Speaking of termites - any advice for a environmentally benign way to keep them under control?
-Mike Keith Addison wrote: >Hello Wendell > ><snip> > > > >> By the way, I seem to recall that termites are the source >>of 20 percent of the world's methane. I am no entomologist --is >>there any known benefit to man or beast from termites? >>If not, let's get 'em! >> >> > >Right, let's kill them all! Termite-caused global warming has to be >stopped in its tracks. There can't be anything important about >termites anyway, I mean they only produce 20% of the world's methane >after all, and only about two-thirds of the world's dead plants go >through termites in the organic matter cycle, obviously they're >totally useless to man and beast. Anyway, if we can wipe them out and >lose that methane maybe we can go right on guzzle-guzzle-guzzling for >a few days or weeks longer before we hit Cold Turkey time on the >fossil fuels. What do you think we should use, DDT or malathion? > >What about the methane from wild ruminants, you forgot about them - >there are millions and millions of antelope and wildebees in the >Serengeti for instance, if we don't go right in there and kill them >they'll just go right on farting. > >Same applies to all these useless creatures, if they can't live >without being so irresponsible then they just have to go. > >Nature knows best, and if Nature was capable of making these >decisions for herself she wouldn't have given us brains to do it for >her, right? > >Best > >Keith > > > > >>Regards, >> >>Wendell >> >> >> >>>From: Keith Addison <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> >>>Date: 2007/03/02 Fri AM 04:13:55 CST >>>To: biofuel@sustainablelists.org >>>Subject: Re: [Biofuel] Al Gore's 'Inconvenient Truth' Power Use >>> >>> >>>Hi Terry >>> >>>Thanks for finding the ref. >>> >>> >>> >>>>Hi Keith, >>>> >>>>You asked for a link to the the UCS quote. It was from the Green >>>>Issue of the Vancouver Sun newspaper in Nov. (Vancouver, BC, Can.) >>>>The actual quote was, Methane produced by waste on cattle and hog >>>>farms is as hard on the atmospher as 33 million cars. 18% of total >>>>global emissions. >>>> >>>> >>>But 33 million cars is only about 15% of the number of vehicles in >>>the US, let alone globally, how can that equal 18% of global >>>emissions? >>> >>>"Cattle and hog farms" means CAFOs, not farms, or at least in the >>>vast majority of cases. I don't think that's the same as what you >>>said, "the total of all livestock on this planet". >>> >>> >>> >>>>>I think the meat industry would account for a lot more than a paltry >>>>>33 million cars' worth of GHGs. >>>>> >>>>> >>>I still think that. The claim of 18% of global emissions from CAFOs >>>doesn't sound unreasonable, but the cars bit can't be right, seems to >>>me. >>> >>>Thanks Terry. >>> >>>Best >>> >>>Keith >>> >>> >>> >>> >>> >>> >>>>Terry Dyck >>>> >>>> >>>> >>>> >>>>>From: Keith Addison <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> >>>>>Reply-To: biofuel@sustainablelists.org >>>>>To: biofuel@sustainablelists.org >>>>>Subject: Re: [Biofuel] Al Gore's 'Inconvenient Truth' Power Use >>>>>Date: Wed, 28 Feb 2007 16:26:10 +0900 >>>>> >>>>>Hello Terry >>>>> >>>>> >>>>> >>>>>>Hi Kirk, >>>>>> >>>>>>If all of us did what we should be doing our houses would be one >>>>>>room heated with Geo Thermal, hot water and electricity by solar and >>>>>>we would walk or bike almost everywere >>>>>> >>>>>> >>>>>This: >>>>> >>>>> >>>>> >>>>>>and we would be totally Vegan. >>>>>> >>>>>> >>>>>... is nonsense, as we've established quite thoroughly many times. >>>>>Please go to the archives and check it out. >>>>> >>>>>There is no way of raising crops sustainably without using livestock >>>>>in the production system. No vegetarian farming system has ever >>>>>survived the test of time. >>>>> >>>>>Please don't argue about it until you've checked it out, no need to >>>>>go over the same old ground yet another time. >>>>> >>>>> >>>>> >>>>>>The Union of Concerned Scientists reports that because of the amount >>>>>>of Methane gas caused from feed lots, etc. that the total of all >>>>>>livestock on this planet is equivalent to taking 33 million cars of >>>>>>the road. >>>>>> >>>>>> >>>>>"Feed lots, etc"? What does the "etc" mean? >>>>> >>>>>I'm sure the amount of GHGs emitted by trees etc is even worse, >>>>>should we cut them all down too? >>>>> >>>>>"Do trees share blame for global warming?" >>>>>http://www.csmonitor.com/2006/0119/p13s01-sten.html >>>>>"Globally, living plants may contribute from 10 to 30 percent of >>>>>global methane emissions." >>>>> >>>>>I haven't seen the UCS report you mention, would you