Earth Day 2022

[EddMarkStarr]

President Biden landed in Seattle, Washington this afternoon.
The plan is for the President to attend Earth Day 2022 activities on 22 April 2022.

I don't know how you guys feel about this, but for me, Earth Day pales in comparison with the crush of world events.
From the first Earth Day 1970, I promised to help save the planet from pollution.
Now I want to save the planet from deranged leaders who commit genocide.

 

[unloadonme]

In what way is flying around in Air Force One polluting the planet consistent with the aims of Earth Day 2022?

 

[cityboy-stl]

In what way is flying around in Air Force One polluting the planet consistent with the aims of Earth Day 2022?

^
Que the right wing propagada machine.

 

[EddMarkStarr]

In what way is flying around in Air Force One polluting the planet consistent with the aims of Earth Day 2022?

It's even more problematic when you look at the rest of transportation.

I get in arguments with electric car fans all the time. They say electric cars will save the planet, but I say vehicle manufacturing kills the planet faster!
Think about the resources that building a single car takes. Building millions of electric vehicles at the same time with petrol vehicles Changes Nothing.

 

[cityboy-stl]

It's even more problematic when you look at the rest of transportation.

I get in arguments with electric car fans all the time. They say electric cars will save the planet, but I say vehicle manufacturing kills the planet faster!
Think about the resources that building a single car takes. Building millions of electric vehicles at the same time with petrol vehicles Changes Nothing.

I've heard that before, as well as "it takes fossil fuel to generate the electricity for the cars" etc. But there is never any substantiation or analysis of the claims. While that youtube video does show a big auto factory, it really doesn't say anything about the factory's environmental impact. Something has to change because billions of gas powered cars pumping tons of CO2 into the atmosphere every single day, isn't it. Does building one electric car create have the same impact as a one gas car expelling CO2 fumes every day for 10-20 years? Doesn't seem it like it would.

 

[EddMarkStarr]

Electric cars and petrol cars require the same building materials, only the powerplants are different.

I don't want to fool myself into thinking that owning a $80k electric car will save planet Earth.
The home I live in, the stuff I have delivered, the food I eat; it all adds up, and I'm just one person, watching the jets take-off and land at Sea-Tac Airport.

 

[fabulouslyghetto]

^
Que the right wing propagada machine.

He is the right wing propaganda machine.

 

[fabulouslyghetto]

I've heard that before, as well as "it takes fossil fuel to generate the electricity for the cars" etc. But there is never any substantiation or analysis of the claims. While that youtube video does show a big auto factory, it really doesn't say anything about the factory's environmental impact. Something has to change because billions of gas powered cars pumping tons of CO2 into the atmosphere every single day, isn't it. Does building one electric car create have the same impact as a one gas car expelling CO2 fumes every day for 10-20 years? Doesn't seem it like it would.

We gonna talk about cattle farming too? Isn't that even worse than vehicle emissions?

 

[cityboy-stl]

We gonna talk about cattle farming too? Isn't that even worse than vehicle emissions?

Probably. Methane is certainly a big factor. But try to get the republican meatheads to cut out even one hamburger.

Don't Look Up.

 

[fabulouslyghetto]

Probably. Methane is certainly a big factor. But try to get the republican meatheads to cut out even one hamburger.

Don't Look Up.

Easy. Promote hamburgers as the go-to entree for trans woke communist libtards. In the commercial two dudes kiss in between trading thoughts on CRT and reparations. By the next morning all the republicans will be chained to the fences demanding every cow be released into the wild.

 

[rareboy]

It is a lacklustre event this year.

I despair that after a pandemic and now with WWIII hovering over us...people no longer give a fuck. Period.

I do know that 90% of it is all just empty lip service because no one wants to pay for it.

 

[fabulouslyghetto]

It is a lacklustre event this year.

I despair that after a pandemic and now with WWIII hovering over us...people no longer give a fuck. Period.

I do know that 90% of it is all just empty lip service because no one wants to pay for it.

End of discussion. If it was anything more than a vanity pageant it might be a bright spot in an otherwise darkening world but all these events-- the rallies the award shows the ceremonies, it all just feels like the elite congratulating each other for another year of dumping all the responsibility of saving the world onto the bottom 99.999999%.

take your own reusable cup to starbucks boys and I'm pretty sure we can stop the ice caps from melting by 5070 AD.

 

[EddMarkStarr]

It is a lacklustre event this year.

I despair that after a pandemic and now with WWIII hovering over us...people no longer give a fuck. Period.

I do know that 90% of it is all just empty lip service because no one wants to pay for it.

Yes, you nailed it.

Earth Day is the "feel good" observance, as long as it doesn't cost anything.

Since the first Earth Day in 1970, I can list all the sacrifices I've made to save the planet below:

 

[rareboy]

 

[Araucaria]

The other day I had a stark realization about tackling climate change: THERE IS NO PLAN!

Having summits where all the countries sign agreements to voluntarily cut greenhouse gas emissions by so much, by 2030 or 2050 or whatever, with no real sense of how they're going to do it, just doesn't cut it.

If we were really serious about climate change, we'd have to drastically change two things: 1. our suburban sprawl, and 2. our consumer lifestyle.

1. Since WWII we have built our cities on a suburban lifestyle, and this is where cars come in. We keep spreading our urban areas out further and further, and our cities are designed around single automobile transportation. Thus huge areas are dedicated to roads and highways and parking lots, etc., and massive amounts of fuel is required to move people about in multi-ton contraptions. Edd, I believe it was you that posted a video in a thread a couple of months ago about how converting to electric vehicles is going to do nothing to change the massive consumption of energy, resources, and land. We're going to have to start designing our cities to have buildings closer together, and to be closer to work, school, and shopping, to cut down on massive energy consumption. The only way switching to electric cars might make some sense is as a stopgap measure, if renewable energy sources are substituted for fossil fuels. If power plants burn conventional fuels, that would be just switching one fossil fuel source for another. But beyond that, there needs to be a plan to switch off individual motor vehicle transportation, whether electric or gasoline-powered, because either source will create greenhouse gases.

2. We need to drastically rethink our consumer culture. It takes massive amounts of energy and resources to keep making and transporting "stuff" to market. We need to figure out ways to free our economy from being wed to the consumption of so much material. And we need to think about lifestyle changes. For instance, why are new houses built twice as big as they were in 1950, and yet at the same time, we only have half as many people living in them? And we have massive new buildings built with half the volume dedicated to unusable atrium space with massive windows and skylights. That's area that needs to be heated and cooled, etc.

 

[Araucaria]

And then in the meantime, we could reduce our carbon emissions by conserving energy, but conservation has somehow become a dirty word these days.

Keep in mind that the reason for all this is that if we don't stop emitting carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases such as methane, we are headed straight toward irreversible climate change, which is going to create massive disruptions and upheavals for all of us, and ultimately make our planet unlivable. I kind of think that it will cause massive breakdowns in our supply chains. Remember, the food we need to live on is brought to us by these long supply chains these days, and if that breaks down, how are going to survive?