Nature Is Speaking.... (Conservation Awareness Videos)

[ringwraith10]

Meh, most data is tampered with. Especially if you aren't reading the original study. I know there's a lot of controversy about wind turbines (I've heard a lot of personal reports about people getting sick), and that climate change is a thing that has always happened on the planet (ice age, anyone?), BUT that doesn't mean that humans are not acting as a catalyst, and it doesn't have anything to do with the rest of the stuff we are doing to mess up the planet. We need to recycle so we don't run out of oil (which is used to make plastic) so quickly, among other reasons. We also probably don't want to end up having landfills absolutely everywhere. That would be very unpleasant. And so much of what we do and use is created with non-renewable resources (I mean, they'll renew eventually, but not any time soon).

A few years ago I noticed how much water was coming from the condensers on the A/C units on the school portable buildings and my kids elementary school. I also noticed that while there were groups that planted trees and gardens, no one was making sure those trees got enough water to be established properly. (It can take up to two years for the oaks they planted.) After one died, I decided to get a few 5 gallon buckets and put them under the dripping A/C units and they filled every day during the hot months. Talked it over with my Girl Scout troop and bought more buckets, then we had 8. We were saving up to 200 gallons per week.
Now I have a few helpers sometimes but I still run the bucket project and it's being taught by one of the second grade teachers so I get to explain what I'm doing to the kids!
Such a simple thing that has a big impact.

That is such a cool (pun not intended) idea! I don't use my air conditioner very often (even though I live in a really hot area), but I should definitely look into saving the condensation for watering my plants.

One day I really want to be able to live in a place where I can have solar panels to power my entire house. That's been the goal for a long time. As long as I'm living in an apartment, though, there's only so much I can do with solar panels.

[Princess Lala]

^ Same here ringwrath!!!! I want a house where I have solar panels outside! Can you image everyones house like that in the future!? That would be soooo cool and I hope it becomes a thing soon!

As someone who studyed earth space science and paleontology the lot of you are about climate change! Its always been a thing yup yup but humans arent making it any better! xD I would say we may be accelerating it which is why we should help conserve!  I would love to go back to school and finish my degree but atm im interested in studying living animals and veterinary practices as well. Scientists have learned a lot about climates from cute fossils!

Thunderwing, its really cool what you do! Id love to be in a feild of work like that!!! My hubby is a meteorologist and I love helping him do research!! Lately we have been focusing on all the flooding here and recording rainfall. We have also been looking for stranded animals and snakes, helping them move out of residential areas! He is my hero as he helps keep people safe and feildwork can be a dangerous line of work! I appreciate what you do Thunderwing! *gives hug*

Wow i did my research with the wind turbines and I had no idea about "wind turbine syndrome" or the problems.with birds and bats! In my area wind turbine air is now a big thing and I live by several of those luckily I havnt felt sick. I do live by a fenced electrical grid place and I swear when I drive near it my head hurts  x−x A walmart way down the road actually uses a wind turbine and when its windy im actually scared of it because it sounds like a helicopter! That same store also has solar panels everywhere-even the lights and signs! Its cool even a walmart is tring to make a difference!

Ooo and for our Scottish friend on this thread, if you dont have any of those reusable cloth bags in your are please let me know if you need me to send you some!!!! They are mega trendy in the States and they would save you monies! The bags are only like $1 and some places sell waterproof ones (like my ariel bag!) for more. Here they are:

Spoiler

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now who wouldnt want to take these when grocery shopping!? :-3 I have a ton more in the car, mostly my pony SDCC bags that I can fit into xD 

[Whippycorn]

Uhm... actually, I AM a trained ecologist. Both university (full honors, four year) and then followed up with post-grad college.

Both my partner and I have PhDs in Ecology and my partner currently does hard research into climate science. Which brings me to your second point...

Climate change is primarily driven by our sun. It isn't something new...

This is incorrect. Solar energy is obviously a planetary driver, but the current shift in global temperatures is beyond that which would be expected given only natural forcings. As this figure shows (from the IPCC report), although solar fluctuations have some influence on global temperature, the main driver of the current increase is anthropogenic carbon dioxide:

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This is not science that a few individuals are 'pushing', 97% of climate scientists agree that climate change is driven by anthropogenic emissions. Why do you think that such a consensus would exists?

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As for polar bear populations, this is more my area. Again there is a general consensus that polar bear populations are being adversely affected by melting sea ice, including due to range shifts (accounting for the population increase in inland areas). These range shifts will then have knock-on effects on the species in those areas, introducing a new top predator into a natural system will completely change the dynamics. Almost everything you might want to know about polar bear population sizes and range shifts is summarized in this WWF report:
assets.panda.org/downloads/polarbearsatrisk.pdf

And wind turbines *do* make people sick. The World Health Organization has agreed upon this.

Please can you provide the link to support this statement? The acknowledgement of the possibility of noise pollution when placed to near to dwellings is not an acknowledgement of the existence of 'wind turbine syndrome'.

As I pointed out in the previous thread (http://mlparena.com/index.php/topic,348538.msg1081401.html#msg1081401) the reporting of physical symptoms from turbines was found to be a result of negative physiological bias against the turbines.

I also addressed the wildlife impacts in that thread. I also point out that there should be and (in most countries) are strict regulations about the placement of wind turbines, both in terms of noise pollution and environmental impact assessment. I'm sorry if these regulations were not adhered to near you. In my previous home, wind turbines were erected on top of the nearby hill following a prolonged assessment and no adverse effects have been seen in the local human or animal populations.

