How many killer hurricanes will it take before America gets serious about global warming? It's hard to imagine a more clear-cut wake-up call than Hurricane Katrina; environmentally speaking, it was nearly the perfect storm. In a single catastrophic event, it brought together the most urgent environmental problem of our time--global warming--with the most telling but least acknowledged environmental truth: When the bill for our collective behavior comes due, it is invariably the nonwhite, nonaffluent members of society who pay a disproportionate share. And who said Mother Nature has no sense of irony? Katrina (and then Rita) struck at a major production site for America's oil and natural gas--the two carbon-based fuels that, along with coal, help drive global warming.
Meanwhile . . .
Mega Truck Dwarfs SUVs
Now here's a truck for those who want roomy comfort and a clear sight line over the vehicles driven by mere mortals. The Dodge 2006 Ram Mega Cab has plenty of room for 6 adults, and includes amenities such as a sun roof and DVD player.
The heavy-duty version comes with a turbocharged 5.9-liter six-cylinder Cummins diesel engine providing 325 horses. At 247 inches long, the Mega Cab is about one-third longer than the Hummer H1, and it is almost as heavy.
6 comments:
Perfect for that daily commute!
You know, one of the things that most bothers me, safety-wise, about Large Personal Vehicles (LPVs -- Hummers, Commuter Pickups, SUV, etc.) is the fact that YOU CAN'T SEE AROUND OR THROUGH OR PAST THEM. Not only do they guzzle gas and make what should be minor fender-benders into accidents that total the other (normal) car, when one of them is parked next to you in a lot, you have to literally inch your way out of your space for fear someone is coming along whom you don't (because you CAN'T) see. But don't get me started!
Meanwhile, the Village Atheist flips the coin, and .... what's this? Another side!?
Whether or not the National Geographic article is correct, the fact remains that we are now entering a period of SERIOUS problems! We should all act accordingly. Unfortunately, this is not the case.
BTW: If you REALLY want to further global warming, buy the World's Biggest Pickup Truck: http://www.pickuptruck.com/html/stories/international/page1.html
"What hauls six tons, can seat a football team's offensive line and, for kids over 20 who miss playing with trucks in the sandbox, is the ultimate toy for extreme work and play? The International(R) CXT, the world's biggest production pick up truck for commercial business owners and the newest truck from International Truck and Engine Corporation." ...
"Born out of a 20-ton hauler and other International(R) severe service trucks used by the construction, government and waste industries, the International CXT is built on the same platform as dump trucks and snowplows." ...
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But, on to the subject at hand.
http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2005/10/1018_051018_fossils.html
"Global Warming Preserved "Mass Kill" Fossils, Study Says
James Owen
for National Geographic News
October 18, 2005
"Prehistoric global warming periodically wiped out much of the planet's wildlife and created exceptionally well-preserved fossils of the remains, according to a new study.
The enormous death toll inflicted by episodes of lethal atmospheric changes may have prevented life on Earth from being wiped out altogether, the study's author adds
...
..."He adds that the resulting buildup of billions of dead prehistoric creatures may have acted as a carbon sink, reducing CO2 in the atmosphere and preventing the Earth from becoming as hot and lifeless as Venus.
"It was the widespread death and burial of animals and their carbon that created fossil bonanzas, the likes of which may have saved us from the heat sterilization experienced by our sister planet," Retallack said.
...
..."The principal gas responsible is methane, either released from … ices in marine sediments or by volcanic intrusion," Retallack said.
Once in the atmosphere, methane combines with oxygen to form CO2 over a period of 10 to 20 years, depleting the Earth's stores of oxygen in the process.
If oxygen levels drop too low, not only will many animals die but they will be well preserved in death
...
..."Retallack's fossil evidence suggests these episodes of dramatic climate change coincide with all the "big five" mass extinction events, as well as a number of other lesser extinctions ...
..."One of the main ways of drawing down greenhouse gases is to bury the carbon in stagnant, low-oxygen oceans," Wignall added. "It's a self-healing mechanism the planet has.
"[But] it takes hundreds of thousands of years for the planet to heal itself, which is why you get extinctions."
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Hundreds of thousands of years to heal. No matter the cause, we ARE in a bucket of shit; we really do need to act accordingly. And we are not.
BTW: I just want to see ALL sides of an argument, not proselytize a particular viewpoint. So, I am not especially disagreeing, or agreeing, with anyone; merely viewing the subject from all the angles I can find.
Argument? What argument? I can semi-tolerate SUVs, especially for families with kids -- the safety, etc., etc., you know, and Hummers still have a certain exotic quality suggestive of the "romance" of far-off wars.... What really ranks me are pickups that I KNOW are just being used as commuter toys. The world's largest that you describe, Ken, sounds perfect for some of these types.
A week ago my girlfried watched a pedestrian get hit by a car. The driver couldn't see her because he was rounding a corner barricaded by SUVs.
She stayed to make a witness report to the police and explicitly held the SUVs' girth responsible.
It's not so much the girth as the opacity. The windows are so high that (if you're in a "normal" car) you're not high enough to see through the way you can through other normal cars' windows. This actually is my big safety objection to them. (I've got all kinds of other objections too, including the fact that they're evidence of the same sheer, gross self-indulgence that's responsible for a majority of Americans being overweight and a sizable plurality being just flat fucking OBESE. Speaking of girth, SUV's are the automotive equivalent of obesity!)
SUVs certainly get in the way, don't they? I've noticed that also, during my very rare visits to "The City". You know, for somebody living in the Copper River Delta, Fairbanks area, or out in the boonies Down South, these large vehicles can make some real sense, due to the often horrid road conditions found in the rural parts of America.
BUT: in the cities, a nice little FWD Subaru or a Trooper would do the job nicely. Hell, even here on this remote and rough island FWD vehicles are not that common. We've got roads! Paved, even. Of course, when everything is covered in wet ice, even FWDs are not that useful.
Some folk claim the useage of these large rigs because of safety issues. Well, it is undeniable that, in general, a larger vehicle is safer, and I can see that as a consideration, but all in all I feel you guys are right; it's an ego trip.
Of course, there is the traffic consideration also. When you're 8 feet wide, and twice the weight, smaller cars tend to not get in your way .... In which case the logical extension is to buy a tank or APC.
Which has been a fantasy of mine, while sitting at an interminable traffic light. ;-}