Showing posts with label environmentalism. Show all posts
Showing posts with label environmentalism. Show all posts
Tuesday, March 27, 2007
    3627

    It's not easy being Green

    But the money's good. All the architectural journals have been green for years. But there's a lot of disagreements--afterall, just the concept of an architect means someone is building something for someone richer than he is. Green can still mean home theater, heated swimming pool and 3-car garage, just ask Al Gore or John Edwards. Think "P". Politicians. Pile-on. Professionals. Preaching. Petroleum-free. Products. Planning. Protection. Program. Projects. Plants. Positive. Profit. Performance. Productivity. No-Problem. Prove-it.

    And Paint. There's a company with "gender neutral" paint colors that are also eco-friendly. YOLO Colorhouse comes in six gender-neutral colors, mildew resistant and scrubbable, inspired by spring flora. And you can reuse and recycle the large poster size swatches by converting them to gift wrap. I didn't look up the prices, www.yolocolorhouse.com but I'm guessing only the rich buy this product, and they probably don't recycle gift wrap.

    When we were bottom-quintilists, i.e. poor, we used to use old architectural blueprints as gift wrapping paper--with a little white ribbon it was quite attractive, but I think that process isn't used anymore. Too many chemicals probably. If only someone had thought to promote blueprints as gift wrap.Source URL: https://maryelizabeth-winstead.blogspot.com/search/label/environmentalism
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Wednesday, March 21, 2007
    3606

    Bootleggers and Baptists

    There's an economic theory called "Bootleggers and Baptists" that refers to social regulation: "durable social regulation evolves when it is demanded by both of two distinctly different groups. Baptists point to the moral high ground and give vital and vocal endorsement of laudable public benefits promised by a desired regulation (and they flourish). Bootleggers who expect to profit from the very regulatory restrictions desired by Baptists, grease the political machinery (they are in it for the money, so they too flourish)." [Bootleggers and Baptists in Retrospect" by Bruce Yandle, Regulation Magazine Vol. 22. No. 3] Like Sunday sales. Baptists wanted alcohol banned on Sunday; bootleggers get that much more business. It's sales, not consumption. Like stricter FDA approval. The longer it takes, the more the holders of the current permits and patents benefit. Stricter emissions standards. These benefit established businesses while stifling new competition. Saving the owl (Baptist/environmentalists) put thousands of acres in storage and drove up lumber prices (the bootleggers/logging companies). So environmentalists (Baptists) may be touting the moral high road, and industry (bootleggers) goes along because they benefit, but someone else (you and me) always pays, either in higher prices, higher taxes, or loss of jobs.

    I think Al Gore's new religion is going to bring about many more federal government regulations that benefit business and agriculture with the backing of the global warming cartel. Like ethanol. Like the phony carbon exchanges. I'm sure that rich capitalists and energy barons are eager to run up the sawdust trail waving their hankies and shouting "Alleluia, I believe" testimonies. Al, tears running down his cheeks, will be there to bless them.Source URL: https://maryelizabeth-winstead.blogspot.com/search/label/environmentalism
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Monday, February 26, 2007
Wednesday, February 14, 2007

    3487 My agenda for the green groups

    In June, I outlined the changes I'd like to see so we could have a cleaner, healthier, more productive environment. Now that the green groups are going to invest in the global warming bandwagon at the expense of their usual causes, I thought I'd rerun my list. I particularly liked #13, allowing squatters to have gardens on the estates of celebrities.

    1. Cleaner burning coal and safer mines.
    2. Drilling for oil in Alaska, which is what Alaskans want.
    3. Don't allow western and southern states to drain the Great Lakes so they can farm non-agricultural land.
    4. Rebuild the barrier islands while restricting coast-line communities--even for the rich. Or the poor.
    5. Don't allow mega-Casinos by Indians or Cajuns or Hispanics or the Mafia or people of any special interest in coastal-tourist areas. Work on developing "real" jobs that produce something.
    6. Restore the fence rows in the Midwest so the birds can eat the bugs and less pesticide will be needed, plus it is just prettier and more colorful. Encourage living snow fences to protect soil from erosion in winter.
    7. Get rid of welfare for farmers (price supports) which encourages mismanagement and misuse of the land and creates ever larger farms.
    8. Strict enforcement of keeping out agricultural and waterway pests. (Actually we do a better job of restricting harmful bugs that hurt our economy than we do illegal people who do it by stealth.)
    9. More solar power; forget wind turbines--looks ridiculous, kills birds and changes air currents which will have long term bad effects on agriculture.
    10. More bicycle paths and set asides for parks. More sidewalks for walking. Discourage culs-de-sac to reduce congestion on feeder roads.
    11. Give small, efficient cars a tax break instead of trucks, or eliminate it all together.
    12. Reduce the government's dependence on oil by cutting gasoline taxes at the pump.
    13. Have Hollywood's falling stars let squatters use their land for gardens for the poor.Source URL: https://maryelizabeth-winstead.blogspot.com/search/label/environmentalism
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Tuesday, February 13, 2007

