[video] Lego: Everything is NOT awesome.

[abillybob]

 

It really worries me on another note about the way that we are using Oil and the effects it has had on our world as a consequence of burning fossil fuels. I urge everyone to watch this BBC iPlayer - Our Planet from the Air: Home just take an hour out of your day it's some scary stuff and for Lego to be effectively promoting this kind of behaviour to children I think is disgusting and should be stopped!!!!

 

Fun Fact: Lego's copyright and Universal got the video taken down for a week or so, this didn't go in their favour where members of the public demanded it back, it is now back.

Edited July 25, 2014 by abillybob

[pcstru]

Lego is made from ABS, an Oil based plastic. Wouldn't it be a bit hypocritical of them to pretend that they have nothing to do with the pollution caused by oil use and exploration?

[abillybob]

I should also state that in the recent weeks I have been actively promoting renewable energy sources, a farmer near me (very nice chap) wanted to sell acres of his own land to a Solar Panel company that would feed electricity into the grid.

 

Bridgnorth solar farm plans spark an outcry « Shropshire Star

 

People all over Bridgnorth have been complaining and petitioning against them my issue is they don't see the bigger picture here, I have since wrote to the council and the firm supplying the solar panels, here's the email I have sent to the firm, I would urge everyone to do the same and start looking toward our future, the effect we have done on the world is destroying something that has taken billions of years to create, the atmosphere is 20% warmer and is the warmest atmosphere ever recorded and this has all been accomplished in the last 50 years due to the way we live. This must stop now at what point will humanity take a step back and understand we are effectively wiping ourselves out, but why care right? I mean majority of us will be dead before we see the impact hit on a huge scale so keep buying 3litre Range Rovers to drive about in the city and then when I'm in my 40's it'll be ruined thanks to the selfish human race. We must act now and if any kind of renewable energy source is being put up in your area, think about it on a bigger scale, don't be selfish. Here's my email:

 

Hello,I am a local resident currently living in Bridgnorth and I am 20 years of age. I live very close to the area you are attempting to build a solar panel farm on and I must say I am appalled by the other local residents reactions in order to stop the project taking place.

I think anywhere and everywhere solar panels can be put up should be, you can't just shove them anywhere you want as people who own the land may not want you too or the land is protected by the government in some way or another.

This is an opportunity here that can power a substantial amount of homes and it should be ok to do so.

I think the last generation have been incredibly selfish in the way they have lived and burning all the fuels they have has not only damaged our planet in some cases beyond repair but will eventually leave my generation redundant of any energy supplies, although unfortunately it's still this generation that speaks up for our future and in turn are still being selfish and ruining our future.

Now don't get me wrong I'm no eco freak in fact my job as an ICT Technician means that I contribute to the amount of energy being used up probably more than most, although I do think it's a necessity to find better alternatives, the sun as a whole releases enough energy per day to power all homes, cars and other consumables the world needs for 40 years! Maybe we should stop looking to the ground and start looking at the sky, would you agree?

Any how I would really appreciate it if you could direct me to a website or some type of contact information so I can comment for the installation of the solar panels, I also don't mind in you using my email as an example in any cause that may help you.

I want to let you know that even though 69 people have objected the idea to the council that you're not alone and anyway that we can extend our lifetime I'm all for... It's time to stop looking at the past and embracing the future.

Thankyou for having the time to listen to me, I hope in one way or another this helps a little bit!

Kind regards

Alex

 

Lego is made from ABS, an Oil based plastic. Wouldn't it be a bit hypocritical of them to pretend that they have nothing to do with the pollution caused by oil use and exploration?

I understand and know this already, the issue isn't that they are using the recourses (well it is an issue on a large scale) But the point here is they are actively supporting and making firms like Shell look good to those who use Lego. They shouldn't brand their products and advertise to children that companies such as Shell are a good influence to follow.

