Environment

When the term ‘environmentalist’ comes to mind, I thinkrecycling, water conservation, reusable shopping bags NOT setting fire toluxury homes because the homebuilders claim the homes were built in anenvironmentally-friendly fashion yet you don’t think so. This seems to be the story behind fires set by a group protesting the environmental-friendliness of a group of luxury homes in a Seattle suburb.

So you call yourself an environmentalist, disagree that ahome was built within environmentally-conscious guidelines so the bestand greenest course of action – as an environmentalist – is to burn the faker down?

You’ve seen the marketing campaigns boasting: ‘Everything is bigger in Texas.’ Too bad this now includes a new environmentally detrimental claim to fame according to a recent AP story.

Texas is the biggest, baddest state - environmentally speaking - with the highest level of carbon emissions in the U.S. thanks to a combination of culprits such as coal-burning power plants, oil and gas refineries, post-BBQ flatulence, and excessive, unnecessary vehicle emissions spewed forth by the preferred vehicle of Texas: big, gas-guzzling trucks. Whether or not they have anything to haul, Texans LOVE their pickup trucks or some other ridiculously huge vehicle with passenger capacity of 8 but usually only ever transporting ONE human being from point A to B with cargo that would easily fit in a Toyota Matrix and not even with the seat down! YEEHAW!

If you don’t like the scientific findings on the negative impact of global warming, just edit them so they’re not nearly as bothersome as originally stated by the director of the CDC (Centers for Disease Control). According to an Associated Press article, that’s what the White House did when presented with testimony to be presented before a congressional committee responsible for drafting global warming legislation.

How does that saying go? Waste not, water not? This apparently does not apply to Duke University's precious hockey fields being watered to a point of saturation despite residential water restrictions in place due to severe drought conditions as per an article in the local newspaper. Oh yes, and by the way, those fields aren’t even real grass but rather fake turf so that makes this consumption that much more ridiculous and wasteful. Duke says it’s only abiding by the International Hockey Federation’s rules that specifically require all hockey fields to be saturated prior to a game and all practices.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency isn’t pestered in the least by Nobel-prize winning scientists’ warnings over a new agricultural pesticide, methyl iodide, but instead granted usage approval for one year as per a story by the Associated Press. It’ll be sold under the name MIDAS and be used to eliminate weeds and pests prior to planting vegetables and fruits. Too bad it may eliminate some people as well but maybe the motto at the EPA is: Save the plants; kill the people? This sounds vaguely familiar. I wonder why?? DDT. Oh yeah, DDT.

I am sure that most of you have heard about the fires which engulfed the southern part of Greece this summer (click here for a pps file showing the misery-1.7 MB). It was complete destruction where 64 people died, people lost their homes, 500,000 acres of land were burnt and part of the birth place of the Olympic Games, Olympia, was destroyed. According to the BBC site, the land will take decades to recover, assuming that it is left in peace for nature to do her thing, which I doubt. I won't be surprised if, in a few years, several expensive houses appear in those areas.

I came upon an Associated Press article "Bush Climate Goals Marked by Bureaucracy" regarding Bush's 2-day climate change conference in Washington. I thought: Bush’s climate goals are marked by a B word alright but bureaucracy isn’t the B word I had in mind.

Didn’t you know: The Bush administration is very concerned about global warming, and they’re even having a party with all of the world's biggest offenders to celebrate and promote more rampant polluting - oops I meant to say a conference to sort out possible solutions to this pressing global warming issue these crazy scientists keep insisting IS, in fact, a REAL problem. Ah, how nice to have a conference to show you care. Are we honestly supposed to fall for this?