There are in fact many scientific studies of the effect of low frequency noise and other noise on model organisms (often mice), such studies have been the basis for the noise pollution regulations we currently have in place.

I don't have them all saved down on this computer. I don't profess to be an expert, but I can point you in the right direction and you can view the RAW data, see how it has been tampered with, and make up your own mind.

Actually I would very much appreciate you sharing this information with us here. I for one would like to see the sources you are using.

We need to recycle so we don't run out of oil (which is used to make plastic) so quickly, among other reasons. We also probably don't want to end up having landfills absolutely everywhere.

There is no danger of us running out of oil. I was actually at a talk by Prof. Ottmar Edenhofer (a member of the IPCC) a couple of nights ago who said that "it is not the availability of fossil fuels that will be the limiting factor, but the available atmospheric disposal space"; we have gigatonnes of fossil fuels, but not enough 'space' in our atmosphere for all the emissions they would create.

But you're right plastics are an under-considered user of oil and so there is a lot more to recycling that just avoiding landfill. I try to avoid buying very much plastic in the first place too. Though the shops often make that very difficult - I get really annoyed when I see things like bananas (which come in natural 'packaging') wrapped in individual plastic bags!.

My hubby is a meteorologist and I love helping him do research!! Lately we have been focusing on all the flooding here and recording rainfall. We have also been looking for stranded animals and snakes, helping them move out of residential areas! He is my hero as he helps keep people safe and feildwork can be a dangerous line of work!

That's so great that he's helping the wildlife too, they are the unsuspecting victims of these horrible effects.

My partner actually studies climate effects up in Canada and will be heading out there next month...I'm quite worried because there has been an increase in the frequency of wildfires in that region where his field sites are! So I'm going to be freaking out the whole time he's there!

[Princess Lala]

Speaking of oil.... I was reading something COOL! Did yall know that some cars can actually run off of ethanol or some kind of corn-based power? I know some people are starting to use it instead of gasoline for their cars as long as their car can run off of it! Mine doesnt, you can find out inside the gas cap cover there will be a sticker for E85. I havnt done my research to find out if its actually a better alternative or not...seeing how we would need more crops to supply the demand if it were to get popular and that would mean tough stuff for the dirt since over-farming is an issue. Still, trying to find out better alternatives to gasoline is really cool! Means good things for the fishies in the ocean if there are less oil spills! ^-^

Also there are banannas individually wrapped!? xD That would be hilarious to see! Next they will do grapes!

[Whippycorn]

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[Princess Lala]

^^ WHAT!??? Im dying of laughter over here!!! What is the point of that!??? xD omg look at the bananas!!!!

[melodys_angel]

Right.

Im going to drop an early warning here--Please remain civil, folks!  Id hate to have to lock this up when the majority are soo well behaved <3

As far as that initial question to me about plastic bags go, yes they charge for bags inside of the store.  We usually bring reusable fabric ones but there are times we don't have them on us, so its like a slap in the face when they charge for bags when we arent able to bring the fabric ones for whatever reason--then turn around and say its being used for ____ but don't say how much, or don't give us an option.

[ringwraith10]

Ugh, those bananas! Why would they even do that?!

And regarding ethanol: a lot of gas stations provide small amounts of ethanol in the regular gas you buy. But lately, some gas stations have started to build new "special" ethanol-free pumps for people who have a problem of some kind with ethanol. :/ I, for one, like that ethanol is included in the gas. It keeps the prices lower and it's cleaner.

To my knowledge, over-farming is not as big of an issue here in the USA as it is parts of South America, etc. I think that if you rotate your crops correctly, you will not have as large of an impact on the soil (I'm not a farmer, though, I just have a small garden). But also remember that the more plants we have, the more oxygen there is. Trees are, of course, preferable, but corn, generally, is waaay better for the planet than fossil fuels!

We need to recycle so we don't run out of oil (which is used to make plastic) so quickly, among other reasons. We also probably don't want to end up having landfills absolutely everywhere.

There is no danger of us running out of oil. I was actually at a talk by Prof. Ottmar Edenhofer (a member of the IPCC) a couple of nights ago who said that "it is not the availability of fossil fuels that will be the limiting factor, but the available atmospheric disposal space"; we have gigatonnes of fossil fuels, but not enough 'space' in our atmosphere for all the emissions they would create.

But you're right plastics are an under-considered user of oil and so there is a lot more to recycling that just avoiding landfill. I try to avoid buying very much plastic in the first place too. Though the shops often make that very difficult - I get really annoyed when I see things like bananas (which come in natural 'packaging') wrapped in individual plastic bags!

Good point. It would probably be better if we WERE on the verge of running out, because that would get people more motivated to actually look at alternative fuel sources! And I so hate when things made of plastic are called "disposable". They're not! At all! The plastic is just cheap. I had an ill-informed friend (she's usually quite ill-informed about everything) once tell me that I should be using plastic bags instead of paper bags (when I forget to bring my cloth bags I get paper instead of plastic) because plastic is easier to recycle. *facepalm* Paper can go in my compost. Plastic cannot. Among other things.

Thankfully, though I don't drive an electric car, I do drive a tiny little car that really only needs about 10 gallons of gas every month or so. I don't do a ton of driving, and when I do my car has really good MPG.

Also, Lala -- I love your bags! I have a few cute Disney and Hello Kitty bags, but I usually use them for carrying merch at conventions and stuff. The bags I shop with are mostly free bags that I got from work conferences and stuff.