is this where I can point out I own a hybrid and that I am somehow better than the rest of you people burning more gas and killing the planet?
Absolutely, RG! (if it's true)
Frankly, what convinced me that it's a real issue was when I bought "Air Pollution Control" (Cooper, Alley) and "Environmental Engineering" (Salvato, et. al.) as part of my recent PE study efforts, and saw that both books had lengthy sections that discussed greenhouse gas emissions and made surprisingly strong statements (for textbooks) that it needs to be curbed.
And I'm serious - Al Gore's movie is very convincing. If you haven't seen it, watch it. Even Fox News gave it a "must see" review.
I consider myself an environmentalist-by-selfish-necessity. I grew up in a hunting and outdoor recreation family in the US west, and it quickly became apparent to me that if I wanted to be able to enjoy those activities in the future, careful (even painful) conservation of all natural resources was more than warranted. I have moved away from the US hand haven't hunted or fished for trout in years (fished for tuna and wahoo, though), but that mindest has followed me into the bigger parts of life. Especially now that I have kids. There's a lot that needs to be done and thought about now to make sure we still have a pleasant future.
My biggest philosophical problem with the whole energy thing is that WE'RE HUMANS, DAMNIT! We have the capability to overcome these problems! Where's nuclear fusion? Why are we talking about scaling back our energy use, when science still has the capability to provide us the energy we need to continue technological progress, without polluting our own home? (hint ... follow the money ... big oil ... I used to work for them so I know... )
