Dr StrangeHarpper or: How I Learned to Stopped Worrying (About Global Warming) and Love CO2

[wmw999 2,445]

I was in India a couple of years ago; the traffic is unbelievable, and half of the vehicles are little soap bubbles. But the speed limit in cities is 20 kph, and in smaller cities where congestion doesn't restrict traffic, cows do.
Two light vehicles hitting each other slowly do very little damage to each other.
I've driven small cars (and motorcycles) nearly all my life. Understanding that yielding is something I do, not something I take, is a factor in my continued health.

Wendy P.

There is nothing more dangerous than breaking a basic safety rule and getting away with it. It removes fear of the consequences and builds false confidence. (tbrown)

[sonnyblu 0]

wmw999

I was in India a couple of years ago; the traffic is unbelievable, and half of the vehicles are little soap bubbles. But the speed limit in cities is 20 kph, and in smaller cities where congestion doesn't restrict traffic, cows do.
Two light vehicles hitting each other slowly do very little damage to each other.

And yet their rate of traffic deaths is twice that of the U.S

http://www.worldlifeexpectancy.com/cause-of-death/road-traffic-accidents/by-country/

wmw999

I've driven small cars (and motorcycles) nearly all my life. Understanding that yielding is something I do, not something I take, is a factor in my continued health.

Wendy P.

Yes, developing defensive driving habits is a good thing. The vast majority of those that drive small cars have had a similar experience to yours, however that does not negate the fact that small vehicles in general have a higher death rate.

Even small SUVs had a higher death rate than very large SUVs, 77 vs 76. And as I stated earlier, the numbers for very large SUVs were skewed significantly by the problematic Ford Excursion alone. The number should have been somewhere in the 45-60 range.

[billvon 2,991]

>If you want the proper balance of safety and environmental responsibility, your
>best bet would probably be to go with a large/midsize sedan/hatchback and hope for
>the best when it comes to improving gas mileage in those types of vehicles.

Your best bet there is a hybrid. The battery gives you a _very_ low center of gravity and a considerable amount of weight that's below you, rather than in front of you or behind you.

[sonnyblu 0]

billvon

>If you want the proper balance of safety and environmental responsibility, your
>best bet would probably be to go with a large/midsize sedan/hatchback and hope for
>the best when it comes to improving gas mileage in those types of vehicles.

Your best bet there is a hybrid.

Not necessarily. For example, the non-hybrid Chevy Malibu gets the same hwy mileage as the Ford Fusion Energi. Ya, the fusion gets much better mileage in the city, but if you aren't charging it with clean energy, the environmental benefits are rather negligible.

But ya, I get it. Hybrids are the way of the future, the way of the future, the way of the future, the way of the future.

Soon hybrids will be practical for everyone, for every lifestyle, for every make and model, for every environment. It's an exciting time if you're into this type of stuff.

The technology is making leaps and bounds - and at a more affordable price. When it comes to the safest hybrids, the Chevy Malibu has better mileage and lower emissions than practically every other midsize model out there, including the Prius V. I think the only one that beats it is the Honda Accord by only a mile or so.

But still, I'm willing to wait 3-5 years and place my bet on even more efficient hybrids, for the same price if not better.

[brenthutch 444]

Electric cars are are the vehicle of the future.....and they always will be.

[DJL 235]

brenthutch

Electric cars are are the vehicle of the future.....and they always will be.

I'm waiting for the man-truck of the future the Dodge Ram 3500V with a lifted suspension, a sticker of Calvin pissing on a Ford symbol, offroad tires and when you hit the gas it goes...."whirr.....whiiiirrrrrrrrrrrrrr!!"

"I encourage all awesome dangerous behavior." - Jeffro Fincher

[Phil1111 1,149]

F-1 technology: http://jalopnik.com/how-formula-ones-amazing-new-hybrid-turbo-engine-works-1506450399

New battery tech: http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/next/tech/super-safe-glass-battery-charges-in-minutes-not-hours/

IMO state of the art:http://www.caranddriver.com/bmw/i8

Its pretty hard to beat diesel/ gas given today's prices and technology.

[ryoder 1,590]

Phil1111

New battery tech: http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/next/tech/super-safe-glass-battery-charges-in-minutes-not-hours/

I thought that sounded great last week when I saw it, but this morning I found a counterpoint on it: https://qz.com/929794/has-lithium-battery-genius-john-goodenough-done-it-again-colleagues-are-skeptical/

"There are only three things of value: younger women, faster airplanes, and bigger crocodiles" - Arthur Jones.

[DJL 235]

Good reviews on the all electric bike with the exception to the price tag:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ov7uqnMSDPg

I foresee cities going to electric only at some point.

"I encourage all awesome dangerous behavior." - Jeffro Fincher

[airdvr 210]

Electric is great but you still have to generate enough. Wind and solar may work out west but here in Ohio not so much. So we're left with (gasp) coal fired, natural gas fired (smaller gasp), or nuke. And, there's still a ton of oil fired home furnaces here.

