Toasted forest

[PatriciaK]

People like their gadgets (I love mine!). People like convenience. People like easy. People like inexpensive (or, at least relatively, at the point of sale... Long term costs don't compute for most). People like travel. No one is willing to give up anything they like.

Honestly, there are other forms of exercise I could be doing, and before e-bikes, I would have just given up riding when my knees got bad (actually, I had done that!), and done something else. But, I got swept up in the possibility of riding again. Honestly, the climate effects didn't even enter my mind or calculation (I'm ashamed to admit it, but it's true - I never thought about it). I'm not sorry I got my bikes - they bring me joy and I love getting out and riding. But, I have to admit, with my bikes, and my phone, and my other electronic gadgets, and as much as I fly, I'm part of the problem. I try to offset in my life where I can, but really I'm not even close .

 

[fooferdoggie]

for me I get my transportation and my fun so its a win win.

 

[fooferdoggie]

one thing I have not done is got way to haul heavy items. I don't really get most heavy things locally anyway. maybe bark dust and a few other things. but its just too expensive to buy a trailer that can handle them and the hassle of dealign with a trailer. I built one that could handle 300 pounds back before e bikes.

 

[Cramer Long]

I can’t tell from the photos the cause of the die off, could be a combination of many factors.
harvesting forests in and of itself isn’t necessarily a bad thing if done with re-cultivation in mind.
trees can be a renewable resource if managed effectively but i have an unscientific fear our population and appetite for consumption has surpassed the earths ability to sustain us all.

there’s a lot of carbon footprint, environmental nastiness and rape of the planet that goes into making ebikes so we shouldn’t be so sanctimonious in here. we are of course part of a massive, global problem.

There's so much in your statement that can be answered . But not by seculars thought . Same with this Green New Deal . Scam ?? What happened last winter in Texas was the fault of Green Energy not doing it's part like it was supposed to . You are right Coal and Oil . The making of Carbon and Aluminum . Nothing carbon free about those adventures . Plus how foolish would getting rid of industry . Especially when we have a Fuel that is clean and most of it's waste is renewable . Yet we ignore that for Windmills and Solar panels ??LOL we could easily use that fuel /energy source . Problem is Secular MAN would abuse it and make Bombs .

 

[Art Deco]

People like their gadgets (I love mine!). People like convenience. People like easy. People like inexpensive (or, at least relatively, at the point of sale... Long term costs don't compute for most). People like travel. No one is willing to give up anything they like.

Honestly, there are other forms of exercise I could be doing, and before e-bikes, I would have just given up riding when my knees got bad (actually, I had done that!), and done something else. But, I got swept up in the possibility of riding again. Honestly, the climate effects didn't even enter my mind or calculation (I'm ashamed to admit it, but it's true - I never thought about it). I'm not sorry I got my bikes - they bring me joy and I love getting out and riding. But, I have to admit, with my bikes, and my phone, and my other electronic gadgets, and as much as I fly, I'm part of the problem. I try to offset in my life where I can, but really I'm not even close .

Everything is relative. The total cost ( in dollars or in environmental damage ) of producing, using, and disposal of one more big suv, one more electric car, or one more eBike will certainly favor the eBike ...if you use it intead of the other vehicle.

( rabbit hole ...If the big suv gets less use, it lasts longer. If it lasts longer, it has less severe impact per year as well.)

If the eBike doesn't replace a car ... it's for fun and exercise only ...then it would be compared to another toy like a boat or rv , aircraft or race cars ... the eBike still looks pretty benign .

 

[ChezCheese:)]

There are limits to how far back down the chain of origin and how far forward in the future we can measure resource wastage and costs. Only by dying and composting our body can we finally end our personal impact on the planet, so as long as we are alive, we will have a carbon/pollution footprint. We could all just become breatharians and meditate till we expire into oblivion, but that's not very practical or likely.

I would be happier, however, if we could simply buy stuff without having unnecessary plastic packaging. If we could figure out a way to make building materials out of plastic waste from the oceans and landfills, thereby cleaning the oceans and reducing drastically the need for chopping down forests. Then the forests could oxygenate and clean the air, hold the water in the ground and cool the environment.

