With all the buzz about global warming and energy conservation, I wonder what positions members here are taking.-cranioscopical
Anything we do is
not because of Global Warming, I'm more interested in Resource Efficiency or a
moral use of resources. What we're using at current rates is not sustainable and probably not fair either (just look at what
Australia is doing to East Timor!).
The cause of Global Warming is still debated. Available resources are not (unfortunately), well, the availability of oil is debated with the relative interest in
Peak Oil. Actually, Peak Oil is also debated across East-West lines: The Russians developed a theory after Stalin that Crude Oil is a renewable resource, known as
Abiotic Oil.
Wouldn't that be strange if it turned out that Crude Oil was Abiotic and renewable? That would have serious consequences for Global Warming (if global warming is affected by the burning to crude oil).
In many ways it doesn't really matter: we can't keep increasing in the use of oil as we'll surpass the ability for Abiotic Oil to generate, creating a peak (or is that plateau??).
So where are we at??
Oil is incredibly precious: so we don't drive if we don't have to; we've reduced our car "fleet" down to just one (thanks to a local job and the kids leaving home).
But Oil is not just petrol. Oil is used in just about every facet of our lives, so we also try and reduce the use of plastics, fertilisers, buy local goods not transported, etc.
Water is probably even more precious! We've got flow limiters on showers, taps, etc and public floggings for long showers!
A rainwater tank would be a good idea but not economically viable at the moment (although I'm sure price rises will change that - the price of our water is relatively cheap and doesn't reflect its true cost).
Electricity in Australia is generated by burning coal (well something like 93%). I can't remember our coal reserves but they are vast (but wont last forever). We have Micro-fluorescents (with mixed effects: you're right
Lashiec, just replaced a bulb the other day that only lasted a year!) and try to turn things off when not in use.
Recycle everything we can,
compost what can't be recycled,
sell or give to a good home anything else... and never go to the rubbish tip
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the deal was too good)