Quotes

An Off Day...Sorta

     Hey all! Sorry but the next two days I will be a little out of touch. My wife and I are visiting with our home builder to pick out the different things for the new house. Very exciting! For us anyway. We are stuck in a two bedroom flat with 3 animals and lots of mold right now, so the new house will be our Mecca. Schwörer Haus is our builder, and they practice sustainable forestry, offer a wide array of recycled and sustainable materials, operate under a fair trade policy and are a market leader of homes equipped with renewable energy.

     The new house will have a 5kw Solar array on a south facing roof, a Solar Thermal system for hot water, 30cm insulted walls, an air exchange system that keeps the humidity and air quality at peak levels. a hybrid geo-thermal system that uses pipes and outside air to heat or cool saline to regulate the temperature no matter what time of year and space for a back-up battery system to store excess solar power to be used in off-production hours. Not to mention, we will also install a green roof on the garage to filter rainfall and will run pipes for a future cistern to store rainwater so we can utilize it to wash clothes and flush the toilets. All of those, along with passive solar and energy saving appliances and LED lightbulbs, we will reduce our CO2 footprint (when compared with our home in America) by over 70% while conserving water!

     I will post pics tomorrow of all the cool stuff we see. Check out Schwörer Haus on their home site. I can't find it in English right now, but if you speak French, Spanish or Italian, your in luck. You can at least look at the pictures.

     So, when you hear or read that someone said renewables and energy efficiency won't work, send them to Southern Germany. They can see for themselves that homes at a higher altitude and higher latitude can be powered just fine without fossil fuels.

   



   

Questions for Deniers

     I read a lot. Its my job. Whether it's articles about the environment, hockey or Batman V. Superman, I'm always reading. I proof read my blog posts (most of the time), I reread and rewrite my short stories and when I'm not working I am reading a book. (Right now, I'm reading "Into Thin Air" by Jon Krakauer...awesome. Read it.) Anyway, I came across this gem yesterday in my usual sweep of the internet for all things Climate Change.

     I have developed a process, which I have refined over the past year or so, to help me keep up to date on all things Climate Change and Environment. Not everything out there you read is fact (which many people don't realize). So I do my best to weed out the crazy (I'm looking at you Newsmaxx) and the vague and unsupported (Wochit, get your act together!) in order to get some concrete and logical information to share. There is a lot of unreliable sites with unsubstantiated bullshit out there. I hunt down the accredited and reliable outlets, the ones that use real data and cite their sources, and share what I think is relevant and what is supported with real research and studies. Although, sometimes I share the humorous and head slapping things because you have to laugh sometimes, right?

Courtesy: http://chris-sabos-goggles.com/2012/03/13/sinking-friendships/kid-head-slap/

     Here is a list of 10 questions to ask Climate Change Deniers from Moron Watch. Don't let the Moron Watch name detract from the direct and valid questions they provide. While some of these questions are just mean spirited and sarcastic, some are effective when faced with someone who accuses you of being an alarmist. If you frequently engage or are engaged by Climate Change Deniers and get bogged down in there circle-talk meant to confuse, these questions may come in handy. There is nothing like being blunt and asking someone to logically and effectively support their argument. Getting them to realize that they can't do it may jog some of them into questioning what they have been force fed.

Here are the most effective ones, in my opinion:

• If there is a "scientific debate", why do only 24 out of 13,950 peer-reviewed papers dispute man-made climate change?

• If there is "science on both sides", why do billionaires secretly have to throw hundreds of millions of dollars into denials propaganda? 

• Why are there no climate scientists as spokesmen for the denial side? (Have them name one to prove this assertion wrong.)

• Why do you not believe climate scientists about present warming, but believe them when they say the climate changed in the past?

• Who knows more about climate? a) Climate scientists, b) Economists, c) Oil Companies, d0 Michele Bachman?

     

From the Pope...