Mankind is taking our planet on a crash course for disaster. In the past decade, I have noticed a significant change in the environment around Butte. The signs of global warming are all around us. It wasn’t that long ago and we would have snow by November. The past few winters have come much later than stay much longer. We as a society have generated this dilemma. Man is a creature who consumes and spreads much as a virus does. The time is now that we start rethinking or revolving our ways that will ensure this planet will continue to support its vast diversity of life.
Global warming directly impacted me with the destruction of forests just outside of Butte by the Beadle bug. Vast number of trees that become infected and countless others will soon join their fate. The death of these trees only compounds the existing problem, by the loss of these oxygen scrubbers. So the level of CO2 will continue to rise as well as our temperatures will in unison.
If I had full control of mankind I would pursue nuclear energy and abolish the myth of wind power. Mankind searches for the most economical way of renewable energy and the solution is there’s no cheap solution. The myth I speak of is that for every wind turbine farm there’s a natural gas power plant running on standby still using natural gas and releasing levels of greenhouse gases into the atmosphere. The consumers will pay higher energy levels because natural gas is still burning. Wind is never constant and so there always will be a need for a backup power supply. Thus our clean energy still has some dirt in it. France has developed a way to utilize 95% of its uranium. This technology has been around since the 1970’s. Currently the United States only uses roughly 5% of its uranium leaving the rest as waste. The US banned nuclear recycle technology in 1977, and as such no new plants have come online. My proposal would be to construct a dozen more new highly efficient reactors being fueled by the waste generated from the past 30 years. It would both environmentally friendly and we can cut down radiation half-life of the waste we had already generated. Thus having an almost endless supply of energy we can use this for cars removing the Carbon footprint of fossil fuels. It does not solve the problem but yet gives a stop gap, while we engineer new sources which are environment friendly and renewable. I would also stress mass transit all in order to lower the CO2 level drastically.
In closing, or European counterparts seem to be farther along the environmentally sound path. My experiences in England were that you did not need a car to get around. There is no easy solution and until faced with a major crisis will change our ways. For the past 10,000 years man has used this gem of the heavens as a garbage dump. We must change, use more efficient appliances, and mass transit. I accept the challenge, walking when I can, Man did it for thousands of years before cars. One it is healthy for me, but two saves money too. I also use commuting when I can.
