#fuel stoves | Explore Tumblr posts and blogs

cherryblossomshadow · 7 days ago

Text

You Are Not Evil

hankschannel

youtube

TL;DW

Humans are not evil.

We solve problems.

And when we do, we create new problems

Transcript excerpts below the cut:

I would like to talk really quick about this image. It's a sad Earth, covered in storm clouds … covered in cut-down trees and standing in a puddle of refuse … the Earth is sad. It is crying, and it says, “No intelligent species would destroy their own environment.”

…

Hannah Ritchie’s very excellent book, “Not the End of the World,” has a subtitle … “how can we be the first generation to build a sustainable planet”

The argument she makes is that sustainability in her definition includes things like “children not dying in infancy.” And when I look at images like this, what I see is a complete disregard for the accomplishments of humans

…

In the United States in 1895, a quarter of people born could expect to not live to five. And that was lower than it used to be. And I have to emphasize this as much as I can: The biggest problem that our planet faces is that there are so many humans, and that the humans in question want to provide a very high standard of living for themselves and their children

So the reason why the environment is fucked … and I know that there's a group of people who will not believe me when I say this. And they will say, “No, it's the fossil fuel companies.”

And look, the fossil fuel companies have made this much worse and have slowed down our transition. They are not the only problem, but they are a huge problem

But the biggest reason why we have a problem is love. It's that we want to have children, and we want them to survive.

And so now there are 8 billion of us … and we want all 8 billion of those people to have pretty good lives

And I, sitting here in my heated office in short sleeves in December, I cannot tell a bunch of people in China or India or Ghana that they can't have what I have

Here's my point: our intelligence for the vast majority of history of life on Earth has been oriented toward survival. And that has resulted in a huge amount of survival. And now we are in a situation where there can be a good life that has a great deal of survival and thriving in it, that does not require the amount of impact on the environment that we are having

But an unintelligent species that did what we have done … this has happened before. Trees, for example, caused a mass extinction when they arrived on land. They absorbed so much carbon dioxide that there was no longer very much carbon dioxide in the air, the water became less acidic, and many things died on the planet because of trees. And they didn't know that they were doing it. but also you can't blame them because they're trees. And so of course, they couldn't see it coming

But here's a story that I think we miss: When we as a species encounter local environmental problems, we tend to fix them. It was not long ago that London could be so clogged with coal smoke that you had to clean it off the windows every day, and that is no longer the case. You now never think of London as a place that has like got a coal smoke problem. In fact, the United Kingdom recently stopped burning coal entirely, which is very weird historically, considering they were where the coal started

But it was also very recently … that Beijing had this problem, and now Beijing has this problem much less. It still has an air pollution problem, just like Los Angeles does, but much less. When rivers catch on fire, we actually change our policies. When the rain becomes acidic, we change our policies

The problem with global warming is twofold

It's invisible. There are cold days and hot days, like there always were. There will always be cold days and hot days. You can't see the river catch on fire, you can't see the trees on the hilltop dying, because the soil has become so acidic, because the coal-fired power plants have been putting sulfur into the atmosphere. You can't see it

We only know about global warming because we are an intelligent species. If we were not smart, we would be trundling down this path completely oblivious, sometimes wondering why it got so hot.

Which, I have to point out was a thing that happened in the past. There were times when it just got cold or hot, and we didn't know why. And then the crops would fail, and a bunch of people would starve, and it was because there was a freaking volcano halfway across the world. We only know the problem exists, because we're smart. We only have the tools to deal with it, because we're smart. We are only implementing those tools, because we are smart

2. And the other problem with global warming is, another reason why we are too slow at this is because carbon dioxide is the goal gas. I feel like this is not understood by people but with acid rain, we didn't want the sulfur or the nitrogen to get released into the atmosphere. That was just a side effect of burning coal. With the hole in the ozone layer, we didn't want those molecules being released into the atmosphere. That was just a side effect of how it worked