Edited July 25, 2014 by abillybob

[featured_spectre]

Whilst I LOVE Lego, I don't often buy the new stuff, I get the old stuff from charity shops, ebay, car boot sales etc.

 

As for my impact on the environment, I re-use as much as possible at home. If I have scrap wood, I make it into something, I don't chuck it (newest build was 2 chopping boards which I need to oil). If I have any scrap metal I will melt it down into an ingot until I need to use it. Water from the washing up gets used for the garden. Old toys become presents for nieces and nephews. Food scraps (veg, egg shells, fruit etc) get composted, whilst meat not eaten by the use by date goes to the cat.

[pcstru]

I understand and know this already, the issue isn't that they are using the recourses (well it is an issue on a large scale) But the point here is they are actively supporting and making firms like Shell look good to those who use Lego. They shouldn't brand their products and advertise to children that companies such as Shell are a good influence to follow.

And yet someone with imagination has used lego and their shell branding to make them look bad. Lego IS all about imagination in play.

 

In terms of solar power, there are significant problems with renewable energy most significant is the storage issue. Solar only generates power during the day, wind turbines when it's windy and using agricultural land to produce bio fuel is a bit loony. The Grid needs to be able to supply power to peak demand and that means despite putting in significant renewable capacity, we also have to build gas power stations to be able to service the peak demand when those renewable sources aren't generating any power. We desperately need to solve the storage issue.

 

There is a growing problem with the feed in subsidy in that those that can afford a capital outlay for solar installations are then subsidised by those that are too poor to make that investment. They (the poor) end up paying a disproportionate share of maintaining the grid and building those power stations that are needed despite the presence of renewable generation capacity.

 

The other problem is that oil is effectively heavily subsidised - the real cost will be paid by future generations - which is you when you are older and your children (I'll thankfully be long dead). But talk of putting up the cost of energy and fuel to realistic levels (levels where the cost of 'cleaning up' the GHG's is built into the supply now) and voters panic. People like to fly away on cheap holidays. We like our cars. We like to be proliferate with energy, leave things switched on when we are not using them.We like our consumer lifestyles of new computers, phones and shiny baubles shipped half way round the world. People won't vote in anyone who is actually going to do anything about that, it would be a bit like turkeys voting for Christmas.

 

And of course, expect someone to pop up and claim that AGW doesn't exist - "oh well the climate has always had natural variation, this is all a conspiracy of the greens". Although maybe that number is shrinking and it's just the brain dead ignorant &"%£%!* Nigel Lawson who spouts that nonsense these days,. but sadly ... not.

Edited July 25, 2014 by pcstru
Clarity

[pcstru]

If I have any scrap metal I will melt it down into an ingot until I need to use it.

Do tell me more! Is this just Aluminium, or are you able to do Iron and Steel?

[featured_spectre]

I made my own forge. I do it for Iron, Steel, Copper, Aluminium, Silver, Gold...depends on what I have at the time and if there is enough to make a reasonable sized ingot.

[pcstru]

I made my own forge. I do it for Iron, Steel, Copper, Aluminium, Silver, Gold...depends on what I have at the time and if there is enough to make a reasonable sized ingot.

Very ... err ... cool.

 

I've done a little casting with Alu, but the temps required for Iron and Steel are beyond my bodged together charcoal furnaces (basically a couple of tin cans and a blower). I do have designs to make a waste oil fired furnace which is capable of melting cast iron (so about 1500 deg C), but it's another thing on my ever growing to-do list; there are just too many ways for a geek to spend their time these days!

[abillybob]

@pcstru, I totally agree, although yes Lego is made for imagination and play I don't see how this excuses the fact they're advertising that companies like Shell are a good thing...? By all means use Lego but lets not get to a point where everything has a shell sticker on it just because it's made from Oil's, don't make Shell look like a good influence to children, that's my point here.

