[Mpls] Re: prt and Mpls

[Mark Snyder]

On 4/1/04 7:38 AM, "Bruce Gaarder" <gaarder at Encompasserve.org> wrote:

> If you think that CO2 is a pollutant, I gues that you don't breath or eat
> vegetables or anything that grows by eating vegetables.  I won't get into
> arguing about that.

Let me just make a quick point about that.

The whole issue of climate change and CO2 is not that difficult to
understand. It's certainly not as complex as industry apologists and the
Bush administration would like people to believe.

It's all about degrees [no pun intended].

Think about a houseplant. If you water it too much, the roots will rot out
and it will die. If you don't water it enough, it will dry out and die.
However, if you give it the right amount of water, it will thrive. The point
is that you can't say water is only good for houseplants or only bad for
houseplants. You have to consider the amount.

Same thing with CO2 and climate change. The way our Earth has evolved,
there's a certain concentration range of CO2 that has occurred naturally and
built up in the atmosphere and all of our local climates have adapted to
that. However, in more recent years, human activity has started to produce
enough CO2 in addition to what has naturally occurred that the balance is
getting thrown out of whack. Just like if you overwatered your houseplants.

The result is that our climate is changing. And it will continue to change
for as long as we continue to bury our heads in the sand and pretend that 6
billion people inhabiting this planet aren't going to have some kind of
collective impact on it.

For more details, I would encourage people to check out this online fact
sheet: http://www.moea.state.mn.us/reduce/climatechange.cfm

To try and bring this back to Minneapolis, it means that we should be
applauding programs like the Green Institute and following their lead. We
should look for ways to ensure that new construction employ the kinds of
efficiency standards that have allowed the Phillips Eco-Enterprise Center
(PEEC) to use 40% less energy than a similar-sized commercial building.

We should be looking to install photovoltaics in as many places as feasible,
whether it be a commercial office/warehouse building like PEEC, a library, a
school or even homes, like the Solar Saver homes
<http://www.solarsaverhomes.com/> offered by local developer, Awsumb and
Associates and currently on display in Holland neighborhood.

We should familiarize ourselves with the city's sustainability goals
<http://www.ci.minneapolis.mn.us/environment/Sustainability-Initiatives.asp>
and hold our city elected officials accountable for walking their talk when
it comes to selecting contractors (psst - that means vote for Eureka,
please!), approving projects and overseeing the departments.

And when we someday get our buses back, it means we should ride them.
Especially those of us who have never given them a real try. Contrary to
what the (Rich) Taxpayers League would like to believe, buses are not simply
another form of welfare for the less fortunate among us.

Here's a pretty nice article that a good friend of mine wrote about riding
the bus that appeared in the Twin Cities Green Guide a couple years ago:

My Car Convinced Me to Take the Bus -- Deb McKinley
http://www.thegreenguide.org/article/transportation/buses

I just got my new Metropass on Wednesday, which is good for the LRT line as
well as the Metro Transit buses. Can't wait to try it out.

Mark Snyder
Windom Park