Like what we wanted was cooling. And cooling, by the way, has saved so many lives. And we are going to have to have more of it to continue to save those lives. And that's going to be energetically expensive. (But it won't be expensive when it comes to the hole in the ozone layer, because we have we have better solutions now)

But energy is what so much of our thriving is based on, and we do not want to give up that thriving. And the way that we have created that energy for the most part has been burning fossil fuels. And the goal gas, the gas that you inevitably get out of burning fossil fuels if you burn them as cleanly as possible, all you get is carbon dioxide and water vapor

We built our society on it, we built our thriving on it. Because we are smart, and because we want to provide a good life for ourselves and our children. This is a Smart Species Activity

My son has stared to come home from school with ideas like this in his head, where he's like, “We need to stop cutting down all the trees, Dad.” And I'm like, “Yeah absolutely, like what we need is for there to be lots of forests that are left to their own. But also remember that the house that we live in is built out of wood.”

And like the gears crank in his head, where he starts to ask himself if he's part of the problem. Which is why we need to have the definition of sustainability include the opportunity for human freedom and agency

I'm not saying that I shouldn't be responsible for more carbon dioxide being released into the atmosphere, absolutely I shouldn’t … I should be wearing a hoodie right now, I should not have had the heater on all night in here

But I think if we have this simplistic idea of humans or certain humans … a lot of the responses I saw to this [meme] were like, “No one ever said a Republican was an intelligent species.” And I'm like, “Oh my God, you people are so caught up in a current discourse and the current moment that you can't see how hard our all of our ancestors worked to provide us with a world that has plenty of food.” That's the biggest thing, plenty of food, but also climate-controlled shelter and pretty easy transportation to anywhere within what 400 miles? And then expensive, but still accessible transportation to the whole world. And also bananas which I love, and we're not going to grow in Montana. And if we did, it would be more energy expensive than shipping them from South America, where they're supposed to grow

Humans are remarkable. We are very powerful. Give any species this level of power, and they will provide opportunities for thriving for themselves and their children. They will try and prevent their children from dying. They will … walk through fire to make sure that their children don't die. They will destroy the Earth to make sure their children won't die. But I'm glad that we have enough intelligence both to provide those opportunities for our children to not die but also to start to uncover the impacts that we have, hopefully some time to self-correct some amount. We're at this point going to experience significant negative impacts from the warming of the planet. We did not move fast enough. I think that there's all kinds of like … not valid, but like understandable reasons, why we haven't moved fast enough

This is hard. People are greedy. People suck. People will tell stories to make themselves believe that the things that they want to do are in fact the right things to do. We all do that

But I don't want my son growing up, thinking that the species he is a part of is in some way evil. And I feel like that's like the root of a lot of sort of armchair environmentalism. I want him thinking humans are problem solvers, and solving problems creates new problems. And that's a little bit more of a complicated idea, but it is so true. I have solved so many problems, and never have I solved a problem that didn't create a new problem. I think we're absolutely at a place where increasing the amount of access to energy that I have as an individual will not make my life any better. But that is not the case for the majority of people on Earth. More access to medicine, refrigerators, ways to cook food that don't involve fires … (which we honestly in the US could also do a better job of, for Christ's sake. We have to stop having natural gas stoves. This is so stupid. I made a video about that once. I'll put that video at the end of this video)

But when we solve the global warming problem, we will have created new problems. And we're doing it right now. In the background, there's like a land use fight. Renewable Technologies use way more land. Solar panels take up a lot of space, wind turbines take up a lot of space, you have to make a road between each win turbine, and those roads take up a lot of space. They impact the environment by being there

I think in the future, we will uninstall a bunch of those things, because we'll have other technologies that are better. We'll have maybe like advanced geothermal or we'll have more fission or we'll have fusion or whatever it is. But we're going to need energy

