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San Francisco, 2:10 AM
Mon Nov 23
10 posts in the last 24 hours

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  • posts about #environmentalism more →

    The Shattered World Of 2050 Glows With Unearthly Beauty

    Let's Start the Offshore Logging Lobby with Robots

    Environmentalists Destroy the Environment in Bulgaria

    Wall-E, Right Wing Hero?

    Eco Nightclub Powered by Boogie Energy

    Where Are My Bioengineered Ecologies?

    The Fake List of 500 Scientists Who "Doubt" Global Warming

    Coming Soon: Recycled Electricity

    It's Not Earth Day — It's Human Civilization Day

    Vat-Grown Meat About to Hit Your Local Market
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    Dsmvwl  Admin  Promote to frontpage Approve user Ban user ×
    Image of Dunny0 Dunny0
    07/06/09

    In reply to The Shattered World Of 2050 Glows With Unearthly Beauty
    So, did the people of 2050 truck in a bunch of sand to Vegas, or did we just move the city somewhere else?
     Reply
    Dunny0 was starred Dunny0 was unstarred
    Image of goldfarb goldfarb
    07/06/09

    @Dunny0: Vegas is in a desert, if you turn off the water it'll be gone in a year.
     Reply
    goldfarb was starred goldfarb was unstarred
    Image of Dunny0 Dunny0
    07/06/09

    @goldfarb: I realize that, it is my home. But turning off the water won't transform it into Tatooine; there's just not that much sand around here.


    Seriously, it's more a flat, scrub-brush kind of desert. Let it go back to nature, and it'll be dusty and kind of brushy.


    Heck, the name is Spanish for "The Meadows" - before settlement, and urbanization, this place was an oasis. I know it won't go back to that, it it won't be the surface of Arrakis either.


    As I said, it's a matter of sand, and the lack thereof. Not all deserts are sand dunes.

     Reply
    Dunny0 was starred Dunny0 was unstarred
    Image of goldfarb goldfarb
    07/06/09

    @Dunny0: "But turning off the water won't transform it into Tatooine; there's just not that much sand around here."


    BOOO! :(

     Reply
    goldfarb was starred goldfarb was unstarred
    Image of Evil Tortie's Mom: R.O.A.C.H. Evil Tortie's Mom: R.O.A.C.H.
    07/06/09

    @Dunny0: Exactly. It'll be all hardpan with scruffy little bushes here and there, just like the outskirts of the city are nowadays.


    There really aren't a lot of sand dunes in the US deserts -- they're so unusual that those that do exist are national parks and tourist attractions.


    I don't know where all that sand would come from. More of the Stupid, I guess?

     Reply
    Evil Tortie's Mom: R.O.A.C.H. was starred Evil Tortie's Mom: R.O.A.C.H. was unstarred
    Image of goldfarb goldfarb
    07/06/09

    In reply to The Shattered World Of 2050 Glows With Unearthly Beauty
    is this just concept art?

    I hope so...it's terrible.
     Reply
    goldfarb was starred goldfarb was unstarred
    Image of Garrison Dean: R.O.A.C.H. Garrison Dean: R.O.A.C.H.
    07/06/09

    In reply to The Shattered World Of 2050 Glows With Unearthly Beauty
    Ah, complaining about stupidity via a "docudrama", if irony was a currency these people would be Bill Gates.
     Reply
    Garrison Dean: R.O.A.C.H. was starred Garrison Dean: R.O.A.C.H. was unstarred
    Image of Lassus Lassus
    07/06/09

    @Garrison Dean: R.O.A.C.H.: I'm usually with you, Garrison, but on this one I feel a little left behind.


    What do you mean, exactly?

     Reply
    Lassus was starred Lassus was unstarred
    Image of Garrison Dean: R.O.A.C.H. Garrison Dean: R.O.A.C.H.
    07/06/09

    @Lassus: Yeah it's not my clearest comment. While I have nothing against them, docudramas are sort of the lowest brow form of information dispersement. Those who don't want to read about it can see a documentary, for those who a documentary is too dry and need a little more zazz can go for a docudrama, after that we get into the realm of things like "The Patriot". I just think it's ironic that they use that medium to call people stupid.
     Reply
    Garrison Dean: R.O.A.C.H. was starred Garrison Dean: R.O.A.C.H. was unstarred
    Image of tetracycloide tetracycloide
    07/07/09

    @Garrison Dean: R.O.A.C.H.: nothing plays to the lowest common denomenator better than telling them there's an even lower denomenator to make them feel superior.
     Reply
    tetracycloide was starred tetracycloide was unstarred
    Image of RAHfanboy RAHfanboy
    01/07/09

    In reply to Let's Start the Offshore Logging Lobby with Robots
    What's the password?


    Sawfish!

     Reply
    RAHfanboy was starred RAHfanboy was unstarred
    Image of RAHfanboy RAHfanboy
    01/06/09

    In reply to Let's Start the Offshore Logging Lobby with Robots
    A similar, growing business is recovering harvested lumber that "went down with the ship" in the Great Lakes. Much of it is a hundred or more years old, and is actually harder and more useful due to it's years in the cold, nearly oxygen free water.
     Reply
    RAHfanboy was starred RAHfanboy was unstarred
    Image of Evil Tortie's Mom: R.O.A.C.H. Evil Tortie's Mom: R.O.A.C.H.
    01/06/09

    In reply to Let's Start the Offshore Logging Lobby with Robots
    I wonder how many stories * will use the "underwater chainsaw" tag?


