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pezThe weather was a bit freaky today - it suddenly, and I mean SUDDENLY, rained this morning, very very heavily for a few minutes. It was kind of scary.
But a tornado in London? O_o
Okay, tornados actually do happen here, as do earthquakes, but they're always so tiny sometimes it's undetected. So this is like, beyond freaky.
On the subject of freak weather, how aware do you think you are on the subject of climate change? I don't know if it's much talked about in the US... somehow I feel it probably isn't really thought about. It's not just because they haven't signed up to the Kyoto Treaty/Protocol, but also because of other factors such as it not being on Bush's agenda and so no money is being invested into it. Here, we talk about climate change a lot. It's not just about the scientists saying that polar ice caps are melting and we'll all drown. But we talk about going "carbon neutral". Businesses and organisations try to minimise their "carbon footprint". Cars that use alternative energies can be recharged for free in London and are exempt from road tax. How many of those terms ring bells to those in other parts of the world?
An American engineer** coming over here would find us very weird, I think. He'd ask why we're trying to minimise car use and get everyone on buses, cycles, trains or ask them to walk. It's partly because we have limited space (we're trying to build roads around cities, not plan cities and their roads together) and so we can't cater for many more cars - unlike places in the US where if there's demand, they'd just build a new highway - but also that tackling climate change is high on the agenda. Ice-cap melting is real, the hole above Australia is real (and Australia is also real ;D), fossil fuels running out is also real. But on a more personal level, this sort of pollution triggers asthma, leads to acid rain and causes changes in weather so that summers are getting hotter and winters colder.
I'm actually not much of a green crusader myself, but, yeah. Been talking about it the other day, that's all.
Poll, because I'm procrastinating:
[Poll #883962]
** I say "American" very generally, like the average person out there. Somehow I think the flist would know a bit more than the average person. XD
But a tornado in London? O_o
Okay, tornados actually do happen here, as do earthquakes, but they're always so tiny sometimes it's undetected. So this is like, beyond freaky.
On the subject of freak weather, how aware do you think you are on the subject of climate change? I don't know if it's much talked about in the US... somehow I feel it probably isn't really thought about. It's not just because they haven't signed up to the Kyoto Treaty/Protocol, but also because of other factors such as it not being on Bush's agenda and so no money is being invested into it. Here, we talk about climate change a lot. It's not just about the scientists saying that polar ice caps are melting and we'll all drown. But we talk about going "carbon neutral". Businesses and organisations try to minimise their "carbon footprint". Cars that use alternative energies can be recharged for free in London and are exempt from road tax. How many of those terms ring bells to those in other parts of the world?
An American engineer** coming over here would find us very weird, I think. He'd ask why we're trying to minimise car use and get everyone on buses, cycles, trains or ask them to walk. It's partly because we have limited space (we're trying to build roads around cities, not plan cities and their roads together) and so we can't cater for many more cars - unlike places in the US where if there's demand, they'd just build a new highway - but also that tackling climate change is high on the agenda. Ice-cap melting is real, the hole above Australia is real (and Australia is also real ;D), fossil fuels running out is also real. But on a more personal level, this sort of pollution triggers asthma, leads to acid rain and causes changes in weather so that summers are getting hotter and winters colder.
I'm actually not much of a green crusader myself, but, yeah. Been talking about it the other day, that's all.
Poll, because I'm procrastinating:
[Poll #883962]
** I say "American" very generally, like the average person out there. Somehow I think the flist would know a bit more than the average person. XD
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no subject
Date: 2006-12-08 12:30 am (UTC)Al Gore has already been mentioned above, but I finally saw his Inconvenient Truth on the plane back from America and it really is very good. He doesn't take a Michael Moore route about it - rather, it's largely him giving a lecture, and ending on a nice message of hope. Because that's really what I think is most important - we can do something about it now, so people should be made to. And that includes Dubya, and people like Blair who like to look like they're doing something but are doing it in a really wimpy way that doesn't really achieve much.
...I only meant to write about 3 lines! XD Sorry for ranting on! But like I say, it is something I feel strongly about, even if I'm not some super eco-warrier.
no subject
Date: 2006-12-08 02:51 pm (UTC)Other politicians, though... if their advisors tell them "if you do this, you won't get re-elected", that's all it needs for them to stop at promoting a new policy. =_=