Global Warming

[Exterminator]

But it would be mostly the ones that are already in place like the green areas and so forth rather than having to do with emissions which are the most costly. 

You're making the incorrect assumption that there are no emissions associated with food processing.  If you have to heat anything as part of the process, there will be emissions.  Granted, they won't be the same as, say, a foundry but much of what is spewed out by a foundry isn't greenhouse gasses either.  Simply heating and cooling a space the size of the Nestle facility produces emissions...they might not be directly produced by the factory but the factory will still have to be built to be as efficient as possible to minimize the emissions from the power plant supplying it.  My point was and remains that emission control systems have been in place in factories for decades and they didn't cause those factories to locate elsewhere nor do they constitute anywhere even close to the ongoing cost of labor at such facilities.

[Sandy Eggo]

Companies place factories outside the US for a number of reasons which all fall under avoiding US requirements and regulations - which happen to be in place for good reasons. Instead of alowing these companies to continue to exploit people and the environment we need to get tougher not softer and the best case scenario would global include global cooperation.

[Sandy Eggo]

side note: pardon the spelling errors I'