You're right that it's not good enough to use electric cars when we're still burning fossil fuels to power them, but at least the cars don't need fossil fuels- we can and should switch to solar/wind or even some nuclear power.
I think part of the advantage of greener living on a personal scale is as a foot in the door- the human race needs sweeping changes to survive, but we've had some progress on the smaller scale as well.
I don't know if this has been discussed here before, but this is Ashton Hayes
, an English town which is trying to become carbon neutral. They've managed to cut their emissions by 24 percent, I believe. Here's the Jezebel article I first read about them. One of the more interesting points was the importance of working on the small scale. I'm trying to gather information for my workplace, see if they'll bite.
The Wanderer
Copypasting from the US Politics thread:
The ecological disaster that is Trump’s border wall: a visual guide
So on top of being racist and impractical, it's ecologically unsound as well.
Eating a Vanilluxe will give you frostbite.
Don't get anybody started on native people issues with "the wall". That's a category by itself.
The trees that make Southern California shady and green are dying. Fast. Between drought, unsuitable climate and a cornucopia of invasive species, the place is losing its woods.
Block Island is connecting America's first off shore wind farm.
Organized Canine Bureau Special Agent
https://ph.news.yahoo.com/france-end-sales-petrol-diesel-vehicles-2040-005639265.html
I guess it's safe to post this here concerning France's plans to sell hybrids by 2040.
"Exit muna si Polgas. Ang kailangan dito ay si Dobermaxx!"
How the demand for sand is killing rivers
So much so that a UN report estimated global sand use in 2012 alone could have created a concrete wall 27m high by 27m wide around the equator. We need not go to the beach to be surrounded by sand - our cities are essentially giant towering sand castles disguised in concrete.
Innocent as sand may seem, the immense demand for it is causing loss of livelihoods, loss of ecosystems and even deaths.
In India, a black market for sand harvesting has emerged, operated by violent sand mafias. In China, the country's biggest freshwater lake - Poyang Lake - is drying up due to sand dredging. Hundreds of locals rely on the lake for fish, as do the millions of migratory birds that stop here each year.
In Kenya, sand dredging from the riverbeds of poor rural counties like Makueni is leaving some communities without access to water.
With the country's population expected to double in the next 40 years, massive infrastructure projects like Kenya's new Standard Gauge Railway are necessary. But they need millions of tonnes of sand. Kenya's coast and inland rivers have all been exploited in recent years, but the effect in Makueni has been particularly acute.
Local Police Officer Geoffrey Kasyoki was well known in his community for trying to stop illegal sand harvesting in Makueni. In February 2011 he was set upon by a group of young men in broad daylight. They shot him with poisoned arrows, crushed his head and slashed his skin.
Standing over her husband's grave, his widow Irene told me, "He was killed to send a message to the community from the sand harvesters: do not try to stop us". Her chest heaved in and out, shuddering with sobs, and she reached out to touch the sandy mound of earth under which he is buried.
As Anthony and I walked further along the riverbed, we came across harvesters labouring under the baking midday sun, shovelling sand into a pile ready for a truck to collect it.
While I watched and wondered whether sand could soon become the stuff of distant childhood memories, others around me had more pressing concerns. For them, sand could mean the difference between eating and going hungry, whether they'd have drinking water or not, or whether they'd ever see their loved ones again.
edited 3rd Sep '17 6:58:51 AM by Wyldchyld
If my post doesn't mention a giant flying sperm whale with oversized teeth and lionfish fins for flippers, it just isn't worth reading.
Ivory trade to be banned in UK 'to protect elephants'
Environment Secretary Michael Gove has announced a consultation to end the trade in ivory of all ages - previous attempts at a ban would have excluded antique ivory produced before 1947.
The government says there will be some exemptions, for musical instruments and items of cultural importance.
Conservation groups have given a guarded welcome to the plan.
I will admit to being somewhat torn on this. While I absolutely abhor the killing of elephants for their ivory I am also a great lover of art and antiques and do believe that with proper regulation trade in older pieces should still be allowed.
Knowledge is Power, Guard it Well
Oh, bother.
The rationale though is that those very antiques help drive the demand for ivory in the first place.
Disgusted, but not surprised
![[up]](https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/smiles/arrow_up.png "[up]"){kind=icon}
That is something I have never understood. While it is probably the case that it increases the demand for some, to me some of the point in the desirability of antiques is that they aren't being made anymore so creating more by killing more animals would make me want them less.
As i understand it, its more a case of counterfeiting. The ban on the ivory trade means that objects made before the ban automatically become more valuable as they become a limited commodity. Therefore counterfeiting them becomes inherently valuable. And the easiest way to fake old ivory is to use artificially aged fresh ivory.
Giant hole the size of Maine opened up in Antarctica
This some H. P. Lovecraft s#it right there.
What a ridiculous misrepresentation (the article). One, while the role that injection of fresh magma plays in kickstarting new eruptions is well known it doesnt't always result in mega eruptions. Second, such uplift does not by default imply new magma. Three, wiping out most or even much life on Earth needs more than that.
"For a successful technology, reality must take precedence over public relations, for Nature cannot be fooled." - Richard Feynman
Oh, bother.
Penguin disaster as just two chicks survive from colony of 40,000
tl:dr; only two chicks survived. Thousands of others either starved or didn't even hatch. This is leading to calls for a marine protected area. An unusually large amount of sea ice is assumed to be the cause, since it makes it harder for the penguins to get food to their chicks.
As a penguin lover, this breaks my heart. 
Poor things.
So, you know what a gamergate is?
It is the name given to the alpha worker ant in the colonies of the species Dinoponera quadriceps, which is the only ant that reproduces - she is not a queen though. All ants in those colonies are fertile, but the gamergate keeps her status by painting her "beta" rivals with a pheromone that leads their rivals to get immobilized by lower-rank workers - so they can't reproduce. When the gamergate dies, a beta takes her place and starts bullying the betas.
The name comes from greek "gamos" (reproduction/marriage) and "ergatos" (worker).
edited 22nd Nov '17 5:35:25 AM by Julep
United Earth
In PUA slang, a gamergate is a 'cockblocker'. #Isn't It Ironic?.
Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that.
I only knew the word from the ridiculous #Gamergate controversy myself.
The Cosmopolitan Fictioneer
Greek gamos, actually.
MIA
Hi guys
I hate to be the bringer of bad news but, I'm going to be honest. The human is going to die eventually since at this rate,no amount of arguments is going to persuade the 1% that their literally ruining the planet. So, by 2100, expect to be living in a desert planet.
MIA
MIA
actually, that would not be the case. There's still hope. We can invest in vertical farming that could help feed people. Funding rewilding projects would work to as well as making parks and safaris for that stuff. All we have to do is convnice the people to do it.
There is also the issue of people/vehicle. When people say that trains are better for the environment, it's because of this. Power consumption per vehicle does not increase as quickly as places per vehicle.
"For a successful technology, reality must take precedence over public relations, for Nature cannot be fooled." - Richard Feynman