    3484 Environmental Groups

    I'm all for taking care of the planet. I wish more people would treat the planet with the respect my mother had. She used to say, and then lived her beliefs, "I can't save the world, but I can clean up four acres." I get so irritated at people who throw trash from their cars along the highway and build homes along the coasts, expecting the rest of us to clean up their mess or bail them out when a hurricane blows through. The January 27, 2007 issue of National Journal reports that groups like National Audubon Society and Sierra Club are all putting their tithes, offerings, and investments into the Greenhouse Gas Church of Global Warming. The article lists the priorities of the environmental groups now that they believe they can get in bed with the Democrats. And they're playing footsie with some outside their usual group. My comments in brackets.

    1) Regulate carbon dioxide. [More jobs will say good-bye. And it won't even help global warming, if it exists.]
    2) Broaden alliances with other groups, some are not known to be friendly, but politics as usual.
    3) Make cozy cooing noises with religious groups. [See what I mean?]
    4) Work with the Democrats. [No surprises here.]
    5) Promote clean energy technology. [There will be a lot of opportunity for businesses and investment here unless Pelosi kills it with higher taxes.]
    6) Expand farm bill's conservation. [Farmers are already on the receiving end of government aid and bail outs. Do they need more?]
    7) Protect more federal lands. [Probably just from ordinary folks like us--celebrities will still be able to have their multi-million dollar vacation lodges.]
    8) Shift priorities in EPA, Interior and Forest Service. [Whatever Bush has been doing, do it differently and charge the taxpayer more.]
    9) Cheer for Pelosi no matter what. [See #4]
    10) Cut subsidies for "big oil." [So do they plan to increase exploration and refineries or just punish American interests by making us more dependent on foreign owned oil?]
    11) Force electric utilities to use wind power. [Ever driven through a central Illinois wind farm and watched what looks like robotic giant chickens? Not a pretty picture, but celebrities won't be building there.]
    12) Require automakers to produce more efficient vehicles. [We did that in the 70s--now we have more cars than ever on the road. My van gets 26 mpg--would a celebrity drive a mini-van?]
    13) Revamp farm subsidies. [I'm all for this--how about a free market and no welfare for farmers? What about putting back the fence rows and not planting right up to the highways? Frences are homes for birds that eat bugs and wildlife and cuts down on erosion.]
    14) Open ranch and farm land for hunting and fishing. [Whoa! They're going to talk to the NRA?]
    15) Revitalize the Endangered Species Act. [Yes, good idea. Let's remove the species that aren't endangered and start worrying about endangered people.]
    16) Tax incentives for property owners who provide habitats for wildlife. [Does Oprah really need this for her California coast ranch? We've got gobs of these tax credits now, and the small holder can't use them.]
    17) Review the Army Corps of Engineers projects. [Yes, and while we're at it, let's look at all the environmental protection lawsuits that kept those levees from getting built in NOLA because of impact statements.]
    18] Wilderness legislation to protect federal land. [Do you suppose the Forestry folks and home owners in western states could be allowed to cut down and remove diseased and dying trees? Might help with those expensive forest fires and bring back tourism.]
    19) Legislation to protect coastal areas. [Here's a thought. Let's stop bailing out millionaires and factory farms who build close to the coast. That should do more than any new legislation which will only protect contributors to the green causes and the lawyers.]
    20) Reinstate Superfund Tax on oil and chemical industries to pay for cleanup. [You mean actually fund legislation? Will you stop telling gas station owners to close up and then give them no money to get the oil out of the underground tanks? Will that be on all laws and regulations, or will you be selective? You do know when you tax oil companies that we pay more at the pump, don't you?]
    21) Rewrite the 1872 Mining Act. [Anything that old, fat and lazy should definitely be looked at for its usefulness--I've got a few eastern Senators in mind.]
    22) Fight the coal and oil industries at all levels of government, including state and local. [Fine. My investments in energy are in Canada shale. The machines to extract the oil were probably built in Japan because you've made them too expensive to build on our soil. You'll be sending more American dollars and jobs abroad with this tactic.]Source URL: https://maryelizabeth-winstead.blogspot.com/search/label/environmentalism
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