do anyone believe in the policies and programs that are set up to help fight global warming will really work?

Question

example-a woman buy the light bulb that was to cut light usage and it broke. She had to get government okay to clean it up because it had mercury. She had to make 200 calls and pay a fee and close the door of the room never to be open again, unless the fine was paid to the health cleaning people from the government to come and remove the carpet and other stuff. There are others thing the government has put out the is total equal to this if we normal people do them.

Answer 1

Ebettis, right on!!

But,,,the government IS doing something major...they send as much of our work and jobs overseas as they can, which reduces the income of the Americans who would normally have these jobs and they then cannot afford to pollute. Can't run air conditioners, or have lights at night, or drive any cars anywhere...talk about pollution reduction!

So compliment your senators and representatives for moving so many pollution potentials to other countries and saving we Americans from doing all that polluting here.

To the question:

As to the issue of mercury, the far greater hazard is the beryllium used in many phosphors. One needs to be careful not to inhale the dust, too often anyhow. Or get it into a cut.

Large scale use involves the need for protective masks, clothing, and breathing apparatus. In my profession, we use many vacuum tubes containing large amounts of beryllium, and there are pages of warnings on what not to do and how to handle disposal, especially if one breaks.

Mercury is also used in high-power electronics, tho much less than before, and there are warnings, though not as great, on electronics with mercury in it now.

Beryllium is an immediate poison as well as persistent; prevents cuts from healing among other things.

Mercury is a cumulative poison; it was used in hat manufacture in earlier days in England, and made the manufacturers of hats go insane from nerve degeneration, hence the Mad Hatter of Lewis Carroll's "Alice in Wonderland".

Industries with concentrations of these elements have strict regulations on what to do for "spills"; perhaps that is what caused the legend. But i have broken a few bulbs in my life, including one as a toddler I pulled down on my head! And never had the government step in that way. The amount of mercury in one florescent bulb is quite small.

This is not to say they may not in the future, in the urge to control your every action, or in response to some billion-dollar nuisance lawsuit where some toddler allegedly ate a florescent tube and got very ill...blame it on the wrong chemical!! Lawyers love such cases, and do not care if the rest of the world is inconvenienced to get a big fee for themselves in a lawsuit.

But for now, no such law. But watch out if you drop a florescent bulb in the future and a Man in Black comes up to offer to help you!! *grin*

Answer 2

Let me focus this question for you:
Does anyone believe the policies and programs set up to fight global warming will work?

Much clearer - now:

No, if you mean avoid tripping the planet into another climatic "state" (higher seas, less ice, more energy absorbed from the sun than reflected into space).

We have already passed that point.

The only way to effectively tackle the problem would be if everyone (all nations) committed resources and treasure to solve it. As this is unlikely to happen - ever - then the most effective national policy is to prepare to live in a different climate.

That fits well with the Social Darwinist who believe there are way too many people on the planet. I am not advocating those views, but they seem to have much sway given the response to New Orleans - a preview of climatic change of a century compressed into most people's attention span.

Answer 3

We need the gov't to show that they were elected to do what is good for society. One way to do this is use gov't cars which get low gas mileage. The quicker we get rid of all the oil in the world the quicker we solve the problem. The gov't needs to encourage all citizens to run their cars at all hours to use up gas. Also we as citizens need to use old light bulbs instead of the new kind. Contrary to popular opinion they have been shown to help the environment more than the new type. Also when at the store request that you bags be doubled or tripled using only plastic. Somehow the process of making plastic bags has shown to be an effective aide in fight against global warming.
This may sound odd but running your A/C 24 hours a day has shown to be effective in lowering global warming. The cool air from the A/C will cool the temperature.
Also note that cars which save gas also do so at the expnse of air pollution. In order for Ford to make a car that gets 45 mpg they must tinker with the pollution control device on the car. Most citizens if their car gets 45 mpg do not mind if their car pollutes more than the Hummer down the street getting 12 mpg.

Answer 4

This story is obviously a scare tactic put out by someone who is opposed to Compact Flourescent Lamp (CFL).

One CFL contains 4mg of mercury, one dental filling contains 460mg of mercury. A person with 9 fillings has the same amount of mercury in their mouth as 1000 CFL's.

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Turning to your question. The policies and programs are slowing down global warming, it's still increasing and will do for a long time but not as fast as it would if no action were being taken. Europe and Japan have managed to reduce their greenhouse gas emissions, if other countries followed suit it would make a noticeable difference.

The reversal of global warming requires much more than a reduction on GHG emissions. It requires cutting them by 90% (not remotely practical) or implementing schemes to remove GHG's from the atmosphere, several of which are being considered.

Answer 5

I don't know about the light bulb tale, i think it may be as was said above an urban myth,,,,i use friendly light bulbs and have broken them many times and never seen any warnings on the packets....
I know a little thing like changing a light bulb may not seem much but if we all used even just one ...imagine the difference! If we all stopped using plastic shopping bags....if we all had shorter showers?!!!
Its not our little action alone that you should focus on,,,,or you will feel disheartened ans swamped! Focus instead on all the others doing it too!
The government in my opinion will never make the changes necessary to save our planet....it brings too much money and many of those in charge of big business just don't care about Giaia to sacrifice their paychecks! But we have the power to stop big business! We could send them broke if we for example all changed to wind powered electric companies...stopped buying harmful products etc..we need to spread the word!
Its up to the little people whose little bits put together make a big difference!
Bright Blessings Sister!
Ariel

Answer 6

As I understand it, the story about the light bulb is an Urban Legend. Essentially it never happened.

However the amount of the cutbacks necessary in carbon dioxide emissions to stop Global Warming are so large that it is unrealistic to believe that we can prevent Global Warming.

We must start planning now how we are going to deal with the effects of Global Warming.

The seas will rise. We need to help people in communities that are at sea level now with the building of dikes similar to those in Holland to protect them when the sea levels rise.

For those areas that cannot be protected we need to help the population relocate to higher ground.

There will be more huricanes and they will be stronger. We need to help poor countries with their disaster preparedness for hurricanes.

There will be droughts. We need to help poor countries that are impacted by drought with supplemental water supplies and desalination plants.

We cannot stop Global Warming but we can mitigate the effects of Global Warming if we start now.

Answer 7

YES !!!

Programms and policies that are going to be set up worldwide are going especially to focus on:

- banning F-gases (fluor gases)
- stopping deforestations (1/5 of emissions)
- industrial energy efficiency (very important)
- spreading technologies
- developping renewable electricity generation

Transportation policies for ex. are likely to be on a per country basis.

The policy you are quoting is a "cosmetic one" since it is specifically made to show action on a people level.
It looks more PR than coal-mine methane recovery or cogeneration.

Answer 8

They might not 'work' as they are now, but they are a step in the right direction. Even just recognizing that there is a problem is a major step in the right direction. Humans don't like change.

Answer 9

I believe the best way for government to encourage its citizens to change the global enviornment is to lead by example. They should replace government bulbs as well, they should recycle, and they should reduce the amount of energy they use.

Answer 10

Stop reading the National Enquirer