An Inconvenient Truth

[pakman]

I think that if you look at points in the "Global Warming" issue you can see where some of the reasoning comes from. From studying civil engineering, I'm basically told to "pave the rainforest" and build until there is mo more land on which to build. But on the other side of things, the environmental engineering side, we have to worry about the impact that paving the rainforest will have. Before a road anywhere is built there are extensive studies on the impact it will have on the surrounding ecosystem and problems that it might cause. Building codes are there for a reason as are pollution controls. As for greenhouse gases and all this being the cause, I'm not so sure.

Strictly from a health standpoint releasing toxic gases into the air from a cement plant is not good for humans or animals regardless of where they are. Dumping waste chemicals into streams, rivers, etc. will affect groundwater and plant and animal life.

The logging industry plants many more trees than they cut. Trees like spruce, pines and fir (the large bulk of the lumber industry) grow relatively fast and can be harvested within 10 years. Other trees like Oak, redwood, etc, are much harder to grow and harvest.

Much of the construction industry's materials is recycled, is waste from other industry, or can be easily and cheaply obtained. Concrete, for example can be recycled and used in residential projects where super high-strength concrete is not an issue. Almost all the steel is sent to a foundry when a building is razed, this includes the rebars, girders, etc. Bituminous concrete roads use the materials from the bottom of the cracking tower in the separation of fossil fules, asphalt is the heaviest material and we mix it with various sizes of aggregate (rocks) to make roads. Cement can have slag from the making of steel used as an admixture along with other recycled materials to give various properties to the concrete.

I guess where I'm going with this is that there are efforts to reduce the impact of buildings, roads, etc. on the environment, but you only get the spin that the media wants you to see. You don't get what is really going on because they don't interview the people that are making the efforts, they jsut interview the people that get "results" that further their agenda.