Grateful Dead

Now please don't get angry but I just wanted to point out that in the Book of Revelation, chp. 11, verse 18,it says that God will "destroy them which destroy the earth". I've wondered how Saint John could have foreseen that one day mankind would be capable of destroying the earth when they didn't even know how big the earth was back then. I guess you could say God is the biggest environmentalist of us all. Let it be known There is a fountain That was not made By the hands of man Many blessings to you all

They all have detrimental impacts to the environment. You could make a case for pros and cons to each of them. "The dire wolf collects his due while the boys sing round the fire"

I don't know a definitive answer to this either but I did live in the coal fields of VA for almost 8 yrs. Coal is a huge environmental hazard at the point of production. The entire area becomes covered with coal dust. Stores, houses, cars etc. The streams in the area are very polluted and some stink. They smell of sulfur etc. When mountain top removal mining methods are used things are even worse. Mining is very dangerous for the health and well being of those who do it. We've all heard about the recent catastrophes in WV, but this is a drop in the bucket to the miners who die or have a miserable quality of life from black lung and rock dust disease. Rock dust is the stuff they spread in the mines to keep down the coal dust and prevent explosions but this dust can be just as bad for the lungs of the miners as the coal dust. I'm not sure how the carbon footprint numbers compare for oil and coal which would be more relevant to answering johnman,s question, but I do know that coal production has a horrible impact on the environment surrounding the mines.

Before we got spun off, we were owned by a company whose chairman had an environmental epiphany in the mid-90s. Long story, but he assembled an environmental "Dream Team" to work on making the business sustainable in the true, and not greenwashed sense. The effort was completely sincere -- I believe that unequivocally. The team included Paul Hawken, whose book, "The Ecology of Commerce" prompted the epiphany; Amory Lovins, who is just a genius, I think; David Brower; Jon Picard; and a couple of others that I can't recall. McDonough was part of that team, but got dropped over some licensing issues (the money part), I believe. Those were very fun, very inspiring times for a traditional manufacturing plunderer of the earth. We're still carrying the torch, but this economy sure ain't making it easy. Chocolate chip cookies here, if you please... Oh yeah, the point was exactly that: if the entire world behaved as Americans do in terms of consumption...well, there just ain't enough world to go around.

Somehow I'm guessing coal because it is so dirty at the point of production. Not that oil isn't, just less so, I imagine. Maybe somebody has a definitive answer. And yer absolutely right that not all employees are justified at getting back at their boss. That is the other thing I notice living where I do. The amount of abysmally stupid people doing abysmally stupid things. If it's that bad in the rest of the country then I would say the Idiocracy is in full bloom. However, there is a law being drafted that would make a civil workplace mandatory and I say let the lawyers feast when the bill is signed. Owner/bosses would no longer have the right to bully, yell and belittle their employees in the workplace and I say it is high time for that. Past high time. There are a lot of businesses that have been passed down from parent to child where the habit of the parent becomes the habit of the child. That is, the bad habit of abusing their employees. I am extremely passionate on this subject. If the boss/owner can't control his mouth then let the wrath of shyster lawyers rain down on them like a tropical downpour. WE ALL DESERVE A CIVIL WORKPLACE and shouldn't have to put up with incivility from bosses, customers or other employees. Really. And no twinkie defense either (It was the junk food I ate, yer'honor. I really have no control when my blood sugar rises). Speaking of blood sugar J'man - I'm only giving you lo-cal cookies from now on. Here are some peanut ones.

that should have been "forgive".....sorry!

peanut instead of macadamia?...for give me for being picky, but i am an avowed peanut addict...heeheee!!!

not that either one is a sound choice, but what is worse for the environment, oil or coal? and aren't they basically the same, from a fossil fuel perspective? I also wish to point out, not every employee who burns their former employer is a hero, some are just disgruntled individuals who cannot accept that they may have been let go for cause, and would rather place the blame somewhere else then accept that they may be at fault. Obviously this is not the case with Mr. Slater, but some people thrive on the attention.

That the rapid modernization of the world cannot be sustained? That all industrializing cultures will want the same things? Agree; Agree. Everybody can't have everything and we are in no position to say who can have what. The free market rules. If there is demand, there will be supply. Look at the mess Mexico is in. I think you must work for a somewhat enlightened company to have them hire consultants to become more green. What is the owner's motivation (your company) to become more green? Doing The Right Thing (a warm, fuzzy feeling) or Saving Money (being seen as savvy). Probably a mixture of both. I would have thought all these conservation programs that businesses engage in and such government incentives as the Energy Star program and tax breaks for energy efficient windows, insulation and high-mileage cars would have cut CO2 emissions but the statistics don't bear it out. Frightening. The only thing that will help is a good old-fashioned depression coupled with an epidemic equal to the Bubonic plague. Looks like we're in a vice one way or the other.. Anybody out there want to create a Deadhead Biosphere? Our own self-contained and self-supporting community in a bubble?

Yeah, I don't know if the story is true or not, but it was effective. There was another, called the "cotton underwear bill of rights." If every person on earth had a right to cotton underwear, all of the arable land in the world would be taken over by cotton production, or at least the part that can produce cotton. As cotton isn't exactly the most environmentally friendly crop out there, and as you also can't eat it, that's a problem. Also probably not true, but again, there was a point to be made. Source was Bill McDonough and his partner Michael Braungart. Lots of companies trying to "green" themselves with their assistance have had a falling out with these guys (mine included)...but they are very interesting and entertaining speakers, to say the least.