Is global warming mostly man-made?

[SB_UK]

What's this evolution dogma?

Not God's work
- instead turn thine gaze (St. Austino) to Fido mother of dog
- for she hath gi'n birth to Babes (sp. pigdog).
Prodigious intelligence with penchant for scooby snacks.

The missing link?

[timeparticle]

Cow Burps !



COVENTRY, Vt. – Vermont dairy farmers Tim Maikshilo and Kristen Dellert, mindful of shrinking their carbon footprint, have changed their cows' diet to reduce the amount of gas the animals burp — dairy cows' contribution to global warming.

Coventry Valley Farm is one of 15 Vermont farms working with Stonyfield Farm Inc., whose yogurt is made with their organic milk, to reduce the cows' intestinal methane by feeding them flaxseed, alfalfa, and grasses high in Omega 3 fatty acids. The gas cows belch is the dairy industry's biggest greenhouse gas contributor, research shows, most of it emitted from the front and not the back end of the cow.
"I just figured a cow was a cow and they were going to do whatever they were going to do in terms of cow things for gas," said Dellert. "It was pretty shocking to me that just being organic wasn't enough, actually. I really thought that here we're organic, we're doing what we need to do for the planet, we're doing the stuff for the soil and I really thought that was enough."

She learned it wasn't. The dairy industry contributes about 2 percent to the country's total greenhouse gas production, said Rick Naczi, a vice president at Dairy Management Inc., which funds research and promotes dairy products. Most of it comes from the cow, the rest from growing feed crops for the cattle to processing and transporting the milk.

Since January, Coventry Valley Farm has reduced its cows' belches by 13 percent. At another farm, they've gone down 18 percent.

[leskey]

The links Mel has supplied really highlight the absolute lack of sincerity of governments with regard to alternatives in the face of the alleged global warming crisis.

Digest the figures...think how this money could have been spent toward reversing the damage to the planet (and, supposedly, the ozone layer) - mostly through education about alternatives and the development of alternative infastructure. Despite the decades of warning from scientists and governments, we can only surmise from the action taken that the economic collapse was the more real (genuine, fundamental, essential) of the two crises. The money has been spent...to support provably, unsustainable practices...

What are we waiting for? What more motivation do we require before we attain the insight to oust systems of government that are both deceiving us and failing to act in the best interests of those they're elected to represent???

[SB_UK]

What are we waiting for? What more motivation do we require before we attain the insight to oust systems of government that are both deceiving us and failing to act in the best interests of those they're elected to represent???

I agree.

What are we waiting for?

Actual incapacity to hide from the issues.

When there's no food on the table -
people will act.

Up until that point we'll observe apathy reigning supreme as the deluded cling onto the comfort of

'better the devil you know'.

[SB_UK]

Since January, Coventry Valley Farm has reduced its cows' belches by 13 percent. At another farm, they've gone down 18 percent.

Can't we encase the critters in a Michael Jackson bubble with Damien Hirst and then float 'em all off into space like those helium udders you get in East of England farming fayres?

[labelwench]

COVENTRY, Vt. – Vermont dairy farmers Tim Maikshilo and Kristen Dellert, mindful of shrinking their carbon footprint, have changed their cows' diet to reduce the amount of gas the animals burp — dairy cows' contribution to global warming.

Timeparticle

Although these animals produce organic milk, their diet is obviously not entirely natural to the cow if it is being "adjusted".

More interesting would be measurements of the cow emissions in their natural state, not being stressed to produce the maximum of milk even by the perceived benign methods of selective breeding and dietary intervention.

Not to be indelicate, but with an increasing global population and the "food-like products" that we ingest, we observe an increase of dietary distress, intestinal disease and digestive disorders that I suggest are directly related. The same stores that sell our "food" also stock Tums, Eno, Rolaids and Zantac, just to list a few common brand names. An entire industry devoted to heartburn, "rumbly tummy" and flatulence.