give us a >>>>>reference or a link please? >>>>> >>>>>Anyway you're talking about feedlots, CAFOs, Confined Animal Feeding >>>>>Operations, industrialised factory farms. No CAFOs no meat? That's >>>>>the same mistake enviros make when they attack fuel ethanol because >>>>>they don't like Archer Daniel Midlands and Cargill. There are other >>>>>ways of doing things, as we ought to know by now. >>>>> >>>>>There've been a number of high-profile critiques of industrial meat >>>>>production and global warming, this is the main one: >>>>> >>>>>http://www.virtualcentre.org/en/library/key_pub/longshad/A0701E00.htm >>>>>Livestock's long shadow - Environmental issues and options >>>>>Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations >>>>> >>>>>Feedlot cattle, pigs and poultry eat industrialised grain, produced >>>>>with high dependence on fossil-fuel inputs and at high environmental >>>>>cost, and the same applies to the CAFO livestock production system >>>>>itself. Check out how carbon-neutral industrialised grain turns out >>>>>to be. Pastured livestock eat forage. >>>>> >>>>>With CAFOs most of the methane emissions result from the manure >>>>>storage, especially in with pigs. With pastured livestock, especially >>>>>with rotational pasture, the manure provides the soil fertility to >>>>>produce multiple following crops, displaces the need for fossil-fuel >>>>>based chemical fertilisers, and does so at a healthy profit. Such >>>>>pasture soils sequester very large amounts of carbon. >>>>> >>>>>I think the meat industry would account for a lot more than a paltry >>>>>33 million cars' worth of GHGs. Well so what, it doesn't have any >>>>>future anyway, any more than the rest of the industrial agriculture >>>>>disaster does. It's fossil-fuel dependent every step of the way, and >>>>>measured in food miles that comes to a hell of a long way. It'll bust >>>>>all their bottom-lines when carbon accounting starts hitting the >>>>>global trade it depends on, the insane distribution system, the >>>>>processing. Apart from all of which CAFOs have become a major >>>>>bio-hazard. >>>>> >>>>>No need for it anyway. The future is small, sustainable, family-run >>>>>mixed farms with integrated crop and livestock production, low input, >>>>>high output, local markets. >>>>> >>>>>Best >>>>> >>>>>Keith >>>>> >>>>> >>>>> >>>>> >>>>>>Terry Dyck >>>>>> >>>>>> >>>>>> >>>>>>>From: Kirk McLoren <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> >>>>>>>Reply-To: biofuel@sustainablelists.org >>>>>>>To: biofuel@sustainablelists.org >>>>>>>Subject: Re: [Biofuel] Al Gore's 'Inconvenient Truth' Power Use >>>>>>>Date: Tue, 27 Feb 2007 11:45:14 -0800 (PST) >>>>>>> >>>>>>>The message is - It isnt really that important. If it were I >>>>>>> >>>>>>> >>would do it. >> >> >>>>>>>So how true is it - at least to him. >>>>>>>If it doent motivate him maybe he knows something we dont. >>>>>>>So of all people to squander energy it shouldnt be him. >>>>>>> >>>>>>>You might want to look into Cripple Creek Coal which he is on the >>>>>>>board of directors. >>>>>>> >>>>>>>Kirk >>>>>>> >>>>>>>Tom Irwin <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: >>>>>>> Hi Kirk and all, >>>>>>>When the message cannot be attacked then attack the messenger. Ok, >>>>>>>so Gore doesn´t walk the talk. How many of us do? We try to, but >>>>>>>there is a long way to go for most everyone in the developed world. >>>>>>>It´s the message that´s inportant, not the man. >>>>>>>Tom Irwin >>>>>>> >>>>>>> >>>>>>> >>>>>>> >>>>>>> >>>>>>>--------------------------------- >>>>>>> >>>>>>>From: Kirk McLoren <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> >>>>>>>Reply-To: biofuel@sustainablelists.org >>>>>>>To: biofuel <Biofuel@sustainablelists.org> >>>>>>>Subject: [Biofuel] Al Gore's 'Inconvenient Truth' Power Use >>>>>>>Date: Tue, 27 Feb 2007 10:57:43 -0800 (PST) >>>>>>> >>>>>>> > > >_______________________________________________ >Biofuel mailing list >Biofuel@sustainablelists.org >http://sustainablelists.org/mailman/listinfo/biofuel_sustainablelists.org > >Biofuel at Journey to Forever: >http://journeytoforever.org/biofuel.html > >Search the combined Biofuel and Biofuels-biz list archives (50,000 messages): >http://www.mail-archive.com/biofuel@sustainablelists.org/ > > > _______________________________________________ Biofuel mailing list Biofuel@sustainablelists.org http://sustainablelists.org/mailman/listinfo/biofuel_sustainablelists.org Biofuel at Journey to Forever: http://journeytoforever.org/biofuel.html Search the combined Biofuel and Biofuels-biz list archives (50,000 messages): http://www.mail-archive.com/biofuel@sustainablelists.org/