Global Warming, Personal Health, & Finances

[madscot13]

I think this is a great post. 10% of people who read this post have something to say (and that doesn't count the psoters who are coming back to reread).

I think it is great to have a dialog on all of the aspects of biking and all of the other decisions we make. We might get eachother to start thinking new things or we way start thinking about what we are already doing in new ways. (if that makes sense)

[Python]

Northstar. My 4x4 does 35 mpg on the open road and about 24 mpg in town. Many smaller cars don't do that much. As for wear and tear on the roads, most 4x4s aren't much heavier than some cars. Lorries, particularly the Juggernauts absolutely murder the roads and so do buses.

Years ago most freight went by train and often canals. In the 1960s a government minister called Beeching closed down many of the railway lines. Bad mistake which has had a bad impact on the environment. Moving freight by canal was slow but environmentally friendlier than the means we use now.

Our town is considering opening up the old canal for public transport. I think it's a good idea and I would use it to get from one side of town to the other. I think it would be a nice laid-back way to travel.

To be fair to our Town Council they are alternative transport friendly, particularly for bikes. Builders are no longer allowed to build housing estates unless they include extensive cycle paths in them and haven't been for some years now. We use the cycle paths a lot in the evening when son and me go out for a ride. Some of the paths cut through some really pleasant scenery. We often see wildlife like squirrels and at the moment the scent of the blossom and wildflowers is lovely. Things you don't see and smell sitting in a car. My son tires easily so doing a round of the cycle paths isn't too strenuous for him and it's easy to get home again.

The whole thing is, over the past 30 years or so people have got very lazy. Just hop into the car to go a few hundred yards to the local shop instead of walking or cycling - and they wonder why they have health problems.

A woman in our street has two girls. Mum is obese and can hardly move because her knee joints have given out as has the rest of her joints. She was incensed recently when the school nurse sent for her and told her to put her daughters on a diet as they are fat. Not surprising. They refuse to eat healthy food and will only eat chips (French Fries), greasy pies etc. Last week when I was cycling to work I passed their father's car on the way. He'd just dropped the kids off at the local school. The local school is two minutes walk from their house - approximately 500 yards, yet he drove them to school because the lazy little madams didn't want to walk. Incidentally, it was a lovely, warm spring morning. My kids were brought up on healthy, home prepared food. I wouldn't have given into their demands for junk food or anything else either!

The mother refuses to get off her fat, lazy a*se to even make a cup of coffee. Her husband runs to her every beck and call. He can't see he's doing her no favours. I'll give her another 2 years maximum and she'll be in a wheelchair or suffer a major heart attack. She only turned 40 this year. Hers is a vicious circle. She needs to lose weight but to do that she needs to go on a strict medically supervised diet. She needs to take exercise but says she can't because it's too painful. It's also because she can't be bothered. Why should she when she is waited on hand and foot. I'm afraid I lost patience with her a long time ago. Her other vice is she drinks too much alcohol. How can anyone be so blind?

People need to be encouraged to take exercise and be more environmentally friendly, but governments wielding a big stick with draconian taxes and punishments will only succeed in putting people off.

[northstar]

The market has driven the development of more environmentally friendly SUV's in the last five years or so. Cheers to that. Those are not the type of SUV's to which I was referring in my post.

With that, I'm bowing out of this thread...off to see Spiderman 3.

[Python]

Enjoy

[missymaya]

I do agree with the problem of global warming. Here, the bees are a very big part of economy because they pollinate the groves for oranges, ferns, and other money making plants and the studies coming out of the universities here are showing a huge decline in bees. I just couldn't believe it, the bees are just dying off! But why? It's the same with all of the dragon flys, rhino beatles, otters, and different migratory birds. They're just not there anymore and I'm only 23!!! This I know is not a natural process from everything I've read about florida history and environment.
As for SUV's, here I don't get it. I know too many people who have them and don't use them for jack squat. They say they have to "move" big objects, but I've never seen it by anybody. In fact, in my little scion XB (which is shaped like a toaster with a 4 cylinder and gets 34 mpg in town) I've literally moved another car within in mine!! I had to take out the seats, but it did the job. I'm pretty impressed my little rubik's cube. I used to ride to work everyday because I just love to ride and all of the pros that come from riding (plus, it prolongs the life of my car ) but since I got a new job, I have to find a new place to shower and keep my things and my precious bike! I think I'll be able to start next week due to the opening of the gym, woohoo!!! I miss riding to work.
OK, enough ranting. Im done.

[mimitabby]

Missy,
no DRAGON FLIES??

[missymaya]

Yeah, isn't that nuts? I remember seeing tons of dragon flies through out the spring up until a few years ago. I didn't really notice until my BF pointed out how all the insects just aren't around any more. It's just crazy and sad.

