Smart Red
Garden Master
- Joined
- Jan 10, 2012
- Messages
- 11,303
- Reaction score
- 7,395
- Points
- 417
- Location
- South-est, central-est Wisconsin
Back to the original questions:
1.) A monolithic planting (of pine trees) is not renewing the natural forest, but is planting the area with a different renewable crop. Something is lost and something is gained in the process, The end result is neither good nor bad in human terms, but in Nature variety tends to prevail.
2.) Whether a reusable bag is truly "green" or not depends upon how long it is used. Eventually, the cost of production, shipping, etc. will drop in relation to the value of the other resources that are saved by reusing the bag. There are better options to buying the bag in the first place - I crochet and sew old clothing into bags to reuse. Of course, I also repurpose the brown paper grocery bags in my garden. Which makes me more green?
3.) At this point in time, I wouldn't purchase a hybrid or electric car. I still think the costs are too high for the 'green' value. Living in the country means I would need to use gas sometime in the course of nearly every trip. Besides, using coal-fired electricity to run a car doesn't 'feel' green to me. In time, there will be a better alternative.
4.) I, too, feel that trading carbon credits is one of the biggest farces of the day. I live simply and consider my footprint on the Earth, but the value of 'buying' carbon credits isn't going to help improve conditions in poor countries. It's going into the pockets of the inventors of the process.
5.) As one who has NEVER purchased bottled water, I really like glass bottles and miss returnables for drinks (BEER, milk, and soft drinks come to my mind). Plastic drinking bottles are, IMHO a bane of this throw away society. Steel and aluminum cans are far more expensive to reuse than glass because they must be totally reprocessed. The only saving is the cost of raw materials, indeed, if the materials are shipped out of country for reprocessing the value of recycling decreases even further.
6.) Is oil a renewable resource? Of course, in the long term it is renewable. Composed of (mostly) plant material over the course of many eons, the Earth makes oil. Practically, however, oil is not being renewed anywhere near the rate at which Man is currently using it. For that reason present sources of oil may well be 'used up' long before new oil is made.
That fact is reason enough to seek alternate and easily renewable energy sources. Ethanol is a great alternative, but pushing its use is not helping the development of ethanol energy. Corn is used in the U.S.A., sugar beets in Brazil, and there are other crops that can be used as well. The major drawbacks to ethanol use in America is cheap oil and the deep pockets of industry that need to insure THEY are the only source of product.
We hold a license to make Ethanol on our property. Although we've never actually tried making it (we'd planned to replace our fuel oil with ethanol) I've heard of others who have been constantly threatened and harassed by the authorities and the paperwork the Feds require each year is unbelievable!
Love, Smart Red
1.) A monolithic planting (of pine trees) is not renewing the natural forest, but is planting the area with a different renewable crop. Something is lost and something is gained in the process, The end result is neither good nor bad in human terms, but in Nature variety tends to prevail.
2.) Whether a reusable bag is truly "green" or not depends upon how long it is used. Eventually, the cost of production, shipping, etc. will drop in relation to the value of the other resources that are saved by reusing the bag. There are better options to buying the bag in the first place - I crochet and sew old clothing into bags to reuse. Of course, I also repurpose the brown paper grocery bags in my garden. Which makes me more green?
3.) At this point in time, I wouldn't purchase a hybrid or electric car. I still think the costs are too high for the 'green' value. Living in the country means I would need to use gas sometime in the course of nearly every trip. Besides, using coal-fired electricity to run a car doesn't 'feel' green to me. In time, there will be a better alternative.
4.) I, too, feel that trading carbon credits is one of the biggest farces of the day. I live simply and consider my footprint on the Earth, but the value of 'buying' carbon credits isn't going to help improve conditions in poor countries. It's going into the pockets of the inventors of the process.
5.) As one who has NEVER purchased bottled water, I really like glass bottles and miss returnables for drinks (BEER, milk, and soft drinks come to my mind). Plastic drinking bottles are, IMHO a bane of this throw away society. Steel and aluminum cans are far more expensive to reuse than glass because they must be totally reprocessed. The only saving is the cost of raw materials, indeed, if the materials are shipped out of country for reprocessing the value of recycling decreases even further.
6.) Is oil a renewable resource? Of course, in the long term it is renewable. Composed of (mostly) plant material over the course of many eons, the Earth makes oil. Practically, however, oil is not being renewed anywhere near the rate at which Man is currently using it. For that reason present sources of oil may well be 'used up' long before new oil is made.
That fact is reason enough to seek alternate and easily renewable energy sources. Ethanol is a great alternative, but pushing its use is not helping the development of ethanol energy. Corn is used in the U.S.A., sugar beets in Brazil, and there are other crops that can be used as well. The major drawbacks to ethanol use in America is cheap oil and the deep pockets of industry that need to insure THEY are the only source of product.
We hold a license to make Ethanol on our property. Although we've never actually tried making it (we'd planned to replace our fuel oil with ethanol) I've heard of others who have been constantly threatened and harassed by the authorities and the paperwork the Feds require each year is unbelievable!
Love, Smart Red
