Observances...

[crfriend]

It turns out that today is World Ocean Day, designed to call attention to the largest portion of the planet, and likely the one that may save or extinguish humans as a species. I'd call that pretty important.

Why, then, in the US, is the entire month of June designated as "PRIDE Month"?

I smell a bit of a priority inversion here... Where's an error code of 1202 when one needs it?

[BouffantBelle]

Incidentally, the biggest ocean pollutant is plastic. More specifically, polyester fibers from your average wash cycle accumulated over time.

Psst...Carl...guess what heat-set pleated skirts are made from? I hope you take care to keep that baby clean!

[moonshadow]

Why, then, in the US, is the entire month of June designated as "PRIDE Month"?

A clean and healthy ocean would be something to be proud of.

[6ft3Aussie]

Unfortunately, it is not just the USA which infected (in my opinion) by "pride" week. I'm not sure what there is to be proud about this woke ideology that is becoming so prevalent these days...

[denimini]

There seems to be an international day for something on most days of the year. If we opened a bottle of Champagne for each one the ocean would be bobbing with plastic corks (as most of them are now).
It is rather tokenistic as to fix the oceans, for example, it will take a concerted effort every day for decades.

[crfriend]

It is rather tokenistic as to fix the oceans, for example, it will take a concerted effort every day for decades.

Hence my rather sarcastic observation of the priority inversion with "PRIDE" getting an entire month in the US.

[jamie001]

How about pride in saving our oceans? We have already destroyed all land areas, let's at least save the oceans!

[Fred in Skirts]

Saving the ocean is not the highest priority at present, at least for most of the governments around the world!! In fact it is probably 5th or 6th down the line. It seems to me the first is grooming of children so that one political group or another can make all of the laws to control the world. (Sorry I know no politics!)

One of the biggest lies going down the propaganda ways is electric cars. Where do people think electricity comes from to charge all of those batteries, the tooth fairy??
No it comes from all of those fossil fueled power plants and the nuclear power stations. SO who is saving on carbon emissions, no one!! Oh I hear someone screaming solar power, really only about .005% are powered by solar. Wind power creates it own pollution and also kills 1000's of birds each day.

There are liars and then there is the government!

[pelmut]

[...]
One of the biggest lies going down the propaganda ways is electric cars. Where do people think electricity comes from to charge all of those batteries, the tooth fairy??

The next lie will be the "Hydrogen Economy" -- wonderful stuff, we get it from unicorn farts, you know.

[Barleymower]

[...]
One of the biggest lies going down the propaganda ways is electric cars. Where do people think electricity comes from to charge all of those batteries, the tooth fairy??

The next lie will be the "Hydrogen Economy" -- wonderful stuff, we get it from unicorn farts, you know.

The end result will be less reliance on fossil fuels. Fossil feel are about as cheap an energy you will ever get. Dig it up and burn it. Anything else and you will need to make or something grow something first. I am in no doubt that there will be enough fossil fuels for WEF etc long after we are walking to work and toiling in fields.
That's the beauty of Net Zero. You can carry on using fossil fuels as long as you can 'offset' ie pay for it. We, the little people will not be able to afford to 'offset'.
It's all a massive con. What's new?

[Myopic Bookworm]

Unfortunately, it is not just the USA which infected (in my opinion) by "pride" week. I'm not sure what there is to be proud about this woke ideology that is becoming so prevalent these days...

Yeah, the word was a nicer place when you could insult, bully, and oppress anyone who didn't fit in your privileged group.

I'm woke and proud of it.

[ScotL]

Yeah, the word was a nicer place when you could insult, bully, and oppress anyone who didn't fit in your privileged group.

I'm woke and proud of it.

I’m not sure I know what “woke” is. I know I can’t define it. But I do know I want to live in a place where we err on the side of celebrating and accepting all people.

I can honestly say, the fact that I want to wear a skirt and be accepted for it (or at least, not bothered or singled out for doing so) has made me a better person. Not that I know what it’s like to be gay or trans, but I also want to be accepted for who I am without others telling me I’m not “normal.”

[Myopic Bookworm]

Wind power creates it own pollution and also kills 1000's of birds each day.

The estimates for bird kills from wind turbines in the US is highly variable, but the most pessimistic figure is around 750,000 to 1 million annually. This compares to figures of around 5 million from commmunications towers, 60 million from collisions with cars, over 100 million from high tension lines, and over 100 million from flying into windows. So wind turbines are a relatively small part of the birds' problems, and there is research towards more bird-friendly wind power.
(One project I saw reviewed found that simply painting one arm of a turbine black reduced mortality greatly, because it made it easier for birds to see the turbine from a distance.)
On any measure you can think of, wind power causes less pollution than either nuclear or fossil-fuel power. But the oil companies don't want you to think about that.
(Oil companies have extraordinary dominance in the US. When I lived there, I was pestered to change the oil in my car every few weeks. Here in the UK, I change it once a year, so either American oil is crap quality or the oil companies are pulling a fast one and raking in the resulting profit. God knows where they are dumping all the used engine oil.)

[Midas]

Wind power creates it own pollution and also kills 1000's of birds each day.

The estimates for bird kills from wind turbines in the US is highly variable, but the most pessimistic figure is around 750,000 to 1 million annually. This compares to figures of around 5 million from commmunications towers, 60 million from collisions with cars, over 100 million from high tension lines, and over 100 million from flying into windows. So wind turbines are a relatively small part of the birds' problems, and there is research towards more bird-friendly wind power.
(One project I saw reviewed found that simply painting one arm of a turbine black reduced mortality greatly, because it made it easier for birds to see the turbine from a distance.)
On any measure you can think of, wind power causes less pollution than either nuclear or fossil-fuel power. But the oil companies don't want you to think about that.

(Oil companies have extraordinary dominance in the US. When I lived there, I was pestered to change the oil in my car every few weeks. Here in the UK, I change it once a year, so either American oil is crap quality or the oil companies are pulling a fast one and raking in the resulting profit. God knows where they are dumping all the used engine oil.)

I’m willing to bet that you live in an area where there are few wind turbines. Where I live the moorland has been despoiled by them and the roadways built to access them. From the top of the hill on the eastern side of our valley I can see 60. The damage will outlive the turbines by many decades.

[ScotL]

I’m willing to bet that you live in an area where there are few wind turbines. Where I live the moorland has been despoiled by them and the roadways built to access them. From the top of the hill on the eastern side of our valley I can see 60. The damage will outlive the turbines by many decades.

Where I grew up we had coal mines, strip mining and now fracking. The damage to the land is remarkable and long lasting . An amazing river was destroyed and remains destroyed due to mining waste now many years later.

If we want to argue what source of power causes the most long lasting destruction, in my opinion, we need to evaluate all of the merits and detractors of each. I believe we also need to realize that technology continues to evolve and the first iteration of things won’t be the last. With improvements in technology, we can hope to improve energy production with the least environmental impact.