Climate Change Runs Up Against Green Fatigue

Excellent comment.

Really?

Your modern semi with its improved aerodynamics, better engine fuel/air control and improved drive train uses MORE fuel than in the old days.

That's stunning, must be that everyone else in the industry is stupid.

It might have to do with everyone in the industry having to deal with counterproductive emissions regulations.

I have personally seen the massive improvements in my vehicles from technology changes. Now my old 70's Ram Truck with a cabureted 318 and non overdrive transmission got really bad gas mileage. 12 around town and 14 on the highway.

Now with my early 2000's Ram, the 318 has multiport fuel injection, a lockup overdrive transmission, lightened accessory drives, electronic spark control, OBD2 and many other advanced technologies to make it run more efficient and cleaner. The difference is really breathtaking. Now I'm getting 12 miles per gallon around town and 14 on the highway. ........?.....?...

.....WTF mate?

My dad had a 1959 Plymouth car with a 318 V8 that got 20 MPG. His Dodge pickup with a slant 6 got only 14. I'm guessing the difference was mostly gear ratio with some wind resistance added.

One of my life long buddies I met in tech college when I got out of high school had a 1970's Chrysler Newport with a 383 V8 in it. With what emissions systems it had back in it day removed and the 4 BBl carb rejetted and reworked that old land yacht would run upper teens to low and mid 20's quite regularly.

We attributed the 5200#+ barges good fuel mileage to the "wiffle ball effect" Being a Minnesota car all its life it was so rusted out that I think more air went through it than around it!

Crazy thing is, that old Plymouth with the Polysphere 318 probably weighed as much as, if not more than, that Dodge truck

Compared to a car of a similar length and width dimensions some pickup trucks can weigh far less, even being taller.

.

Part of this is due to much less glass and interior accoutrements n the rear half of the vehicle.

An interesting article with some pleasant data.

The state of the world cannot be all that bad given the number of people complaining about the CR4 colour scheme.

_{Jack - Happy thoughts everyone!}

You are welcome.

Always glad to do my part to make sure things can't be all that bad.

This guy must be trying out for FOX news.

Who are these terrible "Activists" that he's talking about?

Is it actually true that "food stamp recipients are numerous enough to pick a president"?

Is he somehow blaming the evil "activists" for the recession caused by the giant banks?

Perhaps what has been overlooked in this discussion is the positive impacts that have resulted from the massive shift to an environmentally aware civilization...not just in the US of A but globally...So much effort into alternative sources of energy are beginning to come to fruition(solar,wind,tides,geothermal,combinations of hydro wind ,biogas , biodiesel...not all from corn which is the lazy companies approach with negative implications to global yes global food security etc.)

While the zealots of green may be faulted for overshooting their original marks the technological spin-offs of their cries for action are nothing short of stunning if you follow CR4 and IHS Global Spec CR4 daily offerings of news in an astounding array of technological developments ..Hats off to them,the greenie babies, for making the noise that is getting the oil flowing (in the sense of technological and social fixes)to stop their squawking sooner than later..Then perhaps we,as a civilization now acutely aware of each other ,may begin working in concert to address not only our humanities well being on our shared planetary home but perhaps to finally reach for the stars together..

Both sides of the "green" argument have their merits and demerits. The biggest problem that I see is that both sides become so stubborn to prove that they are completely right that nobody will compromise and real solutions get stalled. The general public doesn't have the time or attention span or expertise to separate hype from truth, so they just react to whomever is yelling. The activists can be their own worst enemies since they create most of what the author terms "green fatigue". But I agree with Marty that without the yelling, "green" problems get swept under the rug.

I wish more moderates would try to educate the general public as well as educate politicians and business leaders. But I have experienced firsthand that frustration, and would rather focus on what I do better (work on solutions rather than debate them). You might think that activists would rally behind you when you are a technician working on "green" solutions, but instead they turn on you when they decide that your solution is not good enough or not happening soon enough or contradicts some of their unfounded claims.

"Green" problems and solutions, as well as economic and social problems, are too complex to blame on any one entity. It's not fair to blame them on a political party, interest group, or industry. We've all contributed to our situation, and we can all contribute to solutions. I'm not saying that sometimes certain groups shouldn't be taken to task, but when we focus upon scapegoating then we're only making things worse. The average Joe has too much to do and worry about than to keep getting yanked around by rhetoric. So to avoid "green fatigue" we need to be careful and responsible in what we say and how we say it.

There you go, injecting logic and critical thinking into the argument. We can not allow this to happen. Just kidding.

Well said, I couldn't agree more. I wish that we all could sit down and discuss it like rational people. Unfortunately, only the fanatics (on both sides) make for good headlines. So, that is all that you hear.

I have been suffering from green fatigue for a long time and have given up hope for a rational discussion. I do like to stir the pot though.

Sorry to reply to my own comment, but I wanted to share an example of how stubbornness stifles solutions.

I have an acquaintance who is a "green" activist. Very involved and vocal in the local Sierra Club, and becoming very active in the local Democratic Party. After retiring comfortably from the corporate world, she and her husband started growing grapes on their farm. We're in an area where grape growing (and small wineries) are catching on and doing well. But my acquaintance spends too much time saber-rattling for her causes and not enough time tending her grapes. So the vines are dying. She blames "global warming".

I visited some other vineyards in our area, and all of them are doing fine. Some better than others, but none are devastated like my acquaintance's. Of course, they are tending their vines instead of making excuses. But my acquaintance has convinced herself that "global warming" is the culprit - not her inadequate care for her vines - and gets steamed and defensive if anybody suggests otherwise. She won't install automatic irrigation equipment because "technology causes pollution" and she can't find the time to water manually, claiming that "I can't defeat global warming by myself". So the vines wither.

So despite her good intentions and energy spent on her cause, she's actually hurting her own cause. Rational people perceive her as noise, and even some kindred spirits are distancing from her.

Making noise is sometimes necessary. But please don't just make noise.