Monday, October 15, 2007

Burn Less Gas and More Calories

Or emit sweat and not Carbon monoxide. I could probably come up with a lot more environmentally "catchy" phrases that promote foot or pedal power over the gas engine, but alas I will not tire you (is that "tire" pun intended?Dunno). I just stumbled across the fact that it is "Blog Action Day" where everyone is supposed to contribute posts about environmental awareness (if they are tree huggers or Al Gore fans and since I'm the former, I had to contribute)! I unwittingly helped the cause for less pollution by walking about 4 miles round trip to the park and back for a lunch/exercise/relaxation break. My daughter has the week off for fall break and we decided to venture out on a gorgeous fall day. As we mozied along our way, we talked to the animals including horses and a wonderfully playful family of yellow labs (6-7 dogs). At the park, we were disappointed to learn that the carnival was only open on weekends--no reward of deep-fried corn dogs or cotton candy for us! We did get to see a dead catfish and several little fry and lots of pollution. I suppose if we were really environmentally earnest, we would have picked up some of the bread wrappers etc. We saw the old nappy-headed, Al Sharpton duck from my earlier post and some beautiful herons like the green-backed heron pictured above.



On our return trip, we mocked the rat raced and rat faced people hurriedly scurrying along in their automobiles. We could take the time to run through the sprinklers and pick dandelions (seriously---we picked flowers--though not indigenous so it doesn't count as an environmental infraction). After getting quite tan and sweaty, we ventured back, but not without a stop at the local Chevron for some snow cones and ICEE's! To think that we helped contribute to less pollution AND were able to commune with nature AND burn calories/build muscle!
















9 comments:

p0nk said...

burning calories, although more efficient than burning gas, still produces heat which invariably adds to global warming...no?
See, i do my part by wearing as little clothes as possible and doing as little as i possibly can. damn, i probably burned 4 calories just typing this up...

Eagle Eye said...

Hehe!Burning calories also tends to cause sweating which in turn causes moisture to be added to the atmosphere and water/weather cycle so it all balances out in the end? We also emit CO2 and methane gas which contribute to the overall global warming experience!
We're damned if do and we're damned if we don't aye?

Jimbo said...

If I were to use pedal power or foot power I would eat me and thus produce more methane gas and then I would be contributing to global warming.

I think I will continue to drive my 5.7 liter Dodge Ram by myself to help reduce my out put of methane gas. I live in dairy country and the cows are supplying enough methane gas for all of us

p0nk said...

speaking of CO2, doesn't plant life depend on CO2? How hard should we strive to reduce CO2 output?
It's all just so confusing.

Jimbo said...

Yes, Plant conver CO2 into O2 for us. Not to go off on a Rush Lembaugh rant, but there are more trees and plants on this plant now than there has ever been. One of the things that pisses me off more than anything, is the tree hugging left that has done all it could to shut down the logging industry, a completly renewable resource, and noew where do we get our lumber? They are clear cutting the rain forest AKA the jungles of South America.

OK enough of my rant. I do beleive we need to do what we can to reduce polution and keep the enviroment clean, but it should not all be knee jerk reactions to an Al Gore movie

p0nk said...

you're preaching to the choir. up here in redwood country, i come from a long line of loggers and mill workers on both sides of the family.

look at aerial photography of this area circa 1940's and again now. Our forests are so much denser and broader now than they were. Of course it's a lot easier just to spew rhetoric than to actually research the facts. It's too bad the environmentalists can't take a more balanced approach - their extreme militant rant completely discredits any of their philosophy. But then again, sometimes I think their agenda is not so much the environment as it is to just gain recognition for themselves.

Eagle Eye said...

Jimbo--if you convert to a diesal truck (only a few thousand in expense LOL), the heavier carbon in the emition will fall to the ground rather than pollute the air (if you wanted to know how to reduce pollutants--I suspect you may not):-)
It is true that we don't know for sure what is causing a steady increase in greenhouse gases (the gases have fluctuated in the past milenia--but fluctuated up AND down not just steadily upward like the current trend), but there is a very strong correlation between population growth and warming that warrants a double glance. I found an article from "Science" journal author that has more information: http://members.aol.com/trajcom/private/popco2.htm.
While many scientists and politicians are out for themselves and/or funding, there is good data to back up strong correlations.

Jimbo said...

That is not true that I don't want to know how to reduce pollution. I am joking about driving my big truck by myself to work. I drove the Saturn Ion to work this morning and when I car pool, we drive our Saturn Vue. I would love to put solar cells on my roof and generate my own power. If there were bio fuels available, I would use those. I just get frustrated with the knee jerk reactions from these groups that think if they put a stop to something in this country, they will solve the world’s problem. By stopping logging in this country they have created a bigger problem in South America where the government could care less about their affect on the planet.

Eagle Eye said...

True, prudent management makes more sense than immediate bandaids and not just applied to the environment.
Too bad there is so much wealth in fossil fuels. I know that their are efficient alternatives available to the gasoline-powered engine,but funding and public awareness are hard to come by.