An Inconvienient Truth, - Global Warming

[PMC]

Okay, I'm more than willing to accept the concept of global warming.  

However (in the UK at least), we're entrusting the issue to a political party who are unable to respond to any issue without some think tank ceaselessly gibbering 'Tax! Tax!'.  

[PMC]

I agree with the optimum speed for fuel efficiency issue, my Alfa seems to sip fuel sparingly at 70mph but drinks like Ollie Reed when negotiating towns and worst of all, speed bumps.

[PMC]

Let's take a step back for a minute:

Fact - temperatures are rising

This is an issue we can't ignore because sooner or later we'll get screwed with another New Orleans.  Hell, my home county in the UK at barely above sea level.  Temperatures go up, sea levels rise, people displace.

Fact - we're running out of fossil fuels

We're looking toward new oil and gas fields in harder to reach places.  Sakhalin Island?  We didn't have the technology to get the gas out of the ground twenty years ago.  Now we're being forced to work harder to get the resources we need.

Fact - our politicians appear to be hijacking the environmental agenda

Here in the UK we've had few new roads, a 40% increase in traffic and fuel prices have nearly doubled in ten years.  Most of it due to tax.  Tony Blair wants Britain to lead the way in reducing carbon emissions - fine, except for one thing.  He's {bleep}ting us.

I asked the Minister for Climate Change Elliot Morely why air travel is being encouraged while car use is being discouraged and he confirmed that 10% - yes 10% of carbon emissions are from cars:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/talking_point/4856386.stm

Turns out, that this figure includes not only cars, but busses, trains and lorries.

More worryingly, aircraft on long haul flights which enter our airspace or are bound for non-EU countries aren't even included in "official" stats for air industry carbon emissions (5% and climbing rapidly - and that's just the official figures which exclude the examples I've given.  And Blair wants more airports!).

As long as politicians hijack climate change for the purpose of revenue raising and massage statistics, the general public won't take the message seriously.

Fact - We have stringent carbon emission targets to meet

Yep, again the powers that are are going to screw us.  They want air travel to grow, as it encourages trade and foreign revenues to contribute to our economies.  The private individual is going to subsidize the cost of the growth.  

In summary, I've no doubt that we need to be very concerned about climate change and also the useage of fossil fuels.  However, I do not believe we're going about it in the right way.  We need more investment in cleaner and more reliable public transport - we've had it in the UK - but private rail companies are hiking costs in line with fuel prices for the benefit of shareholders.  Why?

We need rapid research of renewable energy sources.  Why is the UK government not significantly increasing it's funding into nuclear fusion research?  

[PMC]

Nuclear Fusion and nuclear fission are two separate things entirely.  The former promises cheap energy and reduced radioactive waste having long been a holy grail for cheap and renewable energy.

[PMC]

Dandy wrote:
Green Beer:

Take a "Koelsch" glass (0.2 litre), fill one small finger's breadth of "Curacao Blue" in it and fill up the rest with beer (preferably Koelsch).

You'll end up with a "toxic green" looking beer - and if you happen to have more than 4-5 glasses of it, the night might become interesting...
 :-D  :-D  :-D

Ah!  My college Rugby team had a variation on that called a "Green {bleep}".

Take one pint glass, add a shot of Vodka and a shot of Blue Curacao.  Fill the rest of the glass with Kronenburg or Lowenbrau (Loony Brew) and serve.

This was usually followed by frequent baring of one's derriere and the singing of lewd songs.

@Dandy, does it have a similar effect on your side of the North Sea?