Posted on 12/28/2011 9:37:33 PM PST by SmithL
The environmental movement moves so fast its champions seem to rarely stop for reality checks.
There was the wonderful idea of using corn to create fuel for vehicles that had the entirely foreseeable yet some how unforeseen result of adding to world hunger by gobbling up edible crops and driving up food prices.
There was the terrific brainstorm to create energy with giant windmills somehow without anticipating that the big blades would shred thousands of innocent birds trying to fly from here to there.
There have been so many of these unintended, but reasonably foreseeable consequences you really have to wonder why the greenies dont learn from their mistakes.
But they dont. As Amy Oliver and Michael Sandoval pointed out recently at Townhall.com, the booming clean energy movement has overlooked another not-so-slight consequence of some import.
[R]enewable technology is neither renewable, nor clean, nor green because it relies upon rare earth elementsits also neither cost effective nor efficient but thats another column. Currently the Chinese have a stranglehold over all phases of rare earth production, including mining, processing, and refining. China accounts for ninety five percent of the world market in rare earth elements (REEs).
So, whats the problem?
With virtually no regulations or concerns over worker safety, the Chinese monopoly has resulted in an ecological disaster, . . .
(Excerpt) Read more at orangepunch.ocregister.com ...
It’s people?
The shredded birds may not be all that innocent: They are carrion feeders seeking an easy meal on the carrion stacked below the bird-choppers.
It’s about a supernatural end-game. But, you knew that already. Otherwise, evolution really sucks.
But that hardly matters to the merrie eco-activists. As long as they get to feel good about themselves while bossing lesser people around, they are in paradise.
Given such a toxic environment, how are there so many Chinese?
There were a lot of them to start with, and they've been around for a very, very long time.
As an aside, they have a "one child" policy and males are preferred. This may eventually diminish their population more than they ever intended.
Sigh. It's always the innocent birds that get it. Why can't the guilty birds get it once in awhile?
Like crows, for example.
Soylent Green the ultimate social security program..
Ping.
Thanks SmithL.
If it's “green,” it must be . . .
good 3
subsidized 43
not well thought out 52
the fad of the moment 59
Total Votes: 157
Started: December 28, 2011
So for each metric ton of REEs produced, an equal amount of radioactive waste is also produced..."
Yes, but a nuke power plant (on average) 'creates' 27 tonnes of nuclear waste, so isn't 'clean' wind power still better, since it doesn't pollute "at all"? To further the perspective, each 3 MW wind turbine requires two tons of REEs for the permanent magnet that converts wind into electricity. So much for clean. What being green says about you!
Oh. So a 50 turbine windfarm uses 100 tons of REEs, and creates 100 tons of radioactive waste, about the same as 4 nuke plants...BUT puts out a PEAK of 150-200 MW intermittently, while ONE nuke plant puts out 1000 or more MW steady base load. 20 times the power for the same amount of eeeevil radioactive waste.
OTOH the "green" waste is in somebody else's backyard. Sweet little Greenies are such hypocrites!
People Sign Petition to add “Soylent Green” (Human Flesh) on School Menus for Obama’s Lunch Program
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DhxbFMQ1gWk
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