I think it's gonna be a while before it will be as widely accepted as you'd like.

Please don't dent the planet.

Destinations by Roxanne

[DJL 235]

I was referring to bikes and automobiles. I'm a commercial electrical/hvac contractor, I know the deal. Buildings and power generation won't be all electric (likely nuke as the main source with some other co-generation and eco-generation) until long after I'm dead.

"I encourage all awesome dangerous behavior." - Jeffro Fincher

[ryoder 1,590]

Beijing shuts last coal power plant in switch to natural gas
https://phys.org/news/2017-03-beijing-coal-power-natural-gas.html

"There are only three things of value: younger women, faster airplanes, and bigger crocodiles" - Arthur Jones.

[Stumpy 284]

DJL

I was referring to bikes and automobiles. I'm a commercial electrical/hvac contractor, I know the deal. Buildings and power generation won't be all electric (likely nuke as the main source with some other co-generation and eco-generation) until long after I'm dead.

In some places, in some countries, true. In more forward thinking and advanced areas, power gen is, and will be increasingly renewable.

Never try to eat more than you can lift

[Phil1111 1,149]

ryoder

Beijing shuts last coal power plant in switch to natural gas
https://phys.org/news/2017-03-beijing-coal-power-natural-gas.html

More important:
October 21, 2016
"Chinese leaders have called a halt to construction work on 30 large coal-fired power plants with a combined capacity of 17GW — greater than the UK’s entire coal fleet.

This unprecedented move indicates just how serious the Chinese authorities are about bringing the country’s coal power bubble under control.

And those 30 plants aren’t the only ones that are being stopped.

The policy also dramatically scales down plans for transmitting coal-fired power from the west of China to the coast through a network of very long-distance transmission lines.

Another 30 large coal plant projects, for which transmission lines were already under construction, are being axed.

Ten of those plants were already under construction but will now be marooned as they will have no connection to the grid.

This means China is stopping work on the equivalent of the combined coal-fired capacity of UK and Spain.

Up to now, the Chinese government had avoided interfering in projects that had already been contracted and financed, and where construction had started.

The cancellations will be painful, and entail major commercial losses and disputes.

But spending money to complete these unneeded coal plants would have been even more wasteful — it would likely have cost well over $20 billion.
[/url]http://energydesk.greenpeace.org/2016/10/21/china-coal-crackdown-cancel-new-power-plants/[url] https://phys.org/news/2017-03-china-green-mantle.html#jCp">

"Meanwhile, Xi Jinping has called on the other Paris accord countries to "stick to it instead of walking away from it." China, with its goal to become a "clean energy super power," invested more than $103 billion in renewable energy in 2015, almost $88 billion in 2016 (one-third more than the U.S.) and plans to invest $361 billion in clean energy by 2020.
[url] https://phys.org/news/2017-03-china-green-mantle.html#jCp

So China has spent and is going to spend $540 Billion USD over a 5 year period. Going to endorse free trade. While trump tries to turn the clocks back to 1960 and bring back black lung disease to the US. Which ties in nicely with trumpcare because older workers will be automatically cut off.

By 2025 China will be shipping entire solar and wind farms to the world.

[Phil1111 1,149]

How Americans Think About Climate Change, in Six Maps
By NADJA POPOVICH, JOHN SCHWARTZ and TATIANA SCHLOSSBERG MARCH 21, 2017

The link at the bottom is the best way to view this story as it has six maps describing the polls of Americans.

Americans overwhelmingly believe that global warming is happening, and that carbon emissions should be scaled back. But fewer are sure that the changes will harm them personally. New data released by Yale researchers gives the most detailed view yet of public opinion on global warming.
Americans want to restrict carbon emissions from coal power plants. The White House and Congress may do the opposite.

A majority of adults in every congressional district in the nation support limiting carbon dioxide emissions from existing coal-fired power plants. But many Republicans in Congress (and some Democrats) agree with President Trump, who this week may move to kill an Obama administration plan that would have scaled back the nation’s greenhouse gas emissions.

Nationally, about seven in 10 Americans support regulating carbon pollution from coal-fired power plants – and 75 percent support regulating CO2 as a pollutant more generally. But lawmakers are unlikely to change direction soon.

Bob Inglis, a former Republican congressman from South Carolina, warned that committed activists — like the Tea Party — can shape politicians’ approaches to issues like climate change. “Those are the ones who can take you out at the next primary,” he said. He lost his primary in 2010 to Trey Gowdy, a Tea Party candidate who attacked his climate views.
Most people think that climate change will harm Americans, but they don’t think it will happen to them.

Most people know climate change is happening, and a majority agree it is harming people in the United States. But they don't believe it will harm them.

Part of this is the problem of risk perception.

