What Political/Environmental Camp are you in?

[Clifford]

This is a "Private Poll"... identities are private.

The second half of the poll, you can choose multiple answers.

Hopefully this will help give us an idea of the different people involved with the AGW question.

------------------------------------------

Ok, I've added a couple of additional choices...

Still leaving the MPG cutoff at 40 MPG (US Gallons)

[LocoAko]

I answered "Very little" although I don't own any vehicle and, once I buy a vehicle, plan to get a very fuel efficient one/hybrid. I think there's more people can do between "very little" and "buying a hybrid".

[WxUSAF]

So because I don't own a 40mpg vehicle, ride a bike, or install solar/wind, I've done "very little"? Stupid poll...

[Clifford]

I answered "Very little" although I don't own any vehicle and, once I buy a vehicle, plan to get a very fuel efficient one/hybrid. I think there's more people can do between "very little" and "buying a hybrid".

I realize that 40+ MPG puts the bar pretty high.

Oh, and I should have specified US Gallons. Imperial Gallons are larger.

Hybrids are not the only choice for fuel efficient vehicles though, but it does require a conscious effort.

Perhaps I should have also added deliberate carpooling, as well as choosing short commutes (walk to work?)

[catoctin wx]

So because I don't own a 40mpg vehicle, ride a bike, or install solar/wind, I've done "very little"? Stupid poll...

agreed. I own a smaller car that gets about 33 mpg and I take 2 trains each way to work to conserve fuel. I also have an energy star rated house. guess there are too many options to list them all, but these choices were pretty wierd

[Clifford]

So because I don't own a 40mpg vehicle, ride a bike, or install solar/wind, I've done "very little"? Stupid poll...

If you can suggest an additional category that makes sense.... then I may choose to edit it back into the poll.

Wood Heat as primary heating source?

However... if energy, including fuel and emissions is a problem. Then it is YOUR PROBLEM.

[LakeEffectKing]

agreed. I own a smaller car that gets about 33 mpg and I take 2 trains each way to work to conserve fuel. I also have an energy star rated house. guess there are too many options to list them all, but these choices were pretty wierd

I agree. There needs to be more choices.....I used to cut my grass 4 times a week now it's down to about 3.5.....so I am doing what I can....but no choice for that.

[catoctin wx]

I agree. There needs to be more choices.....I used to cut my grass 4 times a week now it's down to about 3.5.....so I am doing what I can....but no choice for that.

you are a shining example to us all

[Clifford]

I've added some more choices... if you wish.

The system cut me off at 20, thus no undecided carpoolers.

You may have to retract and resubmit.

[LakeEffectKing]

you are a shining example to us all

Thank-you....I do what I can.

[WeatherRusty]

Unfortunately, while individual behavior and choices are laudable while setting a good example, they do little to effect a solution to the larger picture of global climate change. Only an international treaty will suffice to bring down global emissions, and that eventuality seems all but impossible any time soon. I am not about to martyr myself for the cause. A major paradigm shift is in order, a systemic change to clean renewable energies and truly sustainable economies and life style. Anything less is like spitting into the wind or shoveling the tide.

[LakeEffectKing]

Unfortunately, while individual behavior and choices are laudable while setting a good example, they do little to effect a solution to the larger picture of global climate change. Only an international treaty will suffice to bring down global emissions, and that eventuality seems all but impossible any time soon. I am not about to martyr myself for the cause. A major paradigm shift is in order, a systemic change to clean renewable energies and truly sustainable economies and life style. Anything less is like spitting into the wind or shoveling the tide.

Right on target! But it doesn't mean we all can't curtail some of our own excesses.....the problem becomes evident when what others define as "environmental", and then judge accordingly, unless of course they espouse the extreme climate change "wreckage" that is imminent.

[Clifford]

Unfortunately, while individual behavior and choices are laudable while setting a good example, they do little to effect a solution to the larger picture of global climate change. Only an international treaty will suffice to bring down global emissions, and that eventuality seems all but impossible any time soon. I am not about to martyr myself for the cause. A major paradigm shift is in order, a systemic change to clean renewable energies and truly sustainable economies and life style. Anything less is like spitting into the wind or shoveling the tide.

I disagree.

If this is actually a problem, then it is not an academic problem. It is not a Government Problem. It is a People Problem.

The Government doesn't buy your car.

The Government didn't build your house (unless you are from inner city projects or living in WW2 barracks).

The Government doesn't set your thermostat.

