• You are currently viewing our forum as a guest, which gives you limited access to view most discussions and access our other features. By joining our free community, you will have access to additional post topics, communicate privately with other members (PM), view blogs, respond to polls, upload content, and access many other special features. Registration is fast, simple and absolutely free, so please join our community today! Just click here to register. You should turn your Ad Blocker off for this site or certain features may not work properly. If you have any problems with the registration process or your account login, please contact us by clicking here.

Oz TV advises CO2-emitting children to die early

heart

heart on fire
Joined
May 19, 2007
Messages
8,456
TV Network Tells Kids How Long Their Carbon Footprint Should Allow Them to Live


Oz TV advises CO2-emitting children to die early | The Register





AN ABC website has been accused of portraying farmers and forestry workers as evil, and telling kids how much carbon they can produce before they die....



The site has several features including a cartoon series, Adventures of Greena, and a tool called Prof Schpinkee's Greenhouse Calculator to help kids work out their carbon footprint.

The calculator lets users compare their own carbon output to the "average Aussie greenhouse pig" and estimates at what age a person should die so they don't use more than their fair share of the Earth's resources....



Do you think it's appropriate that the ABC portray the average Australian as a pig and is it appropriate for a website obviously geared towards kids to depict people who are average Australians as massive overweight ugly pigs, oozing slime from their mouths, and then to have these pigs blow up in a mass of blood and guts?"....


"I don't think that it's a particularly helpful way of depicting hard-working Australians who are trying to go about making an honest living, as though they're these rough and evil dudes out to do bad."



Green-ism, the new religion, coming to a cult-minded person near you.
 

liquid

New member
Joined
Jun 27, 2008
Messages
5
MBTI Type
INTx
No matter how the world progresses, there will always be waste. All this green revolution shit dictates to us how we should cut back on CO2. Nobody talks about how we can handle the excess of CO2.

With a growing population, believed to cap at nine billion, it's hard to imagine how cutting back is going to get us anywhere. We'll meet somewhere in the middle, but we'll still be producing the dooms day chemicals.

It's backwards thinking, cutting back. How about, how can we manipulate this pollution to our advantage and the earth's benefit?
 

gokartride

New member
Joined
Jul 6, 2008
Messages
100
MBTI Type
INFJ
I'm not particularly into the whole "green thing" either, but something is definitely happening. FWIW....the "global warming" terminology is old news..."climate change" is the term being used now as it more accurately describes the phenomenon in question.

The amazing thing is that some folks seriously think the entire thing is the invention of Al Gore and liberals and that's all there is to it. It's really odd that this is a political discussion at all any more considering the science involved and the level of agreement on the basics. Now, the "specifics" will be agrued for the rest of our lifetimes, but the essential effect is pretty much agreed upon, understood, and is considered fact by climatologists.

Every week now it seems a new government agency is releasing its findings on the potential impacts of climate change, the Bush administration did a complete 180 on the issue last year, and even Navy is planning for fleet enhancements as waters surrounding the North pole are projected to become navigable (significant loss of arctic ice).

So what? I don't know really....I can so understand the urge to dismiss the whole thing, but I really, honestly don't think this will be going away. The climate change discussions in Washington (based on all available science) seem to all relate to planning scenarios for the future depending on what happens. A lot of policy is going to be debated and generated in the near future on climate change. Right now the decision is being made as to whether large scale measures related to standard industry practices will be voluntary or regulatory. That means law....and that means change.

Really, the ordinary person shouldn't be too worried or scared into ill-considered action right now...I say wait and see. This issue is so massive that, while individual actions do help, this will involve a major cultural change and involve very large measures such as CO2 sequestration underground. I think for the homeowner, finding ways to save water will pay off regardless of what happens and using less, especially for Americans, will build character if nothing else, so go for it!!!

What I don't recommend it flying off the handle every time climate change is being mentioned. That's become ludicrous, really (although it happens even among my good friends). Congress is dealing with this, major comporations are dealing with this, civic planners are dealing with this, emergency responders are dealing with this....everybody who does not (or cannot) have their head buried in the sand is dealing with this right now. It's better to learn what one can from credible sources and participate intelligently.

