Did they do something right?

[Craftergrl]

Late on Monday, the administration proposed legislation to reduce gasoline use by 20 percent over the next 10 years, mainly through the use of hybrids and alternative fuels like ethanol, ethanol/gasoline blends and biodiesel.

http://www.cnn.com/2007/TECH/03/20/bush.automakers.reut/index.html

Should we give credit where credit is due? To me this is a step in the right direction.

I'm deeply troubled by the environmental issues of our time. I'm not totally on the global warming bandwagon. But cleaner air, water and preservation of our national forests and lands are major concerns of mine. I volunteer from time to time to go up and down local streets to pick up trash and such. So I consider myself to be a tree hugger by any definition and proudly so.

I live in Colorado Springs,CO. When I moved here the skies were so amazing. So blue it defied description with clear crystal white clouds. It was common to see people standing on the street just staring at the sky. You knew what they were thinking. Magnificent.

But that's changed. The skies are hazy and sometimes brown. In the last 7 years so many people have moved here they are changing the environment. My beloved Colorado skies are gone.

Shouldn't we be supporting the administration on this subject and asking our reps to build on it? To go farther? Action is what we need, not hype.
We should demand that our presidential candidates for '08 pick up this subject and continue in this direction. We need action! I don't want to hear how much you sympathize with me, show me a plan to improve the situation and put it into law! Let's do something, enough with the frigg'n speeches! :mad:

Lets clean up our water! Clean up our air! Clean up our lands!

I'd love to see local governments put serious penalties for throwing cigarette buts out of car windows too. But that's just me. :grr:

[Oreo]

1. Welcome to DU

I've lived in CO for a year this week and the skies are amazing. I've seen the brown cloud a bunch of times... pretty depressing.

As for the Bush administration being right... I guarantee these are empty promises.
Bush won't do anything to force this to happen. They actually give tax breaks to small business owners that buy Hummers.

Since Bush and most Republicans care more about corporations than the people of the country, the only way to help the environment is to help every Democrat you can win a government seat whether it's local or national.

Did you hear about the St Patrick's Day parade in the Springs? Police basically attacked people that had peace signs on their shirts.

[youngdem]

2. No credit due here

for so many reasons.

First, the thing is a giveaway to farmers, a Midwest bribe. They are bribing corn farmers with this bullshit ethanol idea which is a negative delta return fuel unless major breakthroughs are made last I heard and it screws up food prices. Second, the predicted growth of our consumption over the target period is more than 20%, so while this is billed as a reduction in overall consumption, it is really an attempt to slow the growth in demand. Lastly, I don't trust this bunch with anything. If they propose something, I can know it in my soul to be an Orwellian-named, crony enriching boondoggle EVERY TIME.

Besides, trust your gut. Do you REALLY think a bunch of OIL MEN are gonna propose a real strategy to reduce consumption and dependence on fossil fuels? This is like getting drug cartels to direct national drug strategy, or the drug companies to run the FDA. (Oh, wait...)

[texastoast]

4. I heard it takes a half a gallon of gas to grow a bushel of corn

I bet the Bushies are mighty proud of this little trick.

[texastoast]

3. I have a picture of that sky

in my office to remind me what skies are supposed to look like. It was taken at about 9500 feet in Poudre Canyon.

I also have a picture looking across the Grand Canyon taken in 1960 along side one taken under the same weather conditions in 1997. The haze is very depressing. Part of that haze comes from LA. Part of it comes from China. Part of it from Stinkodena, Texas.

You are lucky that the environmentalists in Colorado were able to get the sizes of towns like Breckenridge limited. Otherwise, you would have even more pollution and Colorado skies could soon look like Houston or LA skies.

But now, the environmentalists are having to fight twice as hard due to the "pro-business" climate cultivated by the pukes over the last 25 years. How come we are getting stupider instead of smarter?

Keep up your fight, never ever give up, and welcome to DU.

[valerief]

5. They should bring back the electric car!

http://www.sonyclassics.com/whokilledtheelectriccar/electric.html

[Buck Laser]

6. I don't think brown skies are anything unusual in CO.

I remember approaching Denver from the east many years ago (1959) and seeing a brown smog blanket lying over the city. Even earlier that that, I was aware of smog in El Paso. Granted it's just gotten worse over the years, but I think it's a little myopic to assume that smog is a brand new problem.

But by no means does that mean that we should ignore it. The fact that the blankets are thicker over the urban places should give us an unmistakable clue that human activity inevitably affects air quality, hence climate, hence contributes to climate change.

[azmouse]

7. This was an effort by * to upstage Gore

who will be speaking about global warming tomorrow. Nothing more, nothing less. The idiot in chief doesn't mean a word of it when he babbles about a clean environment. He couldn't care less.