Of course, the Government does mandate that we can't buy the fuel efficient European cars, but that is another discussion.

Yes, one person, or a few dozen, or a few thousand people just constitutes a drop in the bucket. But you can't say that "people" should change without making an effort to do so yourself.

[WeatherRusty]

I disagree.

If this is actually a problem, then it is not an academic problem. It is not a Government Problem. It is a People Problem.

The Government doesn't buy your car.

The Government didn't build your house (unless you are from inner city projects or living in WW2 barracks).

The Government doesn't set your thermostat.

Of course, the Government does mandate that we can't buy the fuel efficient European cars, but that is another discussion.

Yes, one person, or a few dozen, or a few thousand people just constitutes a drop in the bucket. But you can't say that "people" should change without making an effort to do so yourself.

I recognize the power of the individual, but global problems require global solutions. This is not a United States issue, it's a problem for the world. How we power the world economy into the future is an issue which will affect all of human kind.

In a way we are lucky, we have the opportunity to kill two birds with one stone. By solving the energy crisis we simultaneously address global warming and climate change.

[Clifford]

I recognize the power of the individual, but global problems require global solutions. This is not a United States issue, it's a problem for the world. How we power the world economy into the future is an issue which will affect all of human kind.

Energy and resource use, as well as waste are all global issues.

And each region has their own unique set of issues.

Europe with its higher population density.

Brazil with its forest management.

India and China with a huge population density and growing wealth and industrialization.

Africa with many arid regions, as well as growing human/animal/species conflicts, and a push towards modernization. Also population growth and water resource management. Poverty/Disease?

But, the USA is also part of the globe with huge per-capita consumerism.

We can't clean up everyone else's back yards without cleaning up our own.

[BethesdaWX]

I'm an Independant, and do not believe Co2 is much of a forcing in regards to warming.

However, I have installed Solar Panels, Drive a Hybrid, and Recycle at most opportunities because I care about the Planet, & the Pollution problems we have caused Yeah I'm a Softy. Catastrophic AGW imfo is more of a poster child to influence energy policy, although there is Something to it... but It should be well known that the Climate system is a Negative Feedback to Outgoing LW radiation emitted from the Earth in regards to brute "impact", on one scale.

[WeatherRusty]

Energy and resource use, as well as waste are all global issues.

And each region has their own unique set of issues.

Europe with its higher population density.

Brazil with its forest management.

India and China with a huge population density and growing wealth and industrialization.

Africa with many arid regions, as well as growing human/animal/species conflicts, and a push towards modernization. Also population growth and water resource management. Poverty/Disease?

But, the USA is also part of the globe with huge per-capita consumerism.

We can't clean up everyone else's back yards without cleaning up our own.

We can't clean up everyone else's back yards period. They will have to agree to do so for themselves, however the U.S. can lead by example and lend a technological hand where needed. We should be the world leader in the development of renewables, yet we are losing ground in that race with China for one. If we don't innovate and implement someone else will, and they will have positioned themselves as the world's new economic giant. We will be buying technology from them.

[superjames1992]

I mean, according to the poll, I've done "very little", but there's not much I can do. I have a ~20 MPG 2002 Ford Explorer, but I got it free as a hand-me-down from my grandparents and I'm not going to go out and blow $10,000 on a more expensive fuel-efficient car. It's not worth it.

I walk most of the places I go these days (or use the bus) since I live on a college campus, though.

[skierinvermont]

I like the idea behind Clifford's poll but I think there are just too many options.. I think the best thing to do is if people completed CO2 footprint surveys.

From various sources I estimate that my CO2 footprint is about 25% below the national average, at around 16,700 tons CO2.

http://www.epa.gov/climatechange/emissions/ind_calculator.html

[Clifford]

From various sources I estimate that my CO2 footprint is about 25% below the national average, at around 16,700 tons CO2.

http://www.epa.gov/c...calculator.html

Interesting poll.

Are those TONS or Pounds?

Are you sure you aren't running 2000 times the National Average?

Mine came out to about 6 tons.

I see I have some more work to do

[skierinvermont]

Interesting poll.

Are those TONS or Pounds?

Are you sure you aren't running 2000 times the National Average?

Mine came out to about 6 tons.

I see I have some more work to do

Yeah 16,700 pounds.. oops (edited).

What was the primary reason for yours being so low? 6 tons = 12,000 pounds right? The primary ones are home heating and electricity.. so I'm guessing you heat the house with wood?

