Bigfoot,
I don’t think you would teach your children that we should only do the right thing if the next guy is. The Double standard you talk about is us saying we should clean up our act regardless of what the Chinese are doing. ANd of course if we created new energy alternatives that were cheaper and cleaner (the goal, after all), the Chinese WOULD follow because it would be cheaper, even if they didn’t care about the environment. As for drilling so we would buy less from the middle east, do you deny that the drilling at ANWAR would only gain us pennies fifteen years from now? That by then the point would be moot if we changed the system? That since the oil market is a WORLD market and not a U.S. market, it would not impact us specifically, and that since fossil fuels are limited anyway, we should be changing what we use right now? It’s kind of like the unemployed guy looking under the couch cushions for change instead of just getting a job. Lastly, there were a LOT of spills in the gulf from Rita and Katrina.
By the way Louisiana Hurricane resources claims that :”In the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina there have been at least 10 major to medium oil spills reported, with the total volume spilled at 8 million gallons. These incidents resulted in the discharge of oil along the Mississippi River from Chalmette to Venice and west to Port Fourchon. Additionally, the U.S. Coast Guard (USCG) estimates that approximately 134 minor spills of less than 10,000 gallons have occurred and are being coordinated at this time. The Louisiana Oil Spill Coordinator’s Office (LOSCO) reported that 3.1 million gallons have been recovered, and 3.7 million gallons have evaporated.”

As for the US turning the entire energy industry away from fossil fuels, even if we were attempt such a thing, there’s no guarantee that China or anyone else would follow suit. The communist world has had a contempt for the environment far greater than anything of which you accuse the Republicans (of which the pollution seen around Beijing is just one example). I myself have travelled to Russia and other former communist countries in eastern Europe and seen the cars spewing out black smoke and soot-covered urban buildings.

As for stopping the flow of our money to terrorist in the Middle East, that can be done by increased domestic drilling, so that we can buy less oil from over there.

One thing that I should have mentioned earlier is that oil spills come mainly from tankers and not from drilling rigs. Although ANWR would increase tanker usage, since Alaskan oil has to be transported to our west coast, drilling in the Gulf of Mexico could offset tanker usage from foreign countries. So overall, the risk to the environment by increasing our domestic production might still be decreased.

I think that people have more of a problem with environmentalists because they fall into two groups, the first being the eco-chic (hey, its hip to be “green” and it makes me feel good), and second, the eco-hippies (hey, I hate capitalism and embrace socialism, I love Mother Gaia more than the children I would have had had I not aborted them, so I’ll embrace environmentalism and try to destroy capitalism with it! YAY!). No, conservatives like conservationists, which differ in ideology with environmentalists, especially in that they don’t view humanity as a virus destroying the earth.

That does not negate or answer why the neo-cons of today would gladly gut the clean air act, wetland protection, the endangered species act, etc., Why Republicans hate environmentalists so much. And that WITHOUT those environmental programs that the Repubs hate so, we would be far worse off today.

Yes, we should all be making more noise about the Chinese — does saying the Chinese do something give us a free pass? If the official line is that we’re not concerned about something that those kooky environmentalists have dreamed up, how can we be taken seriously by the Chinese or by the world community against China? Can we not lead the way and then have the clout to pressure China?

China is drilling for oil means we should do more drilling? No, we became a superpower for our ingenuity, which the Chinese seem to lack. We should instead be the ones to turn the entire industry of energy from fossil fuels, a limited resource anyway. But instead of going there, this administration has not even TOUCHED the issue, instead sending our wealth to the Middle East, to be used against us. Not a SHRED of leadership on this issue has come from Bush, because what’s good for the Republican party has always come before what’s good for the country. I believe without a doubt that the new thinking required for it will far more likely come from Obama than McCain, who has a twentieth century mindset.

The environmental laws of the 70’s brought us cleaner rivers, cleaner air, and the return of endangered species like the bald eagle.

The 70’s? You mean the decade during which a Republican named Richard Nixon established the EPA?

No, we don’t have a problem with environmentalism, just with the radical environmentalism and hypocrisy of the left. For instance, Dina, did you know that China now surpasses the US in CO2 production? Did you know that while Democrats and the state of Florida will not allow American oil companies to drill off the Florida coast, China has plans to drill in Cuban waters only tens of miles from Florida? I defy you to identify even ONE American environmentalist organization that has lifted even a finger to protest China’s CO2 emissions or planned oil drilling.

The real question should be, why do environmentalists seem to act as if every CO2 molecule produced in the US is a crime against humanity and nature, but CO2 produced by China and the rest of the the “developing” world produce no more environmentalist reaction than crickets chirping?

I won’t accept the excuse that it’s OK for China (or India or anyone else) to emit CO2 because of all the previous Western CO2 emissions. If Al Gore is right (which is another debate), the results of CO2 cutbacks (desired by environmentalists) by the US and continued increases from China, will only mean that China, rather than the US, will bring on any resulting climate catastrophe. This, of course, would be only the latest addition to the hideous legacy of communism. Like it or not, CO2 has the same properties, greenhouse and otherwise, no matter who produces it.

I would love to see both Senators Obama and McCain asked about what each plans to do about China’s continually increasing CO2 emissions and their possible effect on climate and the level of the oceans.

We might need those green house gases after all!!

Hey did you hear that you’re a costume?? BWAHAHA a rubber Halloween costume.

Trying to type with these fake-fur-covered rubber fingers is so freaking difficult.

From what I could see, the head in that photo reminded me of something from Planet Of The Apes.

I got such a kick from that pic of the bear on a pipeline. I was a little surprised to see a grizzly and not a polar bear.