Global warming is precisely the kind of threat humans are awful at dealing with: a problem with enormous consequences over the long term, but little that is sharply visible on a personal level in the short term. Humans are hard-wired for quick fight-or-flight reactions in the face of an imminent threat, but not highly motivated to act against slow-moving and somewhat abstract problems, even if the challenges that they pose are ultimately dire.
Texas and Florida are vulnerable to climate change, but residents are split on how much to worry about it.

In Florida, the effects of climate change, including sunny-day flooding, are being felt across the state. But the state shows a distinct north-south split in the level of concern over global warming, and it is not a simple Democrat-versus-Republican distinction, said State Representative Kristin D. Jacobs, a Democrat. Four southeast Florida counties — Miami-Dade, Broward, and Monroe and Palm Beach — stand out because of their concerted effort to work on climate issues together and to discuss it in nonpartisan terms.

South and West Texas, as well as the state’s Gulf Coast, are more worried about climate change than the rest of the state — and politics alone cannot explain it. South Texas favors Democrats, West Texas is decidedly more mixed, and the Gulf Coast in November 2016 was solid Trump territory.

One thing is shared by those disparate parts of the state: They have felt the brunt of shifting weather patterns, including rising temperatures, coastal hurricanes and western droughts so long and severe that some West Texas towns now recycle wastewater for drinking.

The state’s highest concentrations of Latinos can be found in the south and west, which may also partly explain the difference in climate views. Roberto Suro, a professor of public policy and journalism at the University of Southern California, suggested age as a possible factor. Latinos are “a young population with the median age significantly younger than the white population, and younger still than the African-American population,” he said, noting that young people have embraced climate science to a greater extent than their elders.

Just 33 percent of Americans surveyed said they discuss global warming at least occasionally with friends and family – and 31 percent said they never do. But there are distinct regional patterns. (we found THE TRUMP SUPPORTERS)

In the American West, much of which has been affected by drought and wildfires, residents are more likely to talk about climate change. New England states, and not just the liberals of Massachusetts and Vermont, talk more about climate, as well, along with coastal South Carolina, which lies in the path of many hurricanes.

But aside from Southeast Florida, which has put so much effort into making discussion of climate change a priority, much of the rest of the Atlantic Coast is less likely to engage in climate discussions, despite recent increases in tidal flooding.

https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2017/03/21/climate/how-americans-think-about-climate-change-in-six-maps.html?hp&action=click&pgtype=Homepage&clickSource=story-heading&module=photo-spot-region®ion=top-news&WT.nav=top-news&_r=0

[airdvr 210]

I don't think their motivation is climate change. Its one of basic air pollution.

Please don't dent the planet.

Destinations by Roxanne

[airdvr 210]

Quote

Just 33 percent of Americans surveyed said they discuss global warming at least occasionally with friends and family – and 31 percent said they never do. But there are distinct regional patterns. (we found THE TRUMP SUPPORTERS)

Oops. Bias showing. This isn't how americans think about AGW. It's how the writer wants them to think.

Please don't dent the planet.

Destinations by Roxanne

[brenthutch 444]

I love the contrast between the "impacts me"and the "impacts others" graphs. No one feels they are being personally impacted by climate change but they are sure that everyone else is.

[DJL 235]

BTW there's also a study out there, irrefutable evidence that plants fare better when there is water. Rising sea levels therefore mean that plants will be healthier because of more water.

"I encourage all awesome dangerous behavior." - Jeffro Fincher

[brenthutch 444]

DJL

BTW there's also a study out there, irrefutable evidence that plants fare better when there is water. Rising sea levels therefore mean that plants will be healthier because of more water.

The plants are sucking it up before it even reaches the sea. That is why deserts are retreating and Key West is still with us.

[DJL 235]

brenthutch

***BTW there's also a study out there, irrefutable evidence that plants fare better when there is water. Rising sea levels therefore mean that plants will be healthier because of more water.

The plants are sucking it up before it even reaches the sea. That is why deserts are retreating and Key West is still with us.

So in effect the Greening effect caused by an excess of CO2 in the air causes more plants to grow and stops oceans from rising. Cheers. We got this all settled.

"I encourage all awesome dangerous behavior." - Jeffro Fincher

[brenthutch 444]

Yep, we just need the courage and good sense to do nothing.

[billvon 2,991]

>offroad tires and when you hit the gas it goes...."whirr.....whiiiirrrrrrrrrrrrrr!!"

They will add a noisemaker so no one's masculinity is threatened.

[billvon 2,991]

>The plants are sucking it up before it even reaches the sea.

Love it.

And if we evolved from monkeys, why are there still monkeys?

[DJL 235]

billvon

>offroad tires and when you hit the gas it goes...."whirr.....whiiiirrrrrrrrrrrrrr!!"

They will add a noisemaker so no one's masculinity is threatened.

Maybe some playing cards in the spokes.

"I encourage all awesome dangerous behavior." - Jeffro Fincher