 

[Art Deco]

There are limits to how far back down the chain of origin and how far forward in the future we can measure resource wastage and costs. Only by dying and composting our body can we finally end our personal impact on the planet, so as long as we are alive, we will have a carbon/pollution footprint. We could all just become breatharians and meditate till we expire into oblivion, but that's not very practical or likely.

I would be happier, however, if we could simply buy stuff without having unnecessary plastic packaging. If we could figure out a way to make building materials out of plastic waste from the oceans and landfills, thereby cleaning the oceans and reducing drastically the need for chopping down forests. Then the forests could oxygenate and clean the air, hold the water in the ground and cool the environment.

Plastic was invented in my fathers generation ... it was ( and is ) a miracle substance. You can make it transparent like glass, flexible like rubber, rigid like wood, light like cloth. It doesn't need paint like metal, it can last for centuries, and it is cheap. Plastic medical tubing saves lives, plastic floor finishes save drudgery.

But

We mostly use it for throwaway packaging and garbage bags...

 

[Cramer Long]

What would happen to Global Climate Changes if Some Country uses Nuclear warheads . Starting maybe with Satellites. Just Curious Because that looks like what is going to take place really soon . Or did everyone miss that > ? Or even see it ?

 

[Cramer Long]

We mostly use it for throwaway packaging and garbage bags...

NOW THAT'S FUNNY LOL

 

[steve mercier]

there is only one solution to fix the problem it has to be profitable. its that simple greed is the only solution.

That is until the problem gets so bad that almost everyone becomes aware of their own impending doom...then the money will not matter so much.

 

[Art Deco]

That's the shipwrecked sailor problem; a treasure chest and nothing to buy. But back about forests a Guardian article https://getpocket.com/explore/item/...-as-we-ve-known-them?utm_source=pocket-newtab

 

[Art Deco]

Might as well revive this older thread since now there are many claims like "A tree planted for every T-shirt purchased. For every bottle of wine. For every swipe of a credit card. "

But what trees are they planting ? Will they ever make a forest?

Natural forests store more carbon than plantation forests, both in the trees and belowground and in the forest floor. These features can take centuries to emerge. And natural forests provide Biodiversity and additional benefits that need to be conserved.

Policy can generate “perverse incentives” that can destroy existing carbon sinks in forests, savannas, and peatlands. Newly planted forests can create “carbon debts” that take significant time to be repaid.

 

[PatriciaK]

Just read a (paywalled, unfortunately) article in the NYT this morning about efforts to plant trees, and how, if not done with science-based care, those efforts make the biodiversity problem worse, and introduce pests that kill other, native trees.

 

[Art Deco]

I read that article as well. Monocrops of anything are usually a bad idea in the long run, I guess.

Although we have lots of trees in Pennsylvania, very little is old growth, and usually that's in places that were too steep to log profitably back in the day.

 

[tomjasz]

We know how to develop healthy urban forests. We just don’t have the will and lazy neighbors are frustrated by leaf fall and cleanup. Unbelievable to me but a national embarrassment.

 

[Art Deco]

We know how to develop healthy urban forests. We just don’t have the will and lazy neighbors are frustrated by leaf fall and cleanup. Unbelievable to me but a national embarrassment.

Maybe you know how to develop urban forests ... I don't have a clue, and it doesn't appear that city council does either when they cut down all the trees in the town square...

 

[tomjasz]

Yes I do. Retired horticulture director, arboriculture lecturer, and supporter of urban forest development. www.
livesoil.com

 

[Art Deco]

Yep. I've been on that site when we were talking about compost.

From what I've read the urban tree cover helps controll water runoff that leads to flooding, and the heat island effects like heatstroke. They do make cars messy if you park under them in spring, builders talk about tenants complaints about "tree sh*t" ...

 

[tomjasz]

Oh boy. What is the source of what id call disingenuous information?

 

[tomjasz]

Oh boy. What is the source of what id call disingenuous information?

View attachment 116689

Native trees.