Less Me-at, Less Me-Thane (post #200)

It's hard to believe that it's a little over a year of blogging and this is post 200! Wow, there was some periods of quiet, and a change from Car(e)free to Car(bon)free when I capitulated and bought a car. Interestingly, it was my social life, not my work life that caused me to break down and get a car.

In the past year, global warming has become more to the forefront, though to think it's new is silly. We've known about this for a long time. I will never forget a very right wing history professor making the flippant comment "global warming, nuclear winter, hey we're all set, they'll cancel each other out." I think he was joking. This was in the early 90s. Since then, suburbs have gotten further out, cars and houses have gotten bigger, and our waistlines have gotten bigger. When things happen slow or at a miniscule level it's hard to comprehend the law of large numbers. Visiting China will dispel that.

Sadly travel is a huge contributor, so we can't have people zipping around everywhere in planes. What we can do, is think about what is hazardous, chemicals that we wouldn't drink or breathe in a small room, why would we want them in a big room. And the earth is the biggest room around.

Today a post went around talking about a study from Australian National University in Canberra that suggests that reducing meat consumption would reduce greenhouse gases. Cows fart a lot, and the defoliating to create ranch land and fertilizer for feed also play into the equation. I'm a moderate meat eater, trying to have it only when I go out.

There is something fun about how the Brit's say Methane, as Meee-Thane, vs METH-ane. One sounds like a drug addiction.