[Python]

The decline in wildlife can be put down to many other factors apart from global warming. We are invading natural habitats (especially here in the UK) and driving wildlife out. There is too much use of pesticides etc which is killing the insects and small creatures. As for our song birds, again the same is true. Also Magpies are on the increase and they have been killing our songbirds for years. They really need to be severely culled but no-one seems capable of doing that.

Another cause of the decline in wildlife is many people now are concreting or paving their gardens. My garden at the back deliberately has wild patches to attract the bees, butterflies etc.

Global warming aside, it's us human beings with our selfish attitude to other living creatures that is causing the most harm to this planet.

[Trek420]

Another cause of the decline in wildlife is many people now are concreting or paving their gardens. My garden at the back deliberately has wild patches to attract the bees, butterflies etc.

Good for you, gardening for wildlife. Inspired by a coffee shop I stopped at after a ride and their set up for birds I just bought a birdbath, now I need another bird feeder. I don't know if I'd ever be able to get my patio certified as a backyard habitat but it would be cool to try.

http://www.nwf.org/backyard

[lph]

Yeah, I read somewhere that hedgehogs like messy gardens with a pile of brush or something they can tootle around and unearth insects in.

A month or two later we had a hedgehog couple mating right next to our front door. Doesn't say much for our "front garden", but they sure were cute

As for the global warming thing: I'm convinced, but I'm also enough of a scientist to not rule out other explanations. My view is: global warming MAY turn out to be natural variation, but as long as most of the facts point towards mankind's influence, we can't afford to ignore it. We don't have the time to experiment.

[Tuckervill]

I've heard about the bee numbers being down, but as for other insects...not around here! We have lots and lots of bugs of every kind here. We have plenty of wildlife. A flock of goldfinches landed in the yard yesterday. We have so many birds that our 50 yards of grapevines on our south fence never get to finish a grape--the birds eat them while they're still green. Our seven pecan trees get pillaged by the squirrels before we can get enough to make a pie. The grass beneath the old giant oak is paved with acorns, but only the tops. The squirrels get those nuts, too. A nutria pair live in the neighbor's lot, and I frequently see a fox and an opossum late at night. I live in the middle of a town of 20,000 people, not in the country.

I just got back from a 5300 mile trip to the west coast and back. As far as I can tell, the Earth has a long way to go to before it's paved over. We went through thousands of miles of desert and forest and living, breathing wilderness. Still, I don't think developers should cut down all the trees and replace them with saplings when they build a neighborhood. I wouldn't buy one of those houses, either.

I believe the planet is warming up. I suspect it's part of a natural cycle, but that we should do what we can not to contribute. And sometimes I think the danger is overstated. Some of the posters who have posted need a wider perspective, too.

Karen

[Python]

Thought you'd like to see this wonderful little fellow. He's a Slow Worm and is a protected species in the UK. Athough he looks like a snake, he's actually a legless lizard. At the back of our house is a nature reserve which is home to many animals like squirrels, badgers, Slow Worms and foxes. There are also Owls, Woodpeckers and many other species of wildlife. There are also wildflowers that only grow in this area and are therefore protected. That is why building is not allowed on that land and I'm lucky to be able to open my back gate and walk straight into this beautiful place which is on the outskirts of the town.

The Slow Worm turned up under the compost heap last summer. We took pics of him then put him back into the woodland. Last week we had another one which my cat was about to pounce on. It was much younger so he was promptly put back into the woodland too. Last seen slithering off under a pile of twigs.



I hope we never lose these lovely animals. Like hedgehogs they are gardeners friends as they will come into your garden and eat many of the garden pests like slugs

[Trek420]

Where's Nanci? She needs to see this. He's beeyooteeful.

[missymaya]

That's one purdy lizard!! We have similar lizards, we call 'em glass snakes because they break so easy. It's neat to see a similar species in another part of the world. Thanks for the pic Python!

[LBTC]

My apologies for skipping over a few posts....

CFLs scare me with their mercury content. I'm waiting for LEDs to be affordable, and turning off the lights where they don't need to be on.

No kids in our house. Best we can do to reduce the over population crisis.

Shower together. Conserve water.

Buy used clothes. Consume less.

Keep the mtb trails skinny - smaller footprint.

I don't comprehend the idea of global warming well, as others have posted. The earth has been here a long time, and we can't possibly understand her natural cycles, or how our actions actually fit into her destiny. Many of my choices just naturally reduce the same things that they say cause global warming. I'm good with my choices, are you?

Last I heard, rice paddies are a major producer of methane. There just aren't any simple answers.

Hugs and butterflies,
~T~