 

I think we do need to do something and fast, when you said

the real cost will be paid by future generations - which is you when you are older and your children (I'll thankfully be long dead).

this is the attitude of most people nowadays, "don't worry we'll be dead so we won't see the impact" what about us, we need to act now and this should be a number one priority on an international scale in to find way to store renewable energy efficiently. Though at this current part of time it's still your generation that "rules the roost" if you like, it's you who speak up for the rest of the world it's still your generation that is in power and I find that the "don't worry we'll be dead"attitude is disgusting and selfish, as humans we should be actively trying to make sure and work together by finding a way that will make our planet last a LOT longer than what we are currently doing to it.

 

The sea level is rising by 20cm on average (sometimes more) per year and Iceland has lost 40% of it's Ice coast this is a place where humans get 20% of their fresh water from for the world, just imagine the impact. Look at the Arctic where tons of methane is stored underneath the ice which in effect to global warming we are melting, if it does melt and the methane gets released into the atmosphere from just that place alone there would be catastrophic consequences and that is predicted to start melting by earliest 2020. 70% of the human population lives on the coastal line with large cites around them what will happen when the sea reaches a level above land level, where would people move to. In my opinion internationally we need to work together to find some kind of solution to the renewable energy storing problem and fast, we are messing around and still not doing enough, it makes me angry that the generation currently running countries doesn't seem to "care" enough about the new generation in order to stop these problems.

 

And to top it all off we have stupid idiotic people doing this:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FM0hczFNDZI

Edited July 25, 2014 by abillybob

[featured_spectre]

@pcstru The forge I have can go to a max of around 1800C at absolute max. Basically I can melt most common metals. For Iron I make my own cookware The rest I make into ingots. When I have enough steel I make blades. Copper, aluminium are ingots which I take to scrap metal dealers, and gold and silver, well that I keep, but I don't do that often enough as its expensive to even get the scrap jewelery or otherwise

[Seb1780]

And to top it all off we have stupid idiotic people doing this

 

That looks like fun, why do you say it is stupid and idiotic?

 

The few cubic metres of methane they are burning cannot be captured for any other use; burning the methane actually reduces its greenhouse effect and a good cow will replace that methane in a few hours!

[abillybob]

That looks like fun, why do you say it is stupid and idiotic?

 

The few cubic metres of methane they are burning cannot be captured for any other use; burning the methane actually reduces its greenhouse effect and a good cow will replace that methane in a few hours!

 

They're still in effect (albeit on a small scale) breaking down the ice making more weak points in the ice for the Methane to escape. As I have said the Ice is predicted to only last until 2020 if we keep living the way we are, but at the moment ice is no longer forming in that area so when they puncture holes into the ice, new ice won't re-seal the hole, thus allowing more methane to escape when they're not sitting there and burning it with a lighter (you know because no one has ever seen methane being burnt before or fire)

 

It's not fun it's destructive.

[Seb1780]

@abillybob - I don't question your values, just your figures, your sense of proportion and your conclusions. Edited July 25, 2014 by Seb1780

[pcstru]

@abillybob - I probably agree with much of what you say, apart from the age thing. I personally stopped taking cheap flights abroad and haven't flown (apart from a glider) since 2006. I have tried to be aware of my impact on the environment, being picky about what I buy - especially food wise, trying to make and repair rather than throw away and replace and generally be low impact. I'm a bit of a pariah in our village because I don't oppose the local planning application for a bunch of wind turbines. Our children on the other hand seem to have no idea of their impact. They change phones every five minutes, think nothing of using electric heaters, jet off abroad at the slightest opportunity, will drive 10 yards rather than walk etc, etc etc. I see much less awareness of personal impact on the environment in the young than I do in those older. You have a reasonably new car, you are jetting off somewhere next week, you just bought yourself a computer that needs a huge power supply because it burns enough energy to run a small third world village - what exactly are YOU doing about it?

 

@nephilim - I wanna come play!!

[abillybob]

@abillybob - I don't question your values, just your figures, your sense of proportion and your conclusions.