A few other points....according to what I have seen, the current trend towards more heat absorbtion in the atmosphere cannot be reversed at this point, only a possible status quo can be achieved. That is sobering as we tend to have this belief that we can fix anything....but in this case it's 50 years too late. Yikes. Aside from rising temps which really only will impact vegitation, and sea levels, and maybe a few other things that we can probably adapt to (at some cost, no doubt), the biggest concern seems to be that a tipping point may be reached in normal weather systems by which more sudden, violent, and more extreme weather patterns emerge, and you know what happens when our frail, fragile infrastructure gets hit with extreme weather....it breaks!!! That, sadly, means losses of life and/or dollars for recovery, and we all know folks who have suffered from this kind of devistation. If things were to go askew somehow, that would be a very difficult pill to swallow.

So, relax.....there is no reason to freak out (and I think a lot of the current "green" rehetoric is a bit too manipulative in this regard). Lots of people are working on this and lots of resources will be poured into things that will make change happen. Maybe you'll see new energy sources, new work patterns, new transportation options, and a whole new range of products come out of this. Maybe your local water provider finally will cough up a nice, hefty rebate program so you can get that water saving toilet you've always wanted. Maybe this is the nudge we needed to rethink how we've doing things given the unprecedented impact our current global society has on natural resources.

I just think it's a waste to spend years of one's life pretending something isn't happening simply because it's become a hot potato in popular mass culture, being spun this way or that on a whoever's whim. Look at the real science....it's fairly level headed...and help move the dialogue towards a more sustainable future. Real change will catch up to us eventually...but it will come at a reasonable pace. Those who are informed will understand it...those who aren't can waste more energy being freaked-out and afraid.
 

heart

heart on fire
Joined
May 19, 2007
Messages
8,456
I tend to think that if anyone is "freaking out" it would be those who tell school children they need to die at a certain age. ;)

Just because an issue is valid, does not stop it from being used in ways that are nefarious, harmful, merely to sell a product or that have nothing helpful to do with the topic at hand.

No issue should become a sacred cow where we are not allowed to question the propaganda that surrounds it, yet I see this happening with the issue of Greenism and climate change. If someone questions the methods of dealing with it, suddenly they've become the new heretics. That's a worrisome reaction no matter what the issue is.

The attempts to turn Greenism into a new dogma whose methods cannot be questioned is the aspect that concerns me, no matter what the facts are about climate change has no bearing on this aspect. We still have to keep our heads and rational thinking while dealing with the problem and part of keeping rational is the ability to question methods.
 

gokartride

New member
Joined
Jul 6, 2008
Messages
100
MBTI Type
INFJ
Just because an issue is valid, does not stop it from being used in ways that are nefarious, harmful or that have nothing helpful to do with the topic at hand.
I agree with what you've said 100%, and the some of stuff swirling about on the subject really creeps me out, too (and has even given me a headache!!). The sources I have to use (professionally) are thankfully more level-headed and so I'll be sticking with those until further notice. :yes:
 

heart

heart on fire
Joined
May 19, 2007
Messages
8,456
I agree with what you've said 100%, and the some of stuff swirling about on the subject really creeps me out, too (and has even given me a headache!!). The sources I have to use (professionally) are thankfully more level-headed and so I'll be sticking with those until further notice. :yes:

Yes, my argument here is not with climate change research but rather with how it is being used by others and then how little people are willing to question how it is used.
 

gokartride

New member
Joined
Jul 6, 2008
Messages
100
MBTI Type
INFJ
how it is being used by others and then how little people are willing to question how it is used.
Yes, right now I think a lot of folks are just yanking our chain and creating a lot of confusion.

Aside from discussions/planning taking place inside government, it is interesting seeing more and more corporations spending a lot of internal resources on developing Environmental Management Systems (EMS), which reduces the company's negative impact on the environment, positions them more strongly in the marketplace, and often saves them money. To me things like this are probably the biggest observable cultural shifts happening today, but beyond that it can just be a lot of frenetic energy whirling about because folks are wound up and have no distinct direction to go. Why? Because so many big, impactful decisions have not been made yet.

I take a watch and wait attitude for now and do what I can....mostly because using just what I need is an attractive concept for me regardless of how the dynamics of climate change play out.
 
Top