the twisted feels of being angry at good guys

People trying.  People making sacrifices for the betterment of our greater community. People who authentically care about global issues and are willing to do something about it.  

I am sick of being "the lightbulb guy" - but that shit is still going on.  People who passionately believe this stuff.  And they will authentically get angry about it.  They have no clue that their passions have been paid for by the manufacturers so they can make more money.

So this is a quick list of the stuff that the good guys are passionate for.  Passions that are probably paid for by some industry.  Passions that are ...  well ...  I suppose I want to say "misplaced"?  

light bulbs

If you live in a cold climate, proper use of incandescent lights can save a thousand dollars per year.  Incandescent light gives of an extremely efficient form of heat AND a high quality light that improves health.  Ignoring the health benefits and focusing just on emergy savings:  Incandescent beats LED or CFL.  

https://permies.com/t/led

Of course, real energy solutions are with rocket mass heaters, etc.  


native plants

Native plant enthusiasm has a massive push behind it from herbicide companies.  Because this really isn't about the love of native plants, it is about selling herbicides to kill non-native plants.  

https://permies.com/t/41008/dark-side-native-plant-enthusiasm


veganism

I wish to advocate for people to eat whatever makes them healthy.  A lot of people get super healthy on a vegan diet.  Which is great.  And some people get really sick.  I would like to ask folks to not shame people looking after their health.

The argument comes from how cow farts are causing climate change.  So if we eat less beef, there will be less cow farts and that fixes everything.  This sentiment comes from a massive collection of math errors and cherry picking data from beef from CAFOs.  

I would argue (along with thousands of experts) that grass raised/finished organic beef actually sequesters so much carbon, that it actually is a strong candidate for a 100% solution to climate change.  

I admire vegans for a lot of reasons.  I do think that there are some huge climate footprint issues with veganism that are all solved by growing your own garden.  


don't fly on a plane

I don't fly anymore, but it is for a different reason.  And I have high hopes for a powerful new solution that will be coming in a year or two - but that's a story for a different day.

I think that the real concern is for one person on a private jet.  So if you are buying a ticket for yourself, and you will be traveling with 100 other people on a commercial flight - I'm pretty sure you are fine.  

Bottom line:  $400 worth of plane ticket has about the same carbon footprint as $400 worth of gasoline.  So if you are about to drive there and spend the same on gasoline, then the issue is really the whole adventure.  

If you can cobble together a bunch of people in one rig to make the drive - that is much better.  An EV would make it better still!

Rather than shaming people for the desire to travel, I like the idea of finding ways for deeper fulfillment in staying home.


stuff that makes a real, positive difference

growing your own food, and getting that food into your belly

rocket mass heaters

clothes lines and clothes drying racks

community living (still needs some deep solutions)



more

I am so frustrated by so many things being done by good people in the name of making things better for everybody.  I suppose I have become quite the negative nelly.  At the same time, I am trying to provide authentic solutions to all these issues.  Solutions that add luxury or coin - instead of expense and sacrifice.

In my area, people burn brush piles in winter to mitigate future wild fires.  So we all suck smoke in the winter because of this.  And communities ban wood burning stoves to cut back on the smoke.  So confused.

My frustration in this space is that, based in part on training as an engineer, is that I question the entire economy of a "thing".  So, for example, being told to rinse food or beverage containers before recycling.  How much extra water does that use?  Does that make sense in a dry region that may be dealing with water scarcity?  In a municipal water system, what about the chemicals added to the water supply (e.g. chlorine/chloramine, fluoride) and their sources / economies.  That says nothing about whether or not the items are effectively recycled (there have certainly been articles about recyclers rejecting shipments over contamination and where these things are sent for recycling and the energy required for shipping).

Another point of angst is that, in many situations, simply asking questions or attempting to have a rational or reasoned debate can get you shouted down and called names.  

I do strive to live in a news-free zone, so I don't hear a lot of these arguments.

I advocate for native plants from the perspective of the fact that they grow well in the area of note.  On our properties, I will preferentially plant native plants in an attempt to provide a small island of environmental benefit and provide habitat for native animals and birds.  I don't use 'cides on our properties...I'll have to read that dark side thread.