 

If you watch the above show on BBC iPlayer you will find that all my figures are correct, after doing a bit of research I might be wrong about the methane video, apparently it is still sealing up - my bad. The rest of my comment still stand though!

 

@abillybob - I probably agree with much of what you say, apart from the age thing. I personally stopped taking cheap flights abroad and haven't flown (apart from a glider) since 2006. I have tried to be aware of my impact on the environment, being picky about what I buy - especially food wise, trying to make and repair rather than throw away and replace and generally be low impact. I'm a bit of a pariah in our village because I don't oppose the local planning application for a bunch of wind turbines. Our children on the other hand seem to have no idea of their impact. They change phones every five minutes, think nothing of using electric heaters, jet off abroad at the slightest opportunity, will drive 10 yards rather than walk etc, etc etc. I see much less awareness of personal impact on the environment in the young than I do in those older. You have a reasonably new car, you are jetting off somewhere next week, you just bought yourself a computer that needs a huge power supply because it burns enough energy to run a small third world village - what exactly are YOU doing about it?

@pcstru, I think children in particular need to be educated a bit better and taught not to have this throw away attitude that most children do, they are only like this from what they have seen and think it's normal, we should be teaching them by example and showing this is not normal.

 

You speak the truth I am guilty of this too but I am starting to change my ways but at the same time not change my lifestyle, I still live at home with my Mum so it's very hard to make any "Green" impact as of yet because of how my home is run. When looking at houses the house WILL have it's own renewable energy and if it can't I won't be moving there (I understand you'd have to still use the grid but will do on the most minimal level possible) the car I had previous was a 2.0ltr GTI 206cc 53 plate, I have now gone down to a much newer 1.4 Honda Civic which in turn should last a lot longer because Honda are renown for their reliability (so won't have to chuck and use so many new parts) and the engine is much smaller meaning the environmental impact isn't as bad I am also getting it converted for LPG in 4 months time which again it isn't as clean as electric but it makes a huge difference.

 

My mother and little brother constantly waste power my mum has bright standard bulbs almost always on I upstairs have 2 LED bulbs and turn them off every time it's light out or I'm not in the room, My computer yes is a power hog the reason I paid for such a good PSU was because it was one of the most efficient 750w PSU's you can buy (again not changing my lifestyle and the goods I am interested in just looking at better ways to run them) my TV will be being replaced soon not because it doesn't work but because it's 6 years old and uses a LOT of power, I will be getting a 40" LED TV rather than the LCD I have now with power consumption in mind.

I carry my green side with me to work also where all the client computers shut down at 4pm and turn on at 9am, I even have a schedule for my servers, all of them completely off between the hours of 1am and 7am and they stayed turned off for the whole weekend except our small HP MicroServer (fileserver) which enables the staff to connect to our own hosted cloud service.

 

I do as much as I possibly can and actively speak out for companies that are trying to promote green sources of energy. When I have my own home under my own rules I can do a lot more but at the moment I'm bound to live under my mothers way of life.

 

The holiday I have no excuse for, but once a year doesn't hurt again I still want to enjoy live but change my ways so for example if a plane came out which was fully electric powered or had a better Eco friendly approach to travelling it would be that plane I would travel with.

 

If everyone did little things like me it would make a huge impact, I'm not saying everyone should have a wind turbine in their backyard though what I'm saying is turn things off, don't drive if you don't have too etc...

 

Meanwhile as a international effort I believe the problem with renewable energy and storing it properly should be the absolute main priority of every government funding to find out how we can stop ruining our world.

Edited July 25, 2014 by abillybob

[Seb1780]

you will find that all my figures are correct

 

Sea rises of 20cm per year? In your short lifetime that would equate to a rise of over 4m - the height of a double decker bus.

[featured_spectre]

you can build your own forge for quite cheap, cost me around £90 all told for the bricks, bellows, clay etc...

