the term horsepower arrived not humanpower, let us not underrate the wheelbarrow. i like this topic, and meanwhile, before grand spaces to can etc. would love to gather and put up june fruit. emmy seeking a living space starting august or september. enjoy! --- Daniel Record <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
> The Power in Gasoline > > Have you ever thought about the amount of power in a > gallon of gasoline equated to human power? Picture > a car that gets 30 miles to the gallon. Your > average small Honda or Toyota. Can you push this > car 1 mile in a day? If you are over 40 years old, > probably not. If you are really fit you may be able > to push this car 2 miles in a day. > > So the for the average 1 mile per day car pusher > there are 30 man-days of labor in a single gallon of > gasoline. That little jug of gas, the size of a > gallon of milk, has the amount of energy that equals > you sweating your butt off for a month. It also > includes the 40 or 50 pounds of food that you would > eat for a month. > > The Creator gave us an amazing gift in hydrocarbon > power. A gift that we are totally wasting on trips > to the mall to buy Chinese made plastic gagas. We > are using this gift as slave labor to empower our > foolish egoistic desires at the expense of Life on > Earth. > > So lets put some dollars in the equation so you can > really relate to that little gallon of gasoline. If > you paid someone $10 dollars an hour to push your > car around and that person could push you and your > car and your Chinese gagas a mile a day then it > would cost you $80.00 per mile or $2400.00 for every > 30 miles. So your little gallon of gasoline is > worth around $2400.00 in human labor. > > Assume you have hired a strong young teen to push > you and your 2000 pounds of carbon debt around the > city and he can push you 2 miles a day. That would > mean each gallon is worth only $1200.00. If you use > 10 gallons a week for your average lifestyle the > cost in human labor is $12,000.00 per week; 20 > gallons equals $24,000 per week. > > No wonder we will do anything to keep our gasoline > fix. The real cost of gasoline slave labor in human > terms is astronomical. > > If you had a few acres of land, a cabin, a chain > saw, a roto tiller and 5 gallons of gasoline, you > could live a simple lifestyle with very little real > labor. The 5 gallons of gasoline could do all the > real work required to feed you and cut firewood. > But it will not supply you with any of the wasteful > luxuries that we are addicted to. > > It is obvious that moving 2000 lbs of steel and > plastic to transport a 200 lb human is very > inefficient. The energy that you expend on a trip > to McDonalds for a burger is many, many times > greater than the energy in the burger itself. You > might be able to push your car a few blocks from the > energy in a burger. > > I think it is important to repeat myself regarding > this. The more I think about it, the deeper I see > into my addiction to gasoline. If I make a 10 mile > round trip to buy a meal and I think about the > amount of energy it would take me to push the car 10 > miles, which is 10 days of hard labor for a 1 mile > per day car pusher. Wow! I would have to keep > myself alive, fed and fit for 10 days of hard labor > just to make a 10 mile trip for dinner. I would > have to eat 30 meals to provide the power to drive > to one meal. (This all doubles if I am driving a > 15mpg SUV and doesnt include the hydrocarbon debt > of getting the food to the restaurant.) > > It is easy to see that the future is in bicycles or > rickshaws. Your young teen could probably move you > a mile or two an hour in a rickshaw as he would only > have to push you and not your 2000 pounds of carbon > debt. There is NO SUSTAINABLE FUTURE in any kind of > automobile based society. It doesnt matter if your > little box on wheels gets 100 miles per gallon. > This kind of statement is definitely water off a > ducks back. WAKE UP DUCKY!!!!!! > > There is a very similar amount of hydrocarbon power > in home heating fuels, oil or gas. Picture the > black aluminum heat sinks that are on the back of > many electrical devices. These heat sinks dissipate > extra heat from the electrical device into the air. > Our cities are just big heat sinks. Our buildings > only hold heat for a very short time. Every time > your furnace comes on, it means that quantity of > heat has escaped to the outdoors. A gallon of fuel > oil only lasts a few hours in the average home > during the winter. Multiply 5 to 10 gallons of oil > per day times the number of homes in a city times > 100 days of winter and the numbers get crazy in a > hurry. It is ABSOLUTE INSANITY to be constantly > burning this amount of power to heat (or cool) > buildings. The highest use for oil is to make > insulation, not to make heat. > > 10 gallons of heating oil will move a 1984 > Volkswagen diesel Rabbit for 500 miles. Would you > rather walk 500 miles, heat your home for 1 or 2 > days or run your garden tractor to eat? In the not > too distant future we are going to face decisions > like this. At this moment Ill bet the little > quacker in the back of your brain is telling you > that it will never come to this and I dont know > what I am talking about. You and your little > quacker better get in touch with the real world > Ducky. > > A bunch of people are going to make trillions of > dollars selling hope to a doomed civilization. The > only hope is to fix the basis of the problem, not to > apply band aids. The real basis of the problem is > that we live by the doctrine that humanity has > Dominion over the Earth. The Earth exists to > satisfy any desire the human race can conceive, > regardless of the cost to our Earth Mother. > Anything we can invent to increase our comfort and > decrease our sweat equity in this lifetime is > totally justified. WRONG AGAIN DUCKY!!!!! You can > only live outside of the Natural Laws of Earth for a > finite drop of time. > > > > We could have super insulated every building > in the U.S.A. for the cost of the Iraq War > and told the oil companies to shove it. > > > > > What are the two biggest drugs in America?? > > Electricity and Gasoline. > > We will do absolutely anything to keep our fix: Go > to war, Drop nuclear bombs, Cause a climatic change > that is of the order of the changes that ended the > age of the dinosaurs. > > The most valid reason I can come up with for knowing > that the shit is going to hit the fan and we are > headed into very tough times is to look at my own > lifestyle. Despite my knowledge of the problems and > my ranting and raving about things, I am still > living in poorly insulated housing and burning as > much gasoline as I want to. > > > > > Our cultures response to its problems is like > rearranging the deck chairs on the Titanic. > > > > > Bill Record / Medicine Bear is involved in creating > the Earth Town Network, a series of eco villages > across the country based on the Peace Principles. > _______________________________________________ > For more information about sustainability in the > Tompkins County area, please visit: > http://www.sustainabletompkins.org/ > > RSS, archives, subscription & listserv information > for: > [email protected] > http://lists.mutualaid.org/mailman/listinfo/sustainabletompkins > free hosting by http://www.mutualaid.org > _______________________________________________ For more information about sustainability in the Tompkins County area, please visit: http://www.sustainabletompkins.org/ RSS, archives, subscription & listserv information for: [email protected] http://lists.mutualaid.org/mailman/listinfo/sustainabletompkins free hosting by http://www.mutualaid.org