My first real encounter with veganism from a health perspective was a little over five years ago.  Some of what I heard made sense to me and some did not.  It did prompt us to shift our diet to being a bit more plant heavy and pay attention to serving size.  Doing so led to some significant weight loss...slacking more recently meant some of that came back, but I'm still about 20 lbs lighter than when I got married over 30 years ago.  Since that first encounter and diving a bit deeper, it amused / amazed me that most dietary concepts from all plants to no plants have medical professionals backing them saying it's the best human diet.  That certainly comes across as contradictory, which simply confuses as to which path to follow.  It may be that all the diets that work lean into whole or real food rather than highly processed food-like substances.  It could also imply that both ends of the spectrum may be missing the concept of bioindividuality in that a carnivore diet may work for one person while a vegan diet may be best for another.  So, I've focused on eating cleaner (more wholesome, less chemicals, more local).  

Defending Beef is an interesting book that goes through some of the arguments surrounding beef as being "bad".  Being a lawyer, the author is trained in making arguments, so I found it rather convincing.  Some estimates claim there were far more bison in North America prior to the arrival of Europeans than there are cattle now.  Of course, at that time, nobody was putting bison into feedlots and finishing them on grain.  For a number of years, we've made a large beef purchase (1/2 when there were teenage boys here, 1/4 the last number of years) from a neighbouring farmer which is custom cut and wrapped at a local small butcher.  It's local supporting local business and farmer and has a lot less transport miles.  The extra beauty of it is that it is nicer meat than we can typically find in a supermarket and, while it isn't inexpensive, after increases in the price of beef in Canada, it isn't a significantly different cost for us.

I certainly agree that growing as much as we can in our own garden is extremely valuable.  One positive is that over the years of walking the dog in our local urban environment is that I'm seeing more food being grown in front yards than I did decades ago.  It may be a small shift, but a positive one.  Where it makes sense, I think growing food makes a lot of sense.  If you want to plant a hedge for privacy, is there a berry shrub / tree that can do the trick?  Alternatively, nitrogen-fixing shrubs could support the rest of your garden in growing better and reduce or eliminate fertilizer use.

Buying airline tickets these days often comes with the option to pay more to offset the carbon associated with your seat.  I'm not sure how I feel about that.  The cynic in me wonders where that money winds up and how it is used.  If it is planting trees, are they being planted in a biodiverse forest and being supported and monitored?  Planting a tree is different than bringing a tree to maturity.  I'd love to know where you find those $400 airline tickets though  I can say that $400 worth of fuel in our primary vehicles goes far enough that it also involves a night away from home...I'm not sure how one would want to factor that into the scheme of things.  If staying in a hotel, there is potential for heating / cooling / lighting a lot of dead space.  

A friend purchased an EV early this year.  He recently told me that his electric bill is being discounted for the charging.  By signing up for a program, he was provided with a charger and the electricity he uses charging his EV (also has a PHEV) results in a discount.  Over time, the rebate he gets rises on a cents/kW-hr use to a point that is actually higher than current charges in our jurisdiction.  This is possible because of corporations purchasing carbon credits.  I'm not sure how I feel about that, other than it is interesting that the price of EVs for the most part implies they are used primarily by demographics with higher incomes.  Going back to the idea of the entire life cycle of the things we use, one should consider how the electricity to charge EVs is generated, how the materials for EVs (particularly elements used in batteries) are mined and processed, and how these materials will be disposed of.

We had a dryer fail relatively recently.  We purchased a clothes horse and have used it extensively since.  We replaced the dryer with a heat pump ventless dryer.  This allowed me to close off and insulate the vent hole.  This should reduce energy use for the home in heating and cooling.  The dryer is rated to use about 1/3 the amount of electricity of a conventional vented dryer of a similar capacity.  Of course, the purchase price was considerably higher and our electricity costs are quite low, so I don't expect a financial payback for this change.  It does give a warning about cool ambient temperatures in our basement in winter, so may be less efficient than touted.

Another example may be urban municipalities shifting roads to more cycling paths / lanes and in some cases reducing or restricting lanes for automobiles.  It can certainly be a positive more if it results in people making a switch from an automobile to using a bicycle from a fuel use perspective.  One consideration is where the money comes from for municipalities to make these changes.  Fuel and road taxes and related charges were ostensibly put in place to pay for roads.  How do municipalities pay for the roads if those revenues are decreased?  There is a sustainability to that question.  However, if few to no automobilists make the shift, have we made changes that will actually increase their fuel use and perhaps created resentment toward cyclists, which could have a negative impact on safety.  

I would love to be able to have actual discussions rather than arguments over what is "right" or "wrong".  For many things, there is a spectrum and it would be nice to debate and learn from each other rather than being entrenched in a position and being unwilling to consider anything that differs from that position.

