Rewilding Britian - increasing biodiversity

[Swallow]

r.e. population control. David Attenborough's "How many people can live on planet earth" showed a reasonable back-up to the theory that where women are educated the birth rate drops.

 

[santaman2000]

Self sufficiency brings many things into bold relief. How many kids will you have when you have to feed them from your land? Will you have more kids and feed each one less? Will you expect each child to be able to marry, have lots of kids and live on a a third of your land?

Or will you expect your neighbour who practiced self control to feed your children?

Perhaps some people you have never met will turn up and you will say that your children will need to give up some of their land to feed the strangers who come from a land where there are less people?

These are the choices we face.

Exactly so sir. Providing financial incentives to breed, indeed not financially punishing those who make a socially responsible choice, to support those who cannot control their animal instincts, does seem to be a great place to start.

No-one is saying "choose who can breed", but "pay for the children you choose to have that the world does not need" does seem reasonable.

Ironically though, it was back in the days of more such self-sufficiency (family farms and less mechanization from petroleum powered machinery) that larger families were the rule rather than the exception. You needed the manpower to effectively work the land.

 

[santaman2000]

You are quite right; I ought to have been clearer.

Thing is though, electricity produced this way doesn't need to burn fossil fuels or bio fuels either…..and electricity powers a heck of a lot of modern life. I would quite happily not have gas central heating; it was in the house when we moved in. Again, that's an each to their own thing though. I know I certainly do not want to go back to gas lighting. I would quite happily only have electricity, and for the driving around that I do these days an electric car would do fine I reckon.

Recycling is the next huge push that's needed, and processing that recycling effectively and efficiently with no pollution must be an aim.

http://www.gov.scot/Topics/Business-Industry/Energy/Energy-sources/19185

M

As you say, to each his own. As for me, I deliberately asked for the full gas package when I had my current house built: Gas heat, gas clothes dryer, gas stove (cooker/oven) and gas water heater.If I ever build again, I'll do the same. Electric heat dries my sinuses too much and by comparison is too expensive (I have access to natural gas over butane or propane) Not to mention that natural disasters have never disrupted gas supplies while electric power is almost always out for days at least.

As for driving, yes, an electric car would work for some but it's unrealistic (at least for now) for anybody not returning home at night to recharge them. Or for anybody doing heavy work with a vehicle such as trucks. The hybrids show some promise but their development isn't quite there yet (surprising when you consider how ling it's been since railroad locomotives went to diesel-electric)

 

[Goatboy]

As you say, to each his own. As for me, I deliberately asked for the full gas package when I had my current house built: Gas heat, gas clothes dryer, gas stove (cooker/oven) and gas water heater.If I ever build again, I'll do the same. Electric heat dries my sinuses too much and by comparison is too expensive (I have access to natural gas over butane or propane) Not to mention that natural disasters have never disrupted gas supplies while electric power is almost always out for days at least.

As for driving, yes, an electric car would work for some but it's unrealistic (at least for now) for anybody not returning home at night to recharge them. Or for anybody doing heavy work with a vehicle such as trucks. The hybrids show some promise but their development isn't quite there yet (surprising when you consider how ling it's been since railroad locomotives went to diesel-electric)

Hi Santaman,
Not being odd I'm genuinely asking. But why apart from cultural following do folks need/use clothes driers/tumble driers in a place that's generally as hot as Florida? Have often wondered when viewing American telly programs where hot weather and space abound that folks don't put their washing out on a clothes line?Would be cheaper and generally makes for better, fresher washing.

 

[Robson Valley]

I can say with some authority that a passing (pun intended) fish-eating pelican drops about 200ml/6oz at a time. Even the little birds = sparrow poo makes my clothes look shabby.

 

[Goatboy]

I can't even remember the last time a bird poo'd on my washing.

 

[Toddy]

Nor me, and I live surrounded by trees full of birds. You just site the washing lines where they don't fly en route to feeding.

We had a gas fridge when I was little. Plugged it in with a bayonet fitting like a light bulb It's a blooming wonder that we didn't go bang or suffocate. Folks plugged all kinds of things straight into the gas pipes back then. We even had a gas poker for lighting the coal fire The socket was right next to the hearth

BR, it'd cost me over three grand to change the central heating to all electric. I'll save my bawbees until the present one croaks it and then figure things out. I have been considering installing underfloor central heating again but that's even more expensive.

I freely admit I use my tumble drier and a dehumidifier. In this climate I'm not setting up Winterdykes for months on end.

M

 

[Robson Valley]

Don't dismiss the pellet stoves for home heating. I've been running a Harman PP38+ for close to 10 years now. Approximately 5 tons (10,000lbs) per winter. 500lbs leaves a volume of mineral ash about the size of a loaf of bread. It is by no means the biggest pellet stove but it does an excellent job for 2 floors, 1,200sqft each with the pellet feed rate at approx 60% which is about 80lbs per 24hrs at -10C outdoors.
We will never see natural gas for home heating in this village. But here's the math: if natural gas costs 'X' for the winter, then pellets cost 2X. Electric heat is close to the 4X that oil costs for my central heating furnace. I run that when I'm away for extended periods in the winter.
The pellet stove, mat, and exhaust pipes cost me $3,000 before I lit the first match. With the annual oil savings, the pellet stove paid for itself in 3 winters. Then the savings paid for all the photovoltaic power system bits that I put together (over the next 2 winters.) Add on the most recent 5 winters and I'm doing OK.
In fact, the pellets are delivered as 50 x 40lb bags on a pallet. I hire a couple of Gr. XII/Matric boys to hump that into the house. The money goes towards their grad ceremonies & dinner dance. They can move each load in 30 minutes or less, a job that used to take me 2+ hours by myself on a good day.

