On Fri, 2006-05-19 at 14:55 -0600, Jason Hall wrote: > -----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE----- > Hash: SHA1 > > Roberto Mello wrote: > > You seem to have this thought that recycling only has to do with > > "greenhouse gases" and associated levels of carbon in the atmosphere. > > > > My understanding (and if that's flawed, please enlighten me) recycling of > > the > > most common materials (glass, aluminum, paper) saved quite a bit of energy > > and raw materials. Most energy we get right now comes from fossil fuels. > > > > Seems to be a win to me. > > The only problem is the process of recycling most of these materials > uses more energy and other resources than is saved. While I would love > recycling to be efficient (and with better technology some types can > become that way) for now almost all forms of recycling are actually more > detrimental to the environment than pillaging areas for new sources of > materials.
That may be, but as I said earlier, sometimes an increase in emissions of CO2, heat, etc (burning of fuel) is worth it if we can prevent material that is potentially toxic from being thrown in a landfill. At the moment, steel is largely recycled and about breaks even I think. Recycling steel and even aluminum can take less energy than the original raw ores. And damage to the environment can take different forms, some of which are worse than others. Polluting my land and ground waters with heavy metals in my mind is far worse than increased CO2 emissions, at least locally. On a global scale it pretty much is bad no matter how you look at it. In other news, global warming is turning my home area in Southern Alberta into a sub-tropical climate (this is what the scientists are thinking anyway). This will dramatically increase the agricultural potential of the area. Of course this comes at the expense of Utah getting hotter and dryer and burning down more often. And at the expense of the Sahara desert taking most of the African continent with it. And Europe being flooded completely out. Oh well. Michael > > - -- > Jayce^ > -----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE----- > Version: GnuPG v1.4.1 (Darwin) > > iD8DBQFEbjC1A10/0O8cAHgRAiCtAJ0angxWZGX1p7aJtKf/gWa2wKc8HwCgsZ1Q > wEwBnDdIXsMHShOEFmZ5FaQ= > =xe2d > -----END PGP SIGNATURE----- > > /* > PLUG: http://plug.org, #utah on irc.freenode.net > Unsubscribe: http://plug.org/mailman/options/plug > Don't fear the penguin. > */ > /* PLUG: http://plug.org, #utah on irc.freenode.net Unsubscribe: http://plug.org/mailman/options/plug Don't fear the penguin. */