    *not counting anime/manga, b/c for all I know, that's a whole damn genre there

     Reply
    Evil Tortie's Mom: R.O.A.C.H. was starred Evil Tortie's Mom: R.O.A.C.H. was unstarred
    Image of corpore-metal corpore-metal
    01/06/09

    In reply to Let's Start the Offshore Logging Lobby with Robots
    But what happens if we decide to remove the dam or empty the reservoir? Do we plant the trees again? Do we change the acid balance in the newly exposed soil?
     Reply
    corpore-metal was starred corpore-metal was unstarred
    Image of tetracycloide tetracycloide
    01/06/09

    @corpore-metal: removing the water doesn't bring the trees back to life.
     Reply
    tetracycloide was starred tetracycloide was unstarred
    Image of corpore-metal corpore-metal
    01/06/09

    @tetracycloide: I'm well aware of that. I was really commenting that this is isn't as environmentally friendly as all that. All it really does is defers the tree loss until decades later when or if the reservoir is removed.


    Sure, the trees are useless to us when buried underwater and perhaps even mildly toxic to fish that move into the dammed lake but, those dead logs still store carbon that won't be released by us. Probably better to just leave them there to rot naturally.

     Reply
    corpore-metal was starred corpore-metal was unstarred
    Image of tetracycloide tetracycloide
    01/06/09

    @corpore-metal: so your argument is that when the reservoir is removed new growth will loose the benefit of the already dead trees rotting after the preserving water has been removed? somehow i doubt the significance of this difference given that, if the reservoir is removed, there will likely be a lot of rotting aquatic life in the area already.
     Reply
    tetracycloide was starred tetracycloide was unstarred
    Image of Illogic Illogic
    01/06/09

    In reply to Let's Start the Offshore Logging Lobby with Robots
    Meh, wake me up when they've got underwater lumberjacks with robotic cutting gloves.
     Reply
    Illogic was starred Illogic was unstarred
    Image of Belabras: now with Kung Fu grip! Belabras: now with Kung Fu grip!
    01/06/09

    @Illogic:

    I'm A Robot Lumberjack and I'm OK?
     Reply
    Belabras: now with Kung Fu grip! was starred Belabras: now with Kung Fu grip! was unstarred
    Image of Grey_Area Grey_Area
    01/06/09

    @Belabras: Dang, beat me to it.
     Reply
    Grey_Area was starred Grey_Area was unstarred
    Image of Garrison Dean: R.O.A.C.H. Garrison Dean: R.O.A.C.H.
    01/06/09

    In reply to Let's Start the Offshore Logging Lobby with Robots

     Reply
    Garrison Dean: R.O.A.C.H. was starred Garrison Dean: R.O.A.C.H. was unstarred
    Image of Elizabeth Weinbloom Elizabeth Weinbloom
    01/06/09

    @Grrsn Dn: Hah. Also, this robot really looks like it should be called Saw-E.
     Reply
    Elizabeth Weinbloom was starred Elizabeth Weinbloom was unstarred
    Image of strider_mt2k strider_mt2k
    01/06/09

    In reply to Let's Start the Offshore Logging Lobby with Robots
    Man I'd love to get a gig as an ROV operator.
     Reply
    strider_mt2k was starred strider_mt2k was unstarred
    Image of BongoFury BongoFury
    01/06/09

    In reply to Let's Start the Offshore Logging Lobby with Robots
    I would've thought the environmentalists would scream about the destruction of fish habitats. But I'm not a regular at the Greenpeace meetings, so I don't know.
     Reply
    BongoFury was starred BongoFury was unstarred
    Image of phoenix phoenix
    01/06/09

    @BongoFury: Since I don't think you have a serious answer yet, the answer here is that while there will be some tradeoff for fish habitats, the reclaimed lumber worth harvesting will be large enough and in small enough quantities that we won't exactly be destroying habitats for it.


    Additionally, there's a tradeoff to be had here - the amount of lumber that can be reclaimed here is pretty significant, and wouldn't require the decimation of land-bound habitats that unsustainable logging requires currently. It's really a much more environmentally friendly solution, and in many cases provides preserved, high quality wood in large volumes.

     Reply
    phoenix was starred phoenix was unstarred
    Image of crashedpc - Haifisch crashedpc - Haifisch
    01/06/09

    In reply to Let's Start the Offshore Logging Lobby with Robots
    I'd like to purchase two (2) underwater saw robot units please. I have some... debris in the lake nearby that I need to... dispose of.


    I would be highly amused if the robots ran by burning wood.

     Reply
    crashedpc - Haifisch was starred crashedpc - Haifisch was unstarred
    Image of tetracycloide tetracycloide
    01/06/09

    In reply to Let's Start the Offshore Logging Lobby with Robots
    i believe a similar technique is used to recover submerged timber from older logging operations that sank instead of floating down river. often the timber recovered belongs to now rare or even extinct species and fetches quite a price.
     Reply
    tetracycloide was starred tetracycloide was unstarred
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