What do I believe about the environment?

Good question, and I will try to answer it for myself and others. I wrote "Save The Planet" http://jimcolyer.com/@tracks/20/lofi.mp3 because I am a songwriter. Now, I am faced with defending the message of my song. Can I do it? I am not fanatic. I recall Al Gore's book about the environment. It was so technical, it was unreadable. It was kind of funny when George Bush 41 referred to Gore as "Ozone Man" because of his obsession with the ozone layer. I have heard that the ozone layer repairs itself, Maybe, maybe not. The big issue with Gore is global warming. I am now coming to an understanding of what global warming is. It is the tendency for man-made carbon dioxide and other gases to trap heat in the earth's atmosphere. The fear is that the earth will be heated to a point that its polar caps melt, inundating coastal cities. Unchecked, Earth could become an inferno like Venus although we would we dead long before. The problem I have is that geologists say we are between Ice Ages. If another Ice Age is inevitable, might not global warming serve as a device for heating the globe? Carbon dioxide in the atmosphere could trap the sun's energy and prevent glaciers from flowing north and south to drive the earth's population toward the equator. This sounds crazy. We are trying to figure out whether we will burn up or freeze to death, whether we are going to drown or die of thirst because all our water is locked up in ice. If global warming it taking place (and apparently it is), I am not sure that it is an entirely bad thing. It got pretty cold in Nashville last winter. If it is a bad thing, I am not sure that man in his ingenuity will not find a remedy. Al Gore might have the answer. After all, he invented the Internet. I stay mainstream. With the population of the earth at 6 billion and climbing, there is no doubt we have to manage natural resources more responsibly. The rainforest of South America can not be destroyed without consequences. We should be planting trees here in North America, one for each one we cut down. Houses have traditionally been built from lumber. Books have been made from paper. All that can change. New building materials can be developed. Libraries will become electronic. The large mammals of Africa need to be protected otherwise they will become extinct in a few decades. This is largely up to the governments of African countries and their National Park systems. At the same time, it is a world problem. Man is one species despite his constant fragmenting into religious sects and nationalities. If man were to act as one species (and I am not promoting a "one-race" concept) and stopping warring, he could put his house in order. The energy and money spent by Muslims, Christians and Jews fighting each other would go a long way toward utilizing alternative fuels. Fossil fuels will eventually be used up. It will take time (and no one knows how much), but the amount of coal, oil and gas in the ground is finite. If man does not prepare for the time when they are exhausted, civilization will collapse. Chaos will ensue. There is a lot of talk about alternative fuels. I am not sure how much research is being done or about the state of practical applications. People talk about running cars on vegetable oil. Gasoline is $2.25 a gallon. How much is a gallon of vegetable oil?

Jim Colyer
http://www.jimcolyer.com

 

Actually you can buy purple gas. It is made from extracts from the oils in canola and wheat and any other crops that farmers produce in mass. It has no traces of sulfur dioxide, and it does not produce carbon dioxide. The only problem is that purple gas that is sold at UFAs is expensive, and the only people who get it cheap or for a reasonable price are farmers.
Maybe governments should look towards lowering the price of this fuel and start promoting it more. That way the public would be more aware of its choices and wouldn't feel so pressured to ride transit or car pool to do their part in lowering the fossil fuel emissions that get into the air.

 

I think your a little off

Farmers buy cheap subsidised diesel (not gas) for thier tractors and machinery with a pink colour addititive so to distinguish it from the diesel sold to vehicle owners (it's illegal to drive a personal vehicle on subsidised diesel). Not sure if it is infact made from canola oil or wheat, very possible in some areas I'm sure, canola oil in particular is the most common ingredient in bio-diesel.

As per the original post I think you're making things a little to over-simplified. First the idea of using global warming to offset a potential ice-age is, well, childish, no offence. An ice age, if it does happen is still a few thousand years off, Global Warming is happening NOW and it doesn't simply involve the rising of our ocean's waters it means spuratic and violent shifts in ocean current, percipitation, wind patterns and growing cycles. Nevermind venus, you jack up the average temperatures on the earths surface just a few degrees and massive climactic turbulence will insue. This translates into many things, prime conditions for violent whether patterns such as tornadoes, tropical storms/hurricanes, droughts, heatwaves and floods. The biological fallout is that migratory routes and prime growing conditions are thrown out of whack the faces of particular eco-systems, some of which we depend on for reasons of sustainance and economics (agriculture predominately), completly change (this IS happening, I've seen it first hand in many places right here in Canada).

As per our dependence on fossil fuels I can't honestly see the powers to be, greedy curruptive basterds they are, squeezing out every last drop of oil without a back-up plan. The alternatives to a petrolium based society ALLREADY exsist and though you would never know it from what North American media shows us they are slowly taking root in MANY places across the globe, particularly Europe and Australia where the decent from the petrolium age has, in all reality, begun. When the tap runs dry those greedy buggers on top will find a way to keep making money, that's what they do and for that reason I can't see a complete state of anarchy taking root because it's not in thier self interest. Sure there will be a shit-load of turbulence, likely even another global scale war of some nature but when it comes down to it life will go on, as always,

 

This is the first time I have heard of purple gas.

 

it depends, some people can find old good working diesel cars for 1000 bucks and convert them for around another 1000 if their doing it theirselves. others probably spend around 10,000 to be sure to get a really nice diesel car and to get it converted by a professional, it just depends what your looking for i guess. its not TOO much but its not something everybody can go out and buy right away probably, but keep in mind it doesnt have to be this expensive.. i'm not sure how much the veg oil is but im pretty sure you save a looot of money in the long run, especially if your using WVO....