Most choices are about making a tradeoff.  It becomes a tougher thing to do when we make these choices with our own comfort / convenience / cost in mind and are trying to balance that with what we are told is a global issue that we may not be able to understand or conceive.  Add in the challenge of determining what is actually true or factual or understood well enough (e.g. blaming beef rather than the way beef cattle are grown and finished) to be able to make a reasoned decision.

Time to get off the verbose soapbox....

I just asked google about flights from seattle to denver.  Frontier will do it for $98.

I think everyone has their own hot-button issues that they feel, rightly or wrongly, are the problem.  I think that things like being "the lightbulb guy" even though it isn't your favourite, make a difference.  Even if its not as fast of a difference as you'd hoped.

I have plenty to say on these topics, the origins of the difficulties relating to having conversations (by this I mean open minded explorations, not arguements).  What is human nature.  

It’s all cider press.

Derek Thille wrote:
I would love to be able to have actual discussions rather than arguments over what is "right” or “wrong.”

Thank you for this well reasoned and intelligent response. I can’t argue with anything you’ve said. Thank you for putting so many things into reasonable perspective.

Hellooo

Will I respond? won t I?
difficulty with most elements which are prescriptive, everyone should, noone ought to etc....
Greatest diificulty is with lying. dishonesty, fraud, theft, cruelty,

Yesterday a mate told me that I was very negative. Hmmph.
My response is that I was relating challenges we all face,
There s a lot of learned helplessness about.
I happen to address some of these because it is easier to do so than not to.my water meter move dropped from 3000kE to 400kE.
Oh a mistake madam.

It also gives scope to my acting talents when an official is trying it on,
Humour, and I appreciate that officials are often in untenable situations but have not yet discovered that they have choices and
yes these have consequences.
I did my Greta Garbo in Anna Karenina bit, I will live in this room for a long time, or something like that, standing by the wall.
The tax official managed to comply with my request after my departure.
Did I sanction licence  to act differently?
There was no aggression, surprise definitely. I do what I can not to get angry but creative

If you fancy a laugh
A friend told that she would have to move her postbox.
She lives on a narrow country road, of which we have many in these parts.
Drivers of postal devilery or is it delivery vehicles will soon be FOBIDDEN from driving in reverse. Reversing is deemed too dangerous.

Please don t shoot the messenger.

I explained to the friend who thinks me negative that I am awake not woke and collecting material for comedy stand up and yes I do have
a RMH and composting facilities and a spot of attitude with a laugh.

Thanks to us all
Blessings
MH

sauerkraut production and ratatouille too

I have long endorsed what behaviorists refer to as “successive approximation”.   While it can be frustration that things don’t move faster, my personal expectations are that things gradually improve.  I accept the wrong turns, dead ends, and back steps as part of the process.  Probably due to my age, I use. Silent Spring as my baseline.

Everything I know about humans I learned from my chickens.

Do vegan burgers taste like chicken? Everything thing else seems too.

Grumpy people live longer than angry people. My theory... Grumpy people rumble along, angry people explode.

I have the best conversations with my dog. She's a good judge of character.

I run my house hold like a business with invested shareholders. The dog has the most shares....But the chickens are plotting a take over.

My truck is older than my oldest grand child, the washing machine is older then the truck. I should see if the washer can collect social security, it has enough work credits.

My husband gets annoyed about people who stand on the one side of the grocery store isle and stare at the shelves on the other side. But he married me anyway.

Until we in the US stop listening to the media beast shaming politicians who compromise or learn now things and change their mind, we will continue to watch Congress p in each other's Cheerios.

Speaking of Congress, has anyone figured out what they were really doing while pretending to circle the drain over Barry Bonds Baseball Steroids?

It's very powerful to not lose your temper when someone is else is losing their's at you. Next time someone is telling you off, smile and say "I hear your words" and then, just stare. The dog told me this works.

You can be right without having to make sure everyone knows it.

Most people are focused on just getting through their day. They need lots of forgiveness and space, about 10 feet should be enough.

No one knows how to drive. No one

Litter bugs....

Directions (to assemble anything) that only use pictures. And have 240 tiny screws with 240 tiny washers(still attached to the plastic) that must go on said screws prior to assembly.

Being nice to someone you don't like burns more calories than flipping compost.

Some guy told me that I could build a better world on my backyard instead of being angry at the bad guys...I wish I could remember who that was...

light bulbs

Yesterday the bathroom light blew. It also tripped the circuit breaker.
These are from China. It's characteristic of this brand/source.
We bought their entire stock. You can't find these anymore.
I also have a stockpile of fluorescent lights/ballasts/starters.
EVERYTHING is now LED.

You see electronics repairmen on YouTube showing off their
test equipment built with incandescent bulbs.

