If everybody cut back on electricity^, would that curtail global warming?

[Deja Q]

^ meaning stopping usage of tvs, computers, everything NON-ESSENTIAL?

Let's face it: How essential to our lives is "business"?

Why not reclaim our agricultural roots but maintain the transport element as it is necessary to plant and harvest the crops necessary to sustain us all?

Would EVERYBODY be willing to ditch their ipods in favor of more localized communities with real, live, entertainment?

Or if we shut everything off, would it be too late to stop the global warming problem?

I see lots of news articles whining about global warming. Just as they do all sorts of other problems that have been created by mankind rather than God. Yet none of them even bothers to think of a solution.

Y'all can flame me all you want now. But the choice is simple: A radical change now that might just spare us all... or change nothing and we ALL die once we waste energy resources beyond a certain point, baking our planet in the process just as we would a pizza or gerbil pie. Even the mega-wealthy and they are the ones who'd ultimately decide what happens.

[Meatwad]

1. That's not the American way!

:sarcasm:

[Deja Q]

2. I'll live without my dishwasher too.

Doing dishes is theraputic and good for the arms. (was mankind meant to sit at a computer 8 hours a day? If so, why are many men endowed with big bulging abdomens?)

:D

[TallahasseeGrannie]

3. No flames. This is my favorite kind of post.

A question about rethinking it all...out of the box.

It would work for me because I own 8 acres of fertile land and know how to raise (and dispatch of) chickens, goats, etc. But what about somebody in South Bronx? What land will they use?

I don't know if consummer use is the issue. I'm guessing (but am no expert) that industrial use is more the problem.

Did you ever go into WalMart or Sam's and just look around? The sheer magnitude of product, packaging...junk. And I'm just as likely as the next person to pile up my basket. And there are WalMarts by the bazillion nation and world-wide. (and of course other huge retailers)

And yet... this is what fund us. This is what pays my salary (teacher) and so I have no easy answers.

But I do keep a garden planted just in case.

[jwirr]

4. We tried back to the earth in the 60s & 70s. It was a

great idea but few of us were able to maintain the life style. It might work better now because there is more need and life has definitely gotten crazier.

[orwell]

5. Well...

...since coal is a major fuel for the US Electric energy grid, it most certainly would.

[Squatch]

6. Turn off all the electricity...start burning wood for light, heat, etc.

[skids]

7. ipods and other home electronics use next to no electricity.

Almost all of our electricity goes three places:

1) generating heat
2) generating cold
3) generating light

If you want to cut down on electricity use, replace your fridge and air-conditioner, dry your clothes on a line when possible, and retrofit your house for better climate control.

While your at it, ask yourself this:

Why are there only one or two vendors making one of these, and why is it so damn expensive?

http://www.sunfrost.com/passive_refrig.html

[Lisa]

8. it would sure help air quality ...

I think most electricity generated in the US is produced by burning fossil fuels (usually coal). If power could be used more efficiently, there'd be a lot less SO2 and NOx generated. Less smog and acid rain, and less damage downwind (especially in the New England states, and Canada too).

So even without global warming to consider, there are a lot of good reasons to go off fossil fuels.

I am sitting in an office without windows, which was constructed that way because the builders thought that cheap energy would make up for the lack of natural light and ventilation. That is, until energy costs started rising ... in the winter, they often shut down the ventilation system entirely in order to heat up the building faster. A lot of my co-workers are getting sick -- and I've had trouble with headaches, difficulty breathing, etc. as well.

They would have saved a lot of money in the longterm, and had happier healthier employees, if they had made an initial investment in a better building.