Has the world gone mad

Definitely OT-

Back when people weren't so politically sensitive I got some mileage out of a sort of pun.

When someone said they were a vegan, I would say "Hmm, you're a long way from home."

Often I would get a puzzled look. I would say "well you ARE from planet Vega, aren't you? you did say you were a Vegan...."

Saw a great bumper sticker about PETA last week, PETA are the People for Ethical Treatment of Animals folks who are a powerful political entity in California and New York USA. The sticker had the PETA initials with little text between, saying "People Eating Tasty Animals"

Off now to turn all the lights on and leave my truck idling..... just kidding. My town's carbon footprint is a full tracked down wide trail a few miles long. Stopped being a footprint a while ago.

JD-OT ende

PS Michael G. - don't forget the carrots and onions around the roast with the potatoes!

Edited By Jeff Dayman on 24/01/2014 22:30:19

Well Neil

Whilst carbon might be reduced surely the effect of the gases often produced by such a diet will offset this saving - especially when you consider the energy uselessly expended by nearby folk running for cover!

Norman

I think that Vega is a star.. thus..would be planet [sumfin] in the Vega system..

..futher to MichealG..red or white ...

you are not the only one with CFL lighting issues. We purchased 4 units similar to yours, each with 3 bulbs about 4 years ago for our new kitchen. They looked great and supposedly had a very long life with low energy consumption. Each unit cost £90. In reality bulbs last for about 6 months before burning out - we found out that each bulb costs £12 and had to be ordered specially!!!!! You can't buy the bulbs now anyway so we are left with 8 working bulbs and a dim kitchen.

We need to replace them - can anyone recommend an alternative? The halogen bulbs we had in the past got so hot in the kitchen they left scorch marks on the ceiling and also blow quickly because cooking grease in the air gets deposited on them. The LED lights we tried were just not bright enough and all have a blueish tinge. Seems impossible to get a good solution.

1st world problems - sigh

Andrew,

You need to look for "Warm White" LEDs. These are typically about 2700 Kelvin, and should be devoid of the blue tinge. [Both of the ranges that I linked earlier are worth a look.]

But ... If you have had a cataract operation, you could still get problems with some of even these LEDs. Please send me a PM if you need more detail.

MichaelG.

Surely though, that is only releasing the stored Carbon Dioxide into the atmosphere that was once already there?

Millions of years ago Carbon Dioxide levels in the atmosphere were far higher than they are today, the planet was covered with vast forests of ferns and trees and lush vegetation.

For millions of years animals roamed the surface of the planet so we can assume that the CO2 levels had little if any detrimental effect on them.

What people tend to forget is that geologically speaking we are still emerging from a Ice age, as defined by the fact that there is still ice on the planet other than at the poles, so the planet is getting warmer whether we like it or not, and it is agreed that emitting the CO2 back into the atmosphere will accelerate that effect.

As you can see from the attached graph **LINK** global CO2 levels do NOT have a direct effect on global temperatures, rather CO2 levels have been dropping on average for the last 4 billion odd years as volcanic activity slowly subsided, but temperature has varied over the same period only starting to drop in the last 35 million years. (notably after the ELE 65 MYA.)

So, considering that the majority of the CO2 has been trapped over many millions of years, and that we are now told that the current use of fossil fuels will only a few more tens of years, why haven't the original levels of global CO2 been realised?

Methinks that the only reason that the powers that be want us to emit less CO2 by use of fossil fuels is that they haven't yet developed a suitable low priced alternative and need the current fuels to last as long as possible.

Over here, we have an issue with Glacial Isostatic Adjustment; the land is still springing back from weight of the last glaciers.

Just something to help you win the odd trivia competition;

John.

Funny!

When I went to school one of the things we were taught was the fact that Carbon Dioxide is " Heavier Than Air "so why is it that we have a hole in the ozone layer due to CO2 bearing in mind that the ozone layer is miles above us the CO2 should have suffocated everybody on the planet by now, years ago I saw a training film about the Silent Killer settling in sewers and manholes and the need to test the air with a gas sensor before going down. One more thing is the increase of Asthma due to smaller but more particulates from diesel engines.

Dick

Funny!

When I went to school one of the things we were taught was the fact that Carbon Dioxide is " Heavier Than Air "so why is it that we have a hole in the ozone layer due to CO2 bearing in mind that the ozone layer is miles above us the CO2 should have suffocated everybody on the planet by now, years ago I saw a training film about the Silent Killer settling in sewers and manholes and the need to test the air with a gas sensor before going down. One more thing is the increase of Asthma due to smaller but more particulates from diesel engines.

Dick

Whoops

Edited By Richard Marks on 25/01/2014 18:12:26

Thanks Michael - will look out for them

Some odd ideas on here about CO2 and climate change. It is an established scientific fact that increased CO2 levels cause climate change and also human produced CO2 can contribute although we don't know to what extent. No one is saying that CO2 levels in the atmosphere suffocate people.

we know that climate change can cause major mass extinction events, in the geological past there have been numerous mass extinctions - these are events that last for long periods of time and where large percentages of species on land and in the oceans become extinct. Everyone has heard of the extinction of the dinosaurs but at the same time most other species went extinct too and there have been larger events further back in time.

The oil, coal and gas we burn is the result of vast amounts of life on earth being deposited over hundreds of millions of years and that vast amounts of CO2 is locked up in those fossil fuels that is then released over a few decades as we burn them.

i think it's clear that our activity on earth is already causing some climate change and that probably has already resulted in some negative effects on some humans, in the scheme of 'natural' phenomena over a longer timescale whether it will be significant and long lasting remains to be seen.

Edited By jason udall on 25/01/2014 19:33:08

True Jason. My post wasn't aimed at you or anyone really. One of the issues with even discussing climate change is that it is mixed up with competing interests in politics and money. It is very hard for a scientist to make a point when they freely admit they don't have all the answers and some areas are just unknown.

One comment; just to get it off my chest ...

Although there is reasonable evidence that mankind has made disproportionate change to the global environment; it is outrageously arrogant of us to think that:

1. This change is necessarily "wrong" [just because it might inconvenience our species]
2. We have the ability to understand the change sufficiently to arrest it, or reverse it.

MichaelG.

I think you'll probably find that depletion of the Ozone layer was caused by use of CFCs, not Carbon Dioxide.

That and the space shuttle blowing great holes through it.

Hi Dick,

Concentration of CO2 in air likely to be immediately dangerous to life through displacing oxygen is about 50% (Source HSE). Current concentration is about 0.04%, so there's a way to go before we need worry about asphyxiation. Other effects might concern us sooner though.

Gary

Blimey - all this comment from my observations on the manufacture of low energy light bulbs. Perhaps we ought to see if we could make some tungsten light bulbs - you know, like the ones we used to have. Are they illegal, or just illegal to sell them in Europe ?

.

There's a decent summary, and useful links, on Osram's site.

MichaelG.

.

P.S.

The short answer to your original headline question is YES