Why? Because if your equipment has a short circuit, this lamp
in series will protect your house/fuse/circuit from tripping when you
investigate the fault.

So I asked a couple of them what we can do when there are
no more incandescent bulbs . . . silence.

I for one will probably look for a used hair dryer or toaster.

LEDs. Sounds like a great idea. With the best of intentions.
What could possibly go wrong?

don't fly on a plane

It's arriving. I just don't like the battery chemistry.

The Prius used NiMH. Now . . . ?

Redd Hudson wrote:Everything I know about humans I learned from my chickens.....

Although I read the rest, I could have stopped here and been satisfied.

Given the way this species can be introduced to your homestead from a bin at a big-box store and within one generation exhibit textbook "good parent" behavior, chickens might be considered superior to humans.

Yet based on their propensity to eat styrofoam when complete seed and grain rations are otherwise present puts them on par with humans.

:-/

paul wheaton wrote:I just asked google about flights from seattle to denver.  Frontier will do it for $98.

Frontier is a horrible ride, about as bad as Spirit (was).

What I find helpful is the information on Google's flight search for the amount of CO2 different airline (airplane) choices will generate. Economy seats generate less than First class (taking up less space on the plane), nonstop flights generally generate less, and there can be a large difference between airlines for the same destination (10% more than average to 25% below average). Finally, there are honest carbon offset options and shady ones. Do your homework. And live where you would like to vacation.

Derek Thille wrote:...

Another example may be urban municipalities shifting roads to more cycling paths / lanes and in some cases reducing or restricting lanes for automobiles.  It can certainly be a positive more if it results in people making a switch from an automobile to using a bicycle from a fuel use perspective.  One consideration is where the money comes from for municipalities to make these changes.  Fuel and road taxes and related charges were ostensibly put in place to pay for roads.  How do municipalities pay for the roads if those revenues are decreased?  There is a sustainability to that question.  However, if few to no automobilists make the shift, have we made changes that will actually increase their fuel use and perhaps created resentment toward cyclists, which could have a negative impact on safety.  

....

I searched Permies for 'bicycles' and this was the first (most recent) post I found.
This is exactly the subject I wanted to tell something about.

I live in the Netherlands and have never been in North America. The Netherlands is famous for being a very bicycle-friendly country (maybe the most bicycle-friendly, but some other European countries are very bicycle-friendly too). It's so very bicycle-friendly that some people from North America moved so they could live here, and they have Youtube channels about the way traffic works here in the Netherlands.

I like to watch Youtube videos on 'cycling in the Netherlands', because I do bicycle trips myself, and they give me 'inspiration' to visit regions I have not yet been to.
Some of those videos are made by North Americans.  The algorithm of Youtube started showing me more videos on bicycling in the Netherlands by North Americans ... so I found this channel. It's called 'Not Just Bikes'.

What interested me most in that Youtube channel was how a Canadian showed the difference between his former hometown, and other towns in Canada, and the towns (including 'cities') in the Netherlands. That made me aware of how terrible it must be to ride a bicycle in Canada! The way I live, without a drivers license and only using a bicycle and public transport ... it would be impossible there!

I think for you, North Americans, it must be interesting to see how different traffic is organised here.
Here is a link to Not Just Bikes: https://www.youtube.com/@NotJustBikes  

Of course this thread is about 'being angry at bad guys' or not.

One of my important life principles is 'do your best not to be angry at someone', or even better 'love all people'. Sure, many people do very bad things, but I do my best not to become angry on them. Only hate the behaviour, not the person.

Of course I do my best too not to behave in a bad way ...

Thanks Inge. Your response is perfect for the questions asked about the impact of building more bike infrastructure.

I love your "signature" also.

Edward Lye wrote: light bulbs
So I asked a couple of them what we can do when there are
no more incandescent bulbs . . . silence.

I for one will probably look for a used hair dryer or toaster.

Oven lights still use incandescent bulbs, so you can always get an oven light.

Join us for a Permaculture Smackdown this Saturday, August 1st, live on YouTube! We’ll discuss why some well-intentioned environmental choices may miss the mark and explore practical solutions that create real, positive change.

Click Here and then notify me to get reminded when it begins and leave any questions below for our panel to tackle :)

Inge Leonora-den Ouden wrote:

Derek Thille wrote:...

