The link that Dan supplied is, unfortunately, not the type of information I
would be looking for. Rather than supplying a list of links to
environmental groups, what I would want to know, for alternatives, are
answer to, at least, the following questions: 1),what is the TOTAL cost to
the environment of your proposed alternative and 2), what fraction of the
TOTAL required demand can be met by your proposed alternative.
Let me use solar power as an example. What are the costs, financial and
environmental, of producing the photovoltaic panels (including the energy
required in production of the silicon cells, handling and disposing of the
wastes generated in the production of the panels), how much real estate is
required per MW generated, what is the upkeep (how do you keep bird poop,
dust and debris from the surfaces of the solar panels and what are the risks
in doing so, e.g., workers falling off the panels and being injured or
killed), what is the expected life of the panels, how does one recycle them
or dispose of them (and what is the environmental impact), etc. Once I have
these data, I'd want to know how much of the demand for electricity would be
supplied by these panels, whether they could be used in urban areas or only
in rural settings, and under what weather and climatic conditions they can
be used. For example, in Yellowknife, NWT, or Fairbanks, AK, solar panels
are not much help in the winter! Even along the west coast of BC, there are
often long periods of rain.
The same calculations need to be done for wind power, biomass, etc. Only
then can we determine if these alternatives are economically and
environmentally viable. Yes, I know that environmentalists will point at
government incentives to oil companies and the displacement of aboriginals
due to hydro-related flooding, but these costs can be quantified. I also am
aware that we can do a lot by using passive solar heating, increase
insulation, and plant trees to decrease a dependence on air conditioning.
However, even the cost of increased insulation needs to be factored into the
equation and the costs and risks of the disposal or recycling of insulation
material must be taken into consideration.
I did not find anything at all like that on the Joyce Johnson Rouse's home
page and I don't have the time to chase after all the links.
BTW, note the following statement taken from the home page that Dan refered
to: "But with all the traveling, concerts, speaking and activist work I'm
busy with, I won't have time to keep up with monthly Earth Mama Club
issues." This is a recurrent problem I have with environmentalists: I
simply don't see how "all the traveling" contributes to the "sustainable
technology" that environmentalists espouse. Not that I'm opposed to
traveling, but it seems to me that, because we are depleting our fossil fuel
resources, travel and sustainable technology are incompatible, unless that
travel is done by human or animal power. I hope I'm wrong and invite
anybody to show me the fallacy of my statements. Maybe, if
environmentalists can show convincingly that their "spreading the word"
saves more energy than they use in traveling around, they may have a point.
Chuck Vandergraaf
Pinawa, MB
> ----------
> From: Dan Eumurian[SMTP:cen09460@centurytel.net]
> Reply To: hope4you@centurytel.net
> Sent: Monday July 17, 2000 11:58 PM
> To: glenn morton
> Cc: asa@calvin.edu
> Subject: Re: End of Cheap Oil
>
> Just for the information of Glenn, Wendee and anyone else interested,
> the following is the website of my friend Joyce Johnson Rouse, and
> environmentalist and singer-songwriter. She performed last spring for
> the Catholic elementary schools here in the La Crosse, WI area. You will
> find lots of information of the sort that Glenn asked about if you click
> on "Links" at Joyce's website:
>
> http://www.songs.com/earthmama/
>
>
> Dan Eumurian
>
> glenn morton wrote:
> >
> > Wendee wrote:
> > >
> > >I do recognize the choices are complex, but nor do I think the return
> > >to simple ways means most everyone has to die. There are many answers,
> > >often its a matter of what we as individuals stubbornly refuse to give
> > >up in order to help our neighbors (and ourselves) in the long run.
> >
> > Then name these answers. I would be very interested. I do wish that
> when
> > making claims like this you would give the evidence and not make me
> have
> > to ask.
> > glenn
> >
> > Foundation, Fall and Flood
> > Adam, Apes and Anthropology
> > http://www.flash.net/~mortongr/dmd.htm
> >
> > Lots of information on creation/evolution
>
This archive was generated by hypermail 2b29 : Tue Jul 18 2000 - 04:24:14 EDT