And the people of the future will be mad at us for the work that we did, and that's fine. Just like we're kind of mad at all the people who made the world a better place by burning a bunch of coal, so that we could all have refrigerators, which nobody thinks about as a perk anymore! They just think that's normal! A 100 years ago, more than half of Americans didn't have a refrigerator. It wasn't that long ago

And that's the situation in India now. Less than half of households in India have a refrigerator, and in the next 100 years, that number had better be 100% or we’re going to be pissed off at us

I know this video could have been a lot shorter it could have just been one sentence it could have been:

Humans are not evil. We solve problems. And when we do, we create new problems

And I think that is like universally probably going to be a pretty normal story of intelligent species. Like if we found another, I bet they'd have a lot of stories about how they created Problems by solving problems

And the speed at which we solve the problems … I think there's absolutely some shame we should experience here. I admit it's a hard one, but oh my God, the extent to which we will not accept any inconvenience in exchange for making the world more livable for people in other places in the world and also our own children in the future is stupid

I will say, this is an amount of foresight that is unusual and requires a great deal of intelligence. There aren't a lot of other species out there trying to figure out how to make the world work for the next generation. Like that's not how they think. Because most species don't think about the future. They don't have a conception of the future. Like dogs don't have a conception of the future. So like, it's remarkable that we're able to do it at all. I do think we could have been better at this, and I am frustrated the extent to which we have spent a lot of time arguing instead of acting, and we could have acted faster, and that would have mattered

…

18:20

I'm going to stick the video about stoves and why we shouldn't use for both health reasons and environmental reasons why we should no longer use gas stoves okay enjoy that goodbye

(link to gas stove)

2 notes · View notes

stovebayno · 8 months ago

Text

Exploring the Charm of Multi-Fuel Stoves: A Guide to Buying Log Burners in the UK

In the realm of home heating solutions, the multi-fuel stove stands out as a versatile and efficient option. Whether you're drawn to the rustic allure of burning logs or the convenience of pellets, multi fuel stove offer a blend of functionality and aesthetic appeal. For those in the UK seeking to invest in a quality heating appliance, navigating the market can be overwhelming. But fear not, as we delve into the world of multi-fuel stoves and guide you through the process of purchasing the perfect log burner in the UK.

Multi-fuel stoves have gained popularity in recent years due to their ability to burn a variety of fuels, including wood, coal, and eco-friendly pellets. This versatility makes them an attractive option for homeowners looking to reduce their carbon footprint while enjoying the warmth and ambiance of a real fire. With the rising demand for sustainable heating solutions, multi-fuel stoves have become a staple in many UK households.

When considering where to buy log burner UK, one name stands out: StoveBay. As a leading provider of heating appliances in the UK, StoveBay offers a wide range of multi-fuel stoves to suit every need and budget. Whether you're in the market for a traditional wood-burning stove or a modern pellet burner, StoveBay has you covered.

One of the advantages of opting for a multi-fuel stove is the ability to choose between different fuel types based on availability and personal preference. While wood-burning stoves offer a classic appeal and are ideal for those with access to firewood, pellet stoves provide a convenient alternative for urban dwellers or those seeking a cleaner burning option. With StoveBay's extensive selection of multi-fuel stoves including top brands like EcoDesign, choosing the right one for your home has never been easier.

In addition to their versatility, multi-fuel stoves are known for their efficiency and cost-effectiveness. By harnessing the power of renewable fuels such as wood pellets, homeowners can reduce their heating bills while minimizing their impact on the environment. With StoveBay's competitive prices and expert advice, investing in a multi-fuel stove is not only a smart choice for your wallet but also for the planet.

Visit Here

In conclusion, multi-fuel stoves offer a winning combination of versatility, efficiency, and charm, making them an excellent choice for heating your home in the UK. Whether you're drawn to the crackle of a wood fire or the convenience of pellets, StoveBay has the perfect multi-fuel stove to meet your needs. So why wait? Visit StoveBay today and take the first step towards a warmer, more sustainable future.

#multi--fuel stove

0 notes