US mid-term elections

[gary]

If all the power was turned off in the uk and we stopped using any vehicles at all the carbon saving we make would be wiped out by Chinese expansion within 2 years. So what difference does it make and why do we have to pay almost £5 a gallon for fuel - a single average cow emits more greenhouse gas than my car. Every 40000 years the polar ice caps melt, then over the next 40000 they come back again - ITS GOING TO HAPPEN ANYWAY - best advice is dont buy riverside property or anything near the coast, sit back and enjoy the sunshine. As long as we dont get hit by an asteroid our ability to adapt and invent will see us through...

politicians love the environment because it distracts the voters from the real issues

[britinbangkok]

Originally Posted by ValenciaSon

I would hope that no one lumps the US policy makers along with everyone else in the US because alot of us are frustrated at the current administration's position on the environment, and interfering with other governments while taking an isolationist's stance with the rest of the world, amongst other issues. Believe it or not, most of us americans do not want to conquer the world, nor use it as our junkyard.

I'm not saying you must return to the US or that you can't have your own opinion, but in a country as large and diverse as the US, there must've been some redeeming qualities you found.

Hey - sure, there are some things I like about the US, but I once did a list and there were SO MANY things I disliked that I knew I would never go back to live there. I like American food, and I miss LA (lived there for 6 years before I moved to Thailand, and it's the only place I'd move back to in the US), I miss my friends and I like Americans, but, other than that, no, there's nothing else. Weird, huh? And once my parents move (they're thinking of retiring to Spain next year) then there wouldn't even be any incentive for me to visit the US. I am technically American (got citizenship a few years ago), but I don't feel any attachment to the country anymore really.

I knew the minute I came to Thailand that I loved it, and would always come back here, if I ever left. And I've always felt the same about Spain - the atmosphere is phenomenal there. The US, for me, is too sterile, too bland, too all-the-same - just really not that interesting . Plus, I hated that I got one week's vacation a year (most other countries get at least 6-8 weeks), I hated that for many Americans life is all about money and buying 'stuff', and I hated that my tax money was going to Iraq, weaponry, and an enormous military-industrial complex etc etc. I knew when I left 4 years ago, it was definitely time to go, and I've never once regretted it.

Gary, those comments are just silly.

[Marina]

Originally Posted by gary

politicians love the environment because it distracts the voters from the real issues

I think at this point environment is one of the ISSUES!

[ValenciaSon]

To use a British expression, I think Al Gore is "spot on" concerning the environment and his global warming film does pose quite a compelling argument to those who would view global warming as an unaltered part of the earth's heating-cooling cycle. There is quite a bit of evidence presented on how we humans are hastening the heating process with impact on the environment manifested in atypical natural disasters such as increasing hurricanes and tropical storms at increasing intensities. To ignore any of this is tantamount to sticking one's head in the sand because life is too inconvinient.

[gary]

Originally Posted by ValenciaSon

To use a British expression, I think Al Gore is "spot on" concerning the environment and his global warming film does pose quite a compelling argument to those who would view global warming as an unaltered part of the earth's heating-cooling cycle. There is quite a bit of evidence presented on how we humans are hastening the heating process with impact on the environment manifested in atypical natural disasters such as increasing hurricanes and tropical storms at increasing intensities. To ignore any of this is tantamount to sticking one's head in the sand because life is too inconvinient.

I agree, its happening anyway and we're doing nothing to help and might even speed it up by a few hundred years, but unles china and russia do something we are peeing into the wind, my point is that our government is rubbing its hands ant taxing the hell out of fuel to make our piddly little island use less fossil fuels and it is such a small percentage that it makes no difference--- it is a revenue raising affair to fill the black hole in our economy

[Brian]

Originally Posted by Alan

Voting for the other guys does not necessarily mean that they are the best people for the job either.

I agree wholeheartedly. Although I usually vote Republican, I am quite miffed at the current administration. Still, I don't know if many voters might cross party lines and vote the other way.

It's sort of like the current political situation in Spain, I suppose. Many Spaniards that I have talked to cannot believe that the Socialists are in power, and believe that they are only there because of negative reaction to 3/11.

Originally Posted by richardksa

Oh please, please, please. Just to prove there is a God. But the others have to be locked up too. What the heck - I'm moving to Spain.

Lol, me too!

[gary]

i agree with Alan... the only thing politicians are remotely interested in is being politicians... the issues are merely an inconvenient sideshow that gets in the way

[Marina]

Originally Posted by gary

I agree, its happening anyway and we're doing nothing to help and might even speed it up by a few hundred years, but unles china and russia do something we are peeing into the wind, my point is that our government is rubbing its hands ant taxing the hell out of fuel to make our piddly little island use less fossil fuels and it is such a small percentage that it makes no difference--- it is a revenue raising affair to fill the black hole in our economy

While it would be ideal that the most populated countries started to take care of the environment, I think there is a lot that each person can do. Remember that is not only what you recycle, the energy that you save, the taps that you close while brushing your teeth... but also the example that you set to others, so this kind of thing becomes normal and then there would be no excuse for our politicians to avoid taking environment into account in their election programs.