Notable quotable

America's 21st century can't-do spirit

Posted by David Roberts at 12:41 PM on 05 Jun 2008

Read more about: quotables | climate | greenhouse-gas emissions | international treaties

"It's frankly not doable for us."

-- chief U.S. climate negotiator Harlan Watson, on the G8's proposal to reduce industrial countries' emissions 25-40 percent from 1990 levels by 2020

For story: Notable quotable
4 Comments | Post a Comment

I grew up in a world of yes.

Now I live in a country where the operative word is NO. I grew up in a country that prided itself on a can do spirit. Now all we hear, especially from industry is what they can't do.

Randy Cunningham
Cleveland, OH

Randy Cunningham

by randino at 5:05 PM on 05 Jun 2008

Right. Not Doable.

Without a Doubt. But we gotta try.

I hear Watson.
Do you hear Hansen?

by billgee at 5:23 PM on 05 Jun 2008

25-40% Reduction is ridiculous in any country

Even in Germany, where the Greens until recently formed part of the governing coalition and have windmills sprouting like weeds across the countryside, they are not going to achieve 25% cuts.

The Green movement in the US is not nearly as mature as in Germany, and Germany isn't going to get there from here either.

Again, you have to be realistic and understand that todays economy is oil based. You can't change that in a decade.......

Victory in Pattani

by MAD MAC at 9:28 PM on 05 Jun 2008

Weeell...

...the problem isn't whether we can't, but when we must. We must begin changing our lifestyles and consumption habits now. I've already started, when are you going to get the lead out MAD MAC? NO individual has a right to any resource other than that NEEDED to secure a warm house in the winter and a comfortable(not necessarily cool) house in the summer. Driving a car, especially a vehicle MANY times your needs, is not a right. A significant number of Americans erroneously believe that it is(in some cases literally) their right to consume more thatn their fair share of resources. For what it's worth, my girlfriend and I live in a 1000 sq. ft. house in a densely populated neighborhood in south St. Louis. We have a high efficiency furnace(replacing the old coal-converted-to-natural-gas model; what a behemoth that was) and when the new roof goes on we'll be installing 2" of ridgid insulation to reduce the heat load on the house. In addition to the ridgid ins. on the roof deck, we will have ins. blown in the "attic" space under the flat roof. Oh, speaking of which, the new roofing material will be white or light colored so as to reduce our share of the heat island effect, in addition to reducing the amount of heat absorbed by the house. I would love to put a "living roof" up there, but that's just too cost-prohibitive, although one of the manufacturers of these systems is right here in STL(Missouri Metal Fabricators, I believe. Don't quote me on that one.) Although if the gov't offered subsidies for that, we would def. go for that. We are also considering putting solar-thermal water-heating on the roof. Fortunately, there is a Fed subsidy up to $3000, which would reasonably offset the approx. $7000USD cost of a Thermax system, which seems to have the best performance characteristics. However, since a 6Kw system of solar PV would cost about $30,000USD, for now that is off the table. I wish it weren't so, since it would offset singificantly the load our little house puts on the grid. Plus, with if we had an outage in the winter, we could still run our furnace, since it has a small 110v blower motor. Not to mention over the long run, our total energy bills, and consumption, factoring in the solar thermal, would be quite a bit lower. I am also embarking on the task of fully restoring my original 1912 cypress-wood windows(they smell really nice). Most window sashes of this era were manufactured of cypress, for obvious reasons. It would be a shame to toss them out when we only have two windows exposed to the western sun. So, MAD MAC get going. We don't have much time left. reduce, reuse, recycle, babe, that's where it starts. Oh, just in case you were thinking that I'm some liberal elitist, I graduated high school and never went to college, and have worked in the manufacturing sector most of my adult life. I just never stopped learning. Ignorance is death.

The mellotron is your friend.

by archigeek at 9:17 AM on 06 Jun 2008

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