[OHSnow]

I would suggest using different, less offensive terminology. I support the scientific consensus surrounding global warming, but I'm not pro-AGW. I'd like to mitigate its effects, so that makes me anti-AGW.

[sojitodd]

If you can suggest an additional category that makes sense.... then I may choose to edit it back into the poll.

....

What about simply downsizing your living space? Mine is half of what it was, and my consumption of resources for heating and cooling is far less than what it was.

Also insulation, weatherproofing, etc. is helpful

What about movng to an area that is pedestrian friendly so car trips are not an absolute necessity for everything? Moving from an exurb to a walkable streetcar suburb?

What about working from home (either full time or part of the time) to eliminate or reduce work trips?

these would all be helpful-and working from home part of the time if you are able would not cost you and arm and a leg either.

[Clifford]

Yeah 16,700 pounds.. oops (edited).

What was the primary reason for yours being so low? 6 tons = 12,000 pounds right? The primary ones are home heating and electricity.. so I'm guessing you heat the house with wood?

I don't use AC.

I need to heat more with wood. I just don't keep my house very hot inside during the winter, and primarily have been heating with space heaters where I'm at. We actually have fairly mild winters with a lot of days between 30 and 40.

I think one of my big expenses is hot water... which hopefully I'll have a chance to work on this summer.

I don't drive that much. I'm not quite sure of the distance... but I'm sure it is closer to 5K than 10K. One vehicle gets 45 MPG. The other doesn't Like James I have an older Chevy S10 Blazer that I inherited (not quite as new as his). It wouldn't have been my choice, but it is a handy vehicle. But, I prefer driving the VW whenever it actually runs.

[Mencken_Fan]

Believe it or not, I was once a Republican. Yes....me.

In 1972 I voted for Richard M. Nixon (who though a scoundrel, was an effective administrator.) The last time I voted Republican was 1980 when I pulled the lever for Ronald Reagan (who won in a landslide.) But something happened in the early 1980s....the rise of right-wing evangelicanism and fundamentalism; a new political force known as the "moral majority." And with it, the beginning of the end of the old Republican Party. So in 1984 I switched to Democrat and have never looked back.

As for AGW, I've been aware the concept since junior high in the middle 1960s. For decades I thought of it as just that; a concept, not an actual threat. Today, I do believe it's a threat; but not to my generation.

I'm reminded of the environment in general. For centuries we polluted the air and water in our cities and rivers...until the 1960s when President Johnson said basically, enough is enough. (When I was young the Potomac River was so filthy it was illegal to even enter it; and the air in big cities was atrocious.) Anyway, Johnson started the clean-up process and then Nixon shifted it into high gear with the creation of the Environmental Protection Agency in 1970. The shift to unleaded gasoline and catalytic converters helped greatly to clean the air; and penalties on water polluters forced them to clean up their acts. By the 1980s the transformation was well underway, and patently clear to all city dwellers. By the 1990s the transformation from filth to relatively clean living was effectively complete.

While calling CO2 a "pollutant" isn't accurate, some analogy can be made. That leap made, the question then becomes, when will anything serious be done about it? I would bet my rent money on "no time soon." And who knows, due to the potentially massive trade-offs, perhaps that's the best path for now.

[phlwx]

So because I don't own a 40mpg vehicle, ride a bike, or install solar/wind, I've done "very little"? Stupid poll...

The whole poll has some flawed options...you don't have to be either pro or against AGW...the whole climate change debate to me is not a two sided argument with regard to AGW and CO2 because there are many other factors that drive climate change and temperature trends and unless you drink the kool aid on either side there are a number of folks who can apply nuance to their thinking on climate change.

The options in part two are a bit unrealistic for a lot of people who live in cities where you can't put in a solar panel (if you live in a condo development, high rise, etc.)

The intent of the poll isn't bad but the options weren't well thought out.

[phlwx]

What about simply downsizing your living space? Mine is half of what it was, and my consumption of resources for heating and cooling is far less than what it was.

Also insulation, weatherproofing, etc. is helpful

What about movng to an area that is pedestrian friendly so car trips are not an absolute necessity for everything? Moving from an exurb to a walkable streetcar suburb?

What about working from home (either full time or part of the time) to eliminate or reduce work trips?

these would all be helpful-and working from home part of the time if you are able would not cost you and arm and a leg either.

changing jobs to reduce your commute time and amount of gas you guzzle