Wow. I never did catch any conclusion or reason as to why the abrupt change in tactics, but my attention span is short this late at night and esp. when I'm tired. It's certainly correct about climate change being the alarmist's new religion and that the eco-warriors are bordering on becoming terrorists...certainly correct on them being bullies.

I see these climate topics on either your or Truesee's blog and keep meaning to bring up points that I've not yet seen made, mainly to do with measurement of temperatures, but also that of sea rise. I went back to school some years ago and got a degree in industrial instrumentation and did a lot of reading that the program only touched on, the history of measurement and the instruments and methods used.

But, as always, I figured I'd blather on like I usually do and figured not many would want to read my long winded treatise on the subject. Plus, it would be the usual Texan talk; part fact, part opinion and in some people's view, part BS. <grin>

OTOH, as far as BS goes, I sure wish I had taken a screen shot of it, but I once followed a link to the NASA website where they were listing what data they had gathered and how temps had risen along with sea level and they said "Satellite data since 1896 has shown...." blah blah blah . I'm sure the date was a typo, but still...if they can't even present the date correctly, what makes you think they can present the DATA correctly?

Thanks Mike. I saw the climate change hysteria as a tactic of control of opinion in order to fleece more money from the general public so that the all-knowing-all-seeing could fly in their jets to conventions telling one another how great they are. Money grab pure and simple from getting government grants for studies of the mating habits of dung beetles to government tax incentives to produce the new 'green' product that is mandated by law.

Plant trees for oxygen production, as affordability permits install led bulbs in preferably the 4k-5k temp spectrum which puts out daylight light. Recycle, don't flush grease or oils down the drain, purchase energy efficient appliances especially heating and cooling ones, insulate, don't dump or throw trash on the ground.

We've been educated since the 60's about pollution and necessity to clean the environment. The US has done well, now what about the rest of the world?

You're exactly right in that the U.S. has done more than most other countries to curb pollution. I remember the Cuyahoga River in Cleveland catching on fire multiple times and the last one led to the Clean Water Act being enacted, think that was '69 or a little after.

Those steps you listed are certainly sensible and good and fairly easily done. I'd like to see less packaging done with plastics and fewer plastic bags being used. (but not done away with, I use canvas or similar bags for most of my purchases, but I DO like to wrap meat in plastic sacks, even though it's already wrapped, but that packaging often leaks and I don't like to think of my apples or other fruits or veggies being contaminated)

I'd also like to see more electric cars being used in large cities, quit burning our precious oil in wasteful combustion engines. We'll still need gasoline and diesel for hwy, driving and powering trucks, at least for the foreseeable future.

One big problem with our wastewater treatment is we can treat the most polluted water but we haven't developed any type of filter to get out the antibiotics and hormones from birth control pills.

I worked for the Texas Hwy. Dept. the summer out of h.s. and trust me, I will never throw another thing out of my vehicle ever again. Spend hours and hours in the ditches under the hot Texas sun PROW - the abbreviation on the day's work sheet: "Picking up right-of-way" - and it will cure you of being a litter bug. (it's often part of a work detail for local inmates of jails and prisons or a condition of parole or part of a lawbreaker's non-incarceration sentence) On a related note, did you know the phrase "Don't Mess With Texas" isn't some challenge to anyone else, but from a clever and effective ad campaign to help keep litter off the roads?

Thanks Mike. I remember the highway clean up campaigns in various states. Unsure exactly when those began but highways looked remarkably better. Seems people think stuff just 'goes away' by virtue of some magic fairy that waves its wand but it doesn't work quite like that. Maybe more focus should be in that direction.

I expect you've probably read about the huge gyres in the world's oceans, places where currents meet and in the process, leave behind floating debris, esp. plastics. The one closest to the U.S. in the Pacific is larger than Texas. Some young tech millionaire invented a system to filter through it and deposit it on a huge barge where it is to be baled up and taken away for proper disposal. The worst part is that the plastic has mostly disintegrated and much of it is so tiny that it will take finer filters to clean it all out. The last I heard, he finally got it up and running, only to have it break down within a few days of scooping up the trash. I don't see how a single barge is going to make a dent in millions of tons of floating plastic, but at least he's trying.

No, on second thought, that's NOT the worst part about the plastics, it's that nearly every animal in the sea now has plastics inside it, from the "big fish eat smaller fish" chain. The "good news" is that not but a few percent of the plastic originates from America; most of the waste comes from Asia and Africa.

A few weeks ago I saw a photo taken from one of those deep sea submersibles while it was exploring the Mariana Trench and was dismayed to see plastic refuse that far down. Those organizations such as The Sea Shepherds who "fight" whaling" are all well and good, but to me it's like running into a burning building and saving the baby pictures but not the baby. What good is saving the whales if we don't first save the oceans?

Thanks Mike. Recycled plastic is being made into building material similar to concrete blocks in some third world countries. We might turn up our noses but it could provide a decent shelter they otherwise may not have had.

I have a feeling that there are bacteria which will evolve to consume plastic no matter where it happens to be.

Speaking of recycled plastics and the TX Hwy Dept. , I read a few yrs. back that they were starting to replace the picnic tables at many roadside parks and rest stops with ones made out of plastic 2x4's and I've since read articles that they're starting to build houses w/ them now. I've also read that they're optimistic about plastic being recycled into artificial grass for sports venues. That would just be a drop in the bucket, but the uses in housing is really encouraging.

We're going to have to find SOMETHING to do with the massive amount of plastic waste we generate; I've watched several documentaries and news stories about how many third world countries that used to accept our plastic trash are starting to "refuse the refuse".

Yep, the problem isn't just the plastics, but that if they don't float on down into our oceans, they go into landfills where they'll slowly degrade over the course of a few centuries.

I think there ARE some types of bacteria that can digest plastics.

Thanks Mike. Everyone points their fingers at the US as a major polluter but perhaps they need to check factual data.

Interesting picture painted here with respect to CO (carbon monoxide).
   
https://www.windy.com/-CO-concentration-cosc?cosc,26.735,99.314,4