that is neat, but I want to know a few things about. First how is it made? What is the process? Are there any hidden secrets like with recycling paper? Is it being made that is not only in the best interest of the earth but also in the best interest of our fellow man? How does this change the price for chips is it more or less, or does it make a difference?

I promise this is my last two cents on earth day. On Thursday in chapel the speaker mentioned that she was in a conference about environmental issues and human rights. Environmental issues I don't really care about, but I do care about people. And I don't think that these two go together in the way that most people would like them to. yes there are some ways in which the two are completely together but there are some other things that make me worry. for and example alternative fuel, I don't have a problem with experimentation, I don't have a problem with finding other ways to make electricity, I do have a problem with farmers deciding to grow corn to produce ethanol because they can get grants and make more money from it then growing corn for livestock and humans. Food prices are going up and part of the reason is this. another thing because of the laws being passed on the use of different fuels many developing nations are being kept from developing because they cant afford to get the fuels that are approved by these laws.

those are my Earthdayish thoughts.