Do you worry about conserving natural resources?

[Penni]

Originally Posted by livius drusus

Great post, Michael.

hastily made houses dominate tiny half-acre lots...

Tiny?? Hahahahahah, out here, you have a lot of land if you have a home with 0.10 acres! HUGE is how I think of half-acre lots, and what does that say about us?

Actually, I almost think it might be good to condemn half-acre lots. Obviously truly large lots serve a purpose and are ideal for certai lifestyles, as are truly tiny lots, aka density or multiple unit developments. It's when we get the quarter to half acre lots with cookie cutter homes that I truly lament development.

[pescifish]

Do you worry about conserving natural resources?

No, not really. I doubt I'm a big consumer of resources in the large scale of things though. I don't generate much trash and I almost never get past about 30% of my water allotment. I do run the a/c and heat to keep the house temp between 66 and 80 at all times (I use the bird as the excuse for that.) I use a me-powered push mower for my lawn. I'd recycle, but there's no waste management company in the area that does anything besides the usual soda and bottles and I don't drink soda or bottle stuff in the first place.

p.s. There is a lovely windmill farm in the Tehachipi mountains (between Bakersfield and Mojave) in California. To me (and most people I know) they are a gorgeous addition to the mountain landscape.

[godfry n. glad]

Originally Posted by JoeP

Hydroelectric power should be renewable, apart from the slight impact of building the dams in the first place. But I have a vague feeling it's not perfect. Anyone?

Dams have a couple of problems. One is that many dams have been poorly designed in terms of the native migratory fish stock. That's a problem which can be dealt with, but retrofitting to accomodate migratory fish runs has proven to be a less than impressive effort. The second, although more long run, is more permanent...siltation behind the dams.

The problem with water is not that there is not enough, but that there is not enough water of sufficient quality for consumption and irrigation. Most of the water on the planet is salt water...unusable for consumption or crops. I have no idea of the costs or problems associated with desalination, but given that I see few instances of mass desalination (which would address a lot of problems worldwide), I suspect that there are problems which make it relatively uneconomic. That, of course, may change with the situation.

As for "fresh" water....much of it is polluted, thanks in large part to the presence of humans.

godfry