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Should we be concerned about Environmental Damage?


 
Post new topic   Reply to topic    BookTalk.org Forum Index -> Archived Book Discussions 2004-2005 -> Collapse: How Societies Choose to Fail or Succeed - by Jared Diamond
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Mr. Pessimistic Mr. Pessimistic has been starred
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PostPosted: Fri Jun 17, 2005 10:48 am    Post subject: Should we be concerned about Environmental Damage? Reply with quote
Is there a real concern about Environmental degradation in our world? Many say that we are doomed, approaching a point of no return or that we are all getting our dander up for nothing. Which is it?

Mr. P.


Results (total votes = 10):
We should be VERY concerned and take immediate action. 8 / 80.0%  
There is concern, but we have time to figure it all out. 1 / 10.0%  
We are constantly innundated with doomsday predictions by a bunch of Chicken Littles! 1 / 10.0%  

The one thing of which I am positive is that there is much of which to be negative - Mr. P.

The pain in hell has two sides. The kind you can touch with your hand; the kind you can feel in your heart...Scorsese's "Mean Streets"

I came to kick ass and chew Bubble Gum...and I am all out of Bubble Gum - They Live, Roddy Piper

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Mr. Pessimistic Mr. Pessimistic has been starred
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PostPosted: Fri Jun 17, 2005 10:49 am    Post subject: Re: Should we be concerned about Environmental Damage? Reply with quote
Please feel free to add comments regarding what you think is the biggest environmental problem we face, be it natural or man-made.

I am particularly concerned about energy consumption and levels of existing fossil fuels.

Mr. P.

The one thing of which I am positive is that there is much of which to be negative - Mr. P.

The pain in hell has two sides. The kind you can touch with your hand; the kind you can feel in your heart...Scorsese's "Mean Streets"

I came to kick ass and chew Bubble Gum...and I am all out of Bubble Gum - They Live, Roddy Piper

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wwdimmitt
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PostPosted: Fri Jun 17, 2005 2:30 pm    Post subject: Re: Should we be concerned about Environmental Damage? Reply with quote
I actually worry more about clean, potable water, and then after that soil erosion and depletion.

I have a lot more faith that we can solve the energy crisis through new technology. Not so much to fix our water problems and especially not our soil problems.

So far technology has been adding to the water and soil problems, rather than repairing them.

Just the myopia of a western US farmer, I guess.::75

WW

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marti1900
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PostPosted: Fri Jun 17, 2005 5:41 pm    Post subject: Re: Should we be concerned about Environmental Damage? Reply with quote
My biggest concern is the greenhouse effect, followed by a concern about waste management. for every product we produce, there is packaging to go along with it, which becomes waste.

Everybody agrees we need to do something about the environment, but nobody wants it to be their responsibility to do it.

Marti in Mexico

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tarav tarav has been starred
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PostPosted: Sun Jun 19, 2005 9:49 am    Post subject: Re: Should we be concerned about Environmental Damage? Reply with quote
I feel that we should be very concerned.

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ciscoguy24
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PostPosted: Wed Jul 06, 2005 7:32 pm    Post subject: Re: Should we be concerned about Environmental Damage? Reply with quote
I too agree that we should be educated about what technology does to our environment.

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PostPosted: Wed Aug 03, 2005 3:43 pm    Post subject: Re: Should we be concerned about Environmental Damage? Reply with quote
I just want to say that I have started composting and separating recyclables. I am also going to buy a 'reel' lawn mower and get rid of the gas one I have (or maybe try to build a go cart for my kids).

I have had a composter for years, and put only yard waste in there. I got a nice layer of topsoil out of it when I rotated the pile. Now I am putting in all sorts of items that would have otherwise been thrown away.

I have noticed that putting out my garbage now consists of my moving two just full cans to the curb, as opposed to the three overflowing cans I used to drag.

We can have an impact.

Mr. P.

The one thing of which I am positive is that there is much of which to be negative - Mr. P.

The pain in hell has two sides. The kind you can touch with your hand; the kind you can feel in your heart...Scorsese's "Mean Streets"

I came to kick ass and chew Bubble Gum...and I am all out of Bubble Gum - They Live, Roddy Piper

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Jeremy1952 Jeremy1952 has been starred
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PostPosted: Sun Aug 07, 2005 2:48 pm    Post subject: Re: Should we be concerned about Environmental Damage? Reply with quote
Wwdimmitt
Quote:
I actually worry more about clean, potable water, and then after that soil erosion and depletion.
If it’s myopia, you share it with E.O. Wilson, one of the foremost scientific defenders of the environment. All over the world, even where we have leveled off population, we continue to deplete our aquifers faster than they can be replaced. It’s a hidden subsidy in the west, and an excellent example of Diamond’s concept of “spending our capital”.

Loss of potable water is not obvious, like the loss of forest or of snowcaps is. And desalinization will not be a practical alternative any time in the foreseeable future. I’m with Ww, it tops my list.


If you make yourself really small, you can externalize virtually everything. Daniel Dennett, 1984

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