A revamping of our food chain, by mathematical extension from agriculture industry and practice, packaging and transportation, through to portion control and a re-thinking of what our body is designed to digest, should reduce our "noxious emissions" and air pollution by a significant margin.

Blaming it on the cows.....isn't that a little like blaming it on the family pet? Actually, we should reconsider what we feed our dogs and cats as well, given the olid proof that our pets, also, experience digestive disruption which is mitigated when they are returned to a diet more natural to the species.

Regards,

Labelwench

[SB_UK]

A revamping of our food chain...

eat to live not live to eat <- our problem

We're not meant to enjoy our food
(at maturity)
(~35 yrs at the earliest)

- enjoyment of food is meant to run alongside (as an exaptative mechanism) -
- alongside the development of mind.

Once the mind is developed
- we're meant to gain our stimulation from the mind.

If our mind does not develop or we do not realise that its development has consequences on our diet -
then we overeat
->-
Adult-onset diseases of excess result (heart, circulatory, metabolism).
(metabolic disorders)

Over-eating leads to over-growth in immunological cell types
(auto-immune disorders, the majority of cancers and allergies)
(immunological disorders)

and thereafter to diseases of excessive central (neural) re-modelling
->-
mental disorders.
(mental disorders)

The big three classes of disease in the West (mainly adult-onset) are the metabolic, immunological and mental set of disorders.

[SB_UK]

Imagine how well a butterfly'd soar if it ate like a caterpillar.



Solution

1.Make a small handful of foods free (potatoes,apples, lentils,onion,tomatoes and rice (for example)) for all

2.Point out that these are the only healthy foods available for general consumption

3.Explain that people won't starve with these foods and will be much much healthier because they won't overeat these foodstuffs because they do not contain the addictive ingredients which cause us to lose control (exorphins, sugar, MSG) and eat excessively.

4.Problem solved.

~*~

We have a problem when the additives which make food attractive become cheaper than quality produce -
in search of as much money as possible -
the food corporation (naturally) dilutes its foods with addictive substances.

Trap the consumer -
- the mantra of capitalism.

Variations on a theme of the 'pusher'.

~*~

Eating was never meant to be a pastime.

[labelwench]

The human activities of breathing and digestion release carbon dioxide, hydrogen and methane, among many others. We tend to look first to the mechanical activites of humankind and the impacts thereof, they being visible and more readily measureable.

Has the biological influence of our mechanisms of existence been equally considered, they being less visible?

With every breath you take......a measureable impact.

Death does not end the matter. Decay releases methane and other gases.

Anyway you look at it, we do contribute to the circumstances.

Labelwench

Follows are just "snippets" that I found to be rather interesting.

• The flammable character of flatus is caused by hydrogen and methane. The proportions of these gases depend largely on the bacteria that live in the human colon that digest, or ferment, food that has not been absorbed by the gastrointestinal (GI) tract before reaching the colon.

Although there is much less methane than CO2 in the atmosphere, methane is by far the more potent greenhouse gas per unit volume.

Methane's Huge Impact
Per unit of volume, it is twenty times more potent than carbon dioxide when its impact is measured over the course of a century. When you consider its effects within a single decade, methane is 100 times as powerful as carbon dioxide as a greenhouse gas![5] Carbon levels in the atmosphere are about 385 parts per million (ppm) currently, whereas methane is only about 1.8 ppm. But because methane is so powerful, it has the potential to have significant impacts on the future of global warming.
Methane is created when bacteria break down organic matter under oxygen-starved conditions. This occurs when organic matter is trapped underwater, as in rice paddies. It also takes place in the intestines of herbivorous animals, such as cows, sheep, and goats. Because human agriculture has grown over time to engulf most of the arable land on the planet, it is now adding a lot of methane to the atmosphere. Landfills and leakage from natural gas fields (methane is a component of natural gas) are also significant sources of methane.
Clathrates are a hidden source of Methane. Clathrates are frozen chunks of ice and methane that rest at the bottom of the world's oceans. As the water warms, the ice melts, and the methane is released. If the current global warming, which is caused by humans, were to cause changes in the Earth's ocean currents, then a rapid melting of clathrates would be possible. This too would create a positive feedback loop that would cause further global warming. It is believed that some of the warming cycles in the Earth's history have been caused by the sudden thawing of clathrates.[6]