 

[Toddy]

RV ? I live in a neat wee three bed end terrace house. There is no direct vehicular access to my house. The road is only 30/35 metres away though, but it does make lugging in tons of stuff a bit of a beggar. Pallets get stuck at the front gate, iimmc. Dry storage (hah! here ? dry ? outside ? ) just does not happen. I'd need to build a heated building to keep the pellets dry before they were used.
Electricity however is reliable, pretty much constant (one twenty minute power cut in umpteen years) and no bother. Modern electrical appliances are more and more efficient as time goes on too.

Different places, different needs and resources available.

I like the assurance that if there is no power then we'll be comfortable and manage fine, but the day to day reality is that we just switch stuff on.

M

 

[dewi]

Would you have solar panels fitted to your roof M if it were an option?

 

[British Red]

Ironically though, it was back in the days of more such self-sufficiency (family farms and less mechanization from petroleum powered machinery) that larger families were the rule rather than the exception. You needed the manpower to effectively work the land.

Don't confuse family size with population. There were far, far fewer people who were far more evenly distributed.

 

[dewi]

You're not wrong BR... the population data is fascinating... especially considering the wars we've been involved with and the loss of life associated with it...

The dramatic rise in population coincides with the industrial revolution where arguably self sufficiency went into decline.

 

[British Red]

BR, it'd cost me over three grand to change the central heating to all electric. I'll save my bawbees until the present one croaks it and then figure things out. I have been considering installing underfloor central heating again but that's even more expensive.

I freely admit I use my tumble drier and a dehumidifier. In this climate I'm not setting up Winterdykes for months on end.

M

And there are the reasons, in a nutshell, why trying to address climate change will never work. It will be both expensive and inconvenient for everyone, so they won't do it.

 

[Toddy]

Would you have solar panels fitted to your roof M if it were an option?

It's an offer that's frequently made….until the realities of the roof are explained. We have a tiled roof, and unusual for around here, it has no sarking but sits directly on top of purlins that rest on tar sheet on the rafters.
My bother calls it a 'Roman Roof' and says it's much more common south of the Border, that he'd never seen one up here.
Apart from the occasional tile needing replaced due to high wind damage, it's been absolutely sound though.
I quite fancy one of the mini wind turbines, but we're too close to the trees apparently

The solar panels don't do well here for most of the year. We are all very white (and that's not racist! just reality) because that strange yellow ball thing rarely appears in the sky, and when it does it's usually hazy.

My hands, in March sunshine a couple of years ago.

I wasn't much darker by the end of the Summer

M

 

[Goatboy]

It's an offer that's frequently made….until the realities of the roof are explained. We have a tiled roof, and unusual for around here, it has no sarking but sits directly on top of purlins that rest on tar sheet on the rafters.
My bother calls it a 'Roman Roof' and says it's much more common south of the Border, that he'd never seen one up here.
Apart from the occasional tile needing replaced due to high wind damage, it's been absolutely sound though.
I quite fancy one of the mini wind turbines, but we're too close to the trees apparently

The solar panels don't do well here for most of the year. We are all very white (and that's not racist! just reality) because that strange yellow ball thing rarely appears in the sky, and when it does it's usually hazy.

My hands, in March sunshine a couple of years ago.

I wasn't much darker by the end of the Summer

M

Was that picture taken at the end of a long fund raising drive in Aberdeen M?

 

[Toddy]

The 2p was just for scale; honestly

M

 

[Toddy]

And there are the reasons, in a nutshell, why trying to address climate change will never work. It will be both expensive and inconvenient for everyone, so they won't do it.

I disagree. It'll change. It's now part of the culture, people know about it. Folks admit that they are concerned about it, the turning points will come. We are already doing little things, but all those little things slowly add up, just like the original pollution grew until we had to rein it in. The smogs in China just now, that we no longer have, are a classic example. The salmon back in the rivers in the industrial heartlands is another.
Up here every carrier bag costs 5p, not the watered down version of England, and the numbers bought have dropped by huge percentages. Reuse, non use, are all common now. Even teenagers carry their own, and I heard one tell a Granny a fortnight ago that she wasn't doing much to save the planet was she, when she bought half a dozen plastic ones in Tesco
The lady looked a bit flummoxed and said that the lad was right and bought the heavy duty reuseable ones instead.
Little things, bit by bit, things change.

My central heating is working fine. It's not expensive and it's reliable. When it needs replaced, we'll have a good long think about what best to do.

Reuse, repair and wear done has a long provenance

M

 

[British Red]

You keep telling yourself that if it helps you to sleep in your convenient, fossil fuel heated home Mary. It is what most people do.

 

[dewi]

You keep telling yourself that if it helps you to sleep in your convenient, fossil fuel heated home Mary. It is what most people do.

In fairness, the vast majority have no option to do anything but live in a convenient fossil fuel heated home.

 

[Goatboy]

In fairness, the vast majority have no option to do anything but live in a convenient fossil fuel heated home.

Oh I don't know, a fair few can't afford to heat them.