Another example may be urban municipalities shifting roads to more cycling paths / lanes and in some cases reducing or restricting lanes for automobiles.  It can certainly be a positive more if it results in people making a switch from an automobile to using a bicycle from a fuel use perspective.  One consideration is where the money comes from for municipalities to make these changes.  Fuel and road taxes and related charges were ostensibly put in place to pay for roads.  How do municipalities pay for the roads if those revenues are decreased?  There is a sustainability to that question.  However, if few to no automobilists make the shift, have we made changes that will actually increase their fuel use and perhaps created resentment toward cyclists, which could have a negative impact on safety.  

....

I searched Permies for 'bicycles' and this was the first (most recent) post I found.
This is exactly the subject I wanted to tell something about.

I live in the Netherlands and have never been in North America. The Netherlands is famous for being a very bicycle-friendly country (maybe the most bicycle-friendly, but some other European countries are very bicycle-friendly too). It's so very bicycle-friendly that some people from North America moved so they could live here, and they have Youtube channels about the way traffic works here in the Netherlands.  

There are a wide variety of climatic conditions across North America.  Here in the middle of the continent, we spend some time every winter near -30C (sometimes colder but we can always count on hitting that each winter...actual temperature, not wind chill).  There are a few brave souls who do bundle up and venture out on bicycles in those conditions, but they are few and far between.  For those few, we have spent millions in this city on permanent bicycle infrastructure.  This adds wrinkles into winter snow removal, sometimes they ride in automobile lanes, and sometimes they ride on sidewalks.  I'm not sure enough people switched from autos to bicycles to justify the millions of dollars spent.  Additionally, when a lane of auto traffic is removed, the remaining automobiles move less efficiently, so I really have to question whether this is actually reducing emissions or just appeasing activist cyclists.

I would love to have a more "active transportation" friendly environment.  There are neighbourhoods here that don't even have sidewalks so pedestrians are forced onto the streets.  

At one point, I worked downtown, about a mile / 1.6 km from home.  It took me 17 minutes to walk door to door.  It made no sense to me to get in a vehicle, drive, pay for parking, then walk to the office, and turn around and do the reverse.  Driving wouldn't have saved me time and certainly would have cost me more money and I'd have burned fewer calories.

Was surprised by the fly vs. drive and so off to the internet.....

"Per 1,000 miles, a commercial flight emits roughly 410 pounds equivalent per passenger for a typical domestic route. By comparison, an average solo gasoline car driver emits about 890 pounds."

Color me shocked!  If you're driving, please consider not doing it by yourself!  Pack that car full of people!!!

Inge Leonora-den Ouden wrote:
What interested me most in that Youtube channel was how a Canadian showed the difference between his former hometown, and other towns in Canada, and the towns (including 'cities') in the Netherlands. That made me aware of how terrible it must be to ride a bicycle in Canada!

With the exception of some municipalities, it gets even worse to the south of Canada... :-P

But also to add, Inge,.....on occasion I have been one of THOSE Americans who could not navigate properly on foot between the throngs of bicyclists in Amsterdam.  On one terribly embarrasing incident, I found myself like a doe looking into the headlights of an oncoming car....only in this case it was a wall of cyclists having just departed from a stoplight.  It was all I could do to ultimately hold out my extended hand to 'aid' an oncoming cyclist in a full stop, her eyes rolling up in frustration at the interruption in her commute.  I apologized profusely and made note to be more aware of my street crossing protocol henceforth....

Greg Martin wrote:"Per 1,000 miles, a commercial flight emits roughly 410 pounds equivalent per passenger for a typical domestic route. By comparison, an average solo gasoline car driver emits about 890 pounds."

Color me shocked!  If you're driving, please consider not doing it by yourself!  Pack that car full of people!!!

Or full of something! Imagine paying to move half a ton of seaweed or rocks or whatever on an airplane.

John Weiland wrote:...

But also to add, Inge,.....on occasion I have been one of THOSE Americans who could not navigate properly on foot between the throngs of bicyclists in Amsterdam.  On one terribly embarrasing incident, I found myself like a doe looking into the headlights of an oncoming car....only in this case it was a wall of cyclists having just departed from a stoplight.  It was all I could do to ultimately hold out my extended hand to 'aid' an oncoming cyclist in a full stop, her eyes rolling up in frustration at the interruption in her commute.  I apologized profusely and made note to be more aware of my street crossing protocol henceforth....

Amsterdam, yes, I had problems there too. It's a too crowded city. Too many pedestrians and bicyclists (both including tourists) in narrow streets.
But in other cities/towns bicycle infrastructure is just as good, or even better, but there are not as many people.

We are live!

Andrés Bernal wrote:We are live!

Thank you for being 'behind the scenes'. And thanks to Paul, Ash, Derek and Samantha.