A Growing Problem
The "green revolution" of the twentieth century has allowed the farmers of the world to use chemical fertilizers and machines to produce far more food than they ever did before. One of the primary components of the green revolution has been the development of nitrogen fertilizers that dramatically accelerate the growth and productivity of plants in the field. Plants "fix," or capture, nitrogen on their own as well, but green revolution technologies have become so popular that humans are now adding more nitrogen to the earth than all of the plants in the world combined![7]
Nitrogen oxides have 300 times more heat-trapping capacity per unit of volume than does carbon dioxide, and we release them every time we apply fertilizer to soil. A recent United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization study found that modern farming is contributing more to global warming than all of the transportation sector combined![8] This is due partly to the fuel burned in modern farming, but more significantly, to the release of methane and nitrogen oxides.

[timeparticle]

One way we can start to help is by creating more Earthship style homes...

An Earthship is a type of passive solar home made of natural and recycled materials. Designed and marketed by Earthship Biotecture of Taos, NM, the homes are primarily constructed to work autonomously and are generally made of earth-filled tires, utilising thermal mass construction to naturally regulate indoor temperature. They also usually have their own special natural ventilation system. Earthships are generally off-the-grid homes, minimizing their reliance on public utilities and fossil fuels.

Earthships are built to utilize the available local resources, especially energy from the sun. For example, windows on the sunny side admit light and heat, and the buildings are often horseshoe-shaped to maximize natural light and solar-gain during winter months. Likewise, the thick, dense outer walls provide effective insulation against summer heat.
Internal, non-load-bearing walls are often made of a honeycomb of recycled cans joined by concrete and are referred to as tin can walls. These walls are usually thickly plastered with stucco.

The roof of an Earthship is heavily insulated - often with earth or adobe - for added energy efficiency.

The earth-rammed tires of an Earthship are usually assembled by teams of two people working together as part of a larger construction team. One member of the two person team shovels dirt, which usually comes from the building site, placing it into the tire one scoop at a time. The second member, who stands on the tire, uses a sledge hammer to pack the dirt in. The second person moves in a circle around the tire to keep the dirt even and avoid warping the tire. These rammed earth tires in an Earthship are made in place because, when properly made, they weigh as much as 300 pounds and can be very difficult to relocate.

Additional benefits of the rammed earth tire are its great load-bearing capacity and its resistance to fire.
A fully rammed tire, which is about 2 feet 8 inches wide, is massive enough to surpass conventional requirements for structural load distribution to the earth. Because the tire is full of soil, it does not burn when exposed to fire. In 1996 after a fire swept through many conventional homes in New Mexico, an Earthship discovered in the aftermath was relatively unharmed[citation needed]. Only the south-facing wall and the roof had burned away, compared to the total destruction of the conventional homes. After testing the walls of an Earthship in Ridgway, Colorado, engineer Tom Griepentrog said, “It is my opinion that the construction method is equivalent to or better than the general quality, strength, effectiveness, fire resistance, durability and safety that is required by the uniform building code.”[citation needed]

Currently, Earthships are in use in almost every state in the United States, as well as many countries in Europe. The use of insulation on the outside of tire walls, which was not common in early designs, is improving the viability of Earthships in every climate without compromising their durability. In the year 2000, Mike Reynolds, in partnership with Daren Howarth, launched Earthship Biotecture Europe, an organization that aims to explore and evolve the concept of the Earthship within a European context. Two more directors were appointed to Earthship Biotecture Europe in July 2006 - Kevan Trott and Kirsten Jacobsen.

These off-the-grid homes also utilize southern facing windows
that can help sustain indoor gardens through cold winters...