[JJonas]

see

for details of what happened the last time the deep sea methane deposits were disturbed

[JJonas]

Sea rises of 20cm per year? In your short lifetime that would equate to a rise of over 4m - the height of a double decker bus.

 

I think that should be 20mm, 20cm a year would make Stalham in Norfolk a coastal town in a little over 10 years!

Edited July 25, 2014 by JJonas

[pcstru]

They're still in effect (albeit on a small scale) breaking down the ice making more weak points in the ice for the Methane to escape. As I have said the Ice is predicted to only last until 2020 if we keep living the way we are, but at the moment ice is no longer forming in that area so when they puncture holes into the ice, new ice won't re-seal the hole, thus allowing more methane to escape when they're not sitting there and burning it with a lighter (you know because no one has ever seen methane being burnt before or fire)

 

It's not fun it's destructive.

 

It will make no real difference, Methane trapped in ice will escape when the ice melts and that will happen because of our problem on a world wide scale. It is probably better as @Seb1780 says to burn it, since the resulting Co2 is a significantly less powerful GHG.

 

BTW - Do you eat meat?

[pcstru]

I think that should be 20mm, 20cm a year would make Stalham in Norfolk a coastal town in a little over 10 years!

Still not in the ballpark. Try 3mm per year.

[abillybob]

Sea rises of 20cm per year? In your short lifetime that would equate to a rise of over 4m - the height of a double decker bus.

 

Sorry should really start checking my post I meant the overall rise of sea level has now gone up to and extra 20cm over it's lifetime, the sea actually rises 3.2mm per year which is twice of the average speed in the last 80 years so in effect we have doubled the rate at which sea level rises in just 80 years time, what happens in another 80? I don't want to find out.

 

It will make no real difference, Methane trapped in ice will escape when the ice melts and that will happen because of our problem on a world wide scale. It is probably better as @Seb1780 says to burn it, since the resulting Co2 is a significantly less powerful GHG.

 

BTW - Do you eat meat?

 

I do eat meat again not wanting to change my lifestyle but I am very careful on the amount of meat (and where it is from) that I consume. Please go back a page I updated my previous post but while writing a lot of people have posted since then!

 

I was also going to mention @nephilim because I think what you're doing is brilliant you're doing as much as you can and find enjoyment in the process and I really admire you for what you have done although didn't put that in my very first post because it may have sounded a bit stalkerish

Edited July 25, 2014 by abillybob

[Arthur]

I meant the overall rise of sea level has now gone up to an extra 20cm over it's lifetime

According to the article below, sea levels have risen by ~25 cm since the 19th century and are rising by approx. 1.5mm per year in the south-east of England.

 

Miami is drowning while the powers that be look away « The Guardian

 

Most of Florida's senior politicians – in particular, Senator Marco Rubio, former governor Jeb Bush and current governor Rick Scott, all Republican climate-change deniers – have refused to act or respond to warnings of people like Wanless or Harlem or to give media interviews to explain their stance, though Rubio, a Republican party star and a possible 2016 presidential contender, has made his views clear in speeches. "I do not believe that human activity is causing these dramatic changes to our climate the way these scientists are portraying it. I do not believe that the laws that they propose we pass will do anything about it, except it will destroy our economy," he said recently. Miami is in denial in every sense, it would seem. Or as Wanless puts it: "People are simply sticking their heads in the sand. It is mind-boggling."

 

^ What can you do when the people in charge are idiots?

[webman]

my TV will be being replaced soon not because it doesn't work but because it's 6 years old and uses a LOT of power, I will be getting a 40" LED TV rather than the LCD I have now with power consumption in mind.

 

Over the expected lifetime of the new TV, is the difference in power consumption between the old one and the new one enough to offset the costs of manufacture and distribution of the new TV and disposal of the old one?

[abillybob]

Over the expected lifetime of the new TV, is the difference in power consumption between the old one and the new one enough to offset the costs of manufacture and distribution of the new TV and disposal of the old one?

 

I was thinking of that myself, would be handy if someone could let me know...