The joys of farm subsidies

[Tsukiyumi]

I think to stop it, the world (as a community) would have to get seriously on board about a solution, and be willing to buck up and actually sacrifice in some way to help make that solution come about. Telling people "no, starve and be poor, look at these science charts about O2 production from the rainforest" isn't going to work. We can't pull off the international cooperation to do something like help developing countries build up ecologically viable infrastructures to divert them away from these kinds of destructive ones. (Which are usually all they can afford.)

I think everyone can afford to stop breeding so damn much. That'd limit the problem considerably. When I see people with 6 or 7 kids, I always think, " What damn century do you live in, because there's not much more room from where I'm sitting."

We're f*cking our way to extinction, because men apparently can't be bothered to pull it out.

[Duskofdead]

You know pulling out doesn't work, right? I think taking the free availability of condoms in the U.S. and assuming they are equally available and accessible in countries where the average family makes about $180 per year is a pretty huge leap to assume parallel conditions.

Many groups including major medical and humanitarian groups in the U.S. would love to do more of that kind of work, both under and with gov't support, but that's largely held hostage by the religious right which insists on abstinence-only or else demand a program not get any funding b.s.

[Tsukiyumi]

You know pulling out doesn't work, right?

It does if you pay attention.

Of course, I do a lot of things that would probably lower my sperm count regardless, so I may not be the best example.

*snip rest*

I totally agree that funding for needed programs like that is regularly derailed by fundamentalists.

[Duskofdead]

Damn Fundamentalists.

[Tsukiyumi]

Fundamentalist = Extremist. What's the damn difference? Both are trying to impose beliefs on others, whether it's through dogma or IEDs.

[Duskofdead]

Can I be a sex extremist?

[Tsukiyumi]

Can I be a sex extremist?

What, trying to impose your sexual preferences on others?

Some people are just not any fun that way, and never will be. They're boring, and bland, but they have as much right to their mild salsa existences as I do to my exotically spicy one.

[Duskofdead]

Can I be a sex extremist?

What, trying to impose your sexual preferences on others?

Some people are just not any fun that way, and never will be. They're boring, and bland, but they have as much right to their mild salsa existences as I do to my exotically spicy one.

My belief = people want to sleep with me.

Me as an extremist = I will MAKE you want to sleep with me.

[Tsukiyumi]

Can I be a sex extremist?

What, trying to impose your sexual preferences on others?

Some people are just not any fun that way, and never will be. They're boring, and bland, but they have as much right to their mild salsa existences as I do to my exotically spicy one.

My belief = people want to sleep with me.

Me as an extremist = I will MAKE you want to sleep with me.

Something in the water supply, or the old fallback of mass-hypnosis?

[Duskofdead]

Are you implying that me just stripping wouldn't accomplish everything I want?

Infidel.

[sunnyside]

You know pulling out doesn't work, right?

It does if you pay attention.

Dude. No it doesn't. You start putting sperm out in what is dubbed the "pre ejaculate". All pulling out does is lower the number of sperm that get inside considerably.

But it only takes one Mark Spitz in the bunch.

[Mikey]

I'm aware that it has some issues as far as increasing food prices and also isn't feasible in every single region or economy, but I too am not sure what is so horribly wrong with it that fossil fuel is preferrable. Teaos just made a cryptic remark about how it'll bring about the end of the world and I'm an idiot if I wait until it's too late, and never explained it.

It's not the fact of biodiesel itself; it's the fact that it was promulgated as clean and green - of which it is neither. Plus, as I mentioned, use of regular cracked diesel doesn't drive up the export/assistance cost (although it does as far as the retail end-user.)

[Duskofdead]

I agree it is not desirable as a long term panacea solution to fossil fuel addiction. But if we're going to be polluting anyway, I'd prefer to pollute at least partially with something that is renewable and domestically accessible than something that requires thousands of lives and trillions of dollars to fight wars over. Wouldn't you?

[Mikey]

I agree it is not desirable as a long term panacea solution to fossil fuel addiction. But if we're going to be polluting anyway, I'd prefer to pollute at least partially with something that is renewable and domestically accessible than something that requires thousands of lives and trillions of dollars to fight wars over. Wouldn't you?

#1 - if biodiesel were more entrenched than it is, wars could very easily be fought over the best soy-specific arable land, just like oilfields.

#2 - to answer your question: as an individual only concerned with ethical ramifications, yes; if I were in a business involving trucks and which depended on the best cost-of-operations factor in order to provide for my family, then no - I've already mentioned that the newer low-sulfur, reburning ECG particulate filter diesel engines are hugely more expensive to own and to maintain than older diesels, and that they are mandated by federal law. Now, why would I want to make the income which I use to support my family suffer - biodiesel forces even more maintenance and shorter engine lifespan. Lofty philosophies tend to break down when they run into the need to feed your kids.

[Duskofdead]

#2 - to answer your question: as an individual only concerned with ethical ramifications, yes; if I were in a business involving trucks and which depended on the best cost-of-operations factor in order to provide for my family, then no - I've already mentioned that the newer low-sulfur, reburning ECG particulate filter diesel engines are hugely more expensive to own and to maintain than older diesels, and that they are mandated by federal law. Now, why would I want to make the income which I use to support my family suffer - biodiesel forces even more maintenance and shorter engine lifespan. Lofty philosophies tend to break down when they run into the need to feed your kids.

I'm really confused, please clarify if I am misunderstanding this. But are you saying that since some Americans have a livelihood vested in the oil and fossil fuel economy, we shouldn't go to any alternative? Or are you saying people will have to spend more on auto expenses/repairs/replacements with biodiesel? I'm not a particular crusader for biodiesel specifically; but I think that the price of gas is ONLY going to go up, and I think it will reach the point of severely harming individual families (you could argue we are ALREADY at that point) long before corporate America and the outcry to American government reaches the level where we get SERIOUS (rather than token) about alternative energy, and actually implementing it (which will take even longer.) So if our pure concern is the family unit and its economic viability, the sooner we get off fossil fuels, the better, as fossil fuels are a nonviable, unsustainable economic model currently heading into decline.