John Chuckman
COMMENT TO AN ARTICLE BY JAMES WHITTINGHAM IN CBC NEWS
“Earth Day is no longer relevant
“We're way beyond small, everyday actions in our households”
"The planet now finds itself in grave danger."
Good God, what's next? Gwyneth Paltrow selling Goop?
I am all for responsible behavior around our environment, but this kind of secular green religion is annoying.
Our biggest hazard right now is America bombing and killing in a dozen lands and spending vast amounts on being able to do a whole lot more of it.
Incidentally, the American military has the worst record on earth for putting godawful filth into our environment.
Agent Orange. Depleted uranium dust. Burn pits. Chemical agents of every description. Dumps for fuels. Old warships sunk into the ocean. Immense expanses of radioactive test sites and waste.
And did you know they spent $20 billion a year for air-conditioned tents in the hot desert while they were destroying Iraq like a horde of Goths?
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Response to a comment about a new study of pollution associated with electric cars:
That's only the latest finding against electric cars.
Some while back, a study determined electric vehicles put a lot of crap into the environment in unexpected ways.
For example, they throw off more tire dust and wear down road surfaces faster owing to the weight of the batteries.
Of course, inefficiencies like stopping more often count too.
And in all cases involving electric power, you must consider how the power is generated. There are many negative results around some countries' experience with wind turbines for example, and those come in addition to high costs for the limited power the turbines generate.
There are a number of problems associated with wind turbines around maintenance, durability, ability to withstand extreme weather, and killing literally millions of birds.
Also, as relatively few people understand, wind turbines cannot provide base-load power - that is, power available 24 hours per day. They always need backup generation, and just what do you think the backup consists of?
You'd be right if you said the kind of billion-dollar gas plant the irresponsible Premier of Ontario, Dalton McGuinty, wantonly destroyed because of NIMBYISM.
You know, I've seen pictures of electric cars going back to 1908. They are anything but a new idea. There are real reasons they never flourished.
Despite all our advances, the technology still is not there. Batteries are a key problem. Electricity generation, too, if you insist on nonsense like wind turbines.
Again, we have too much green religion entering these matters. No, we have not yet found salvation and the keys to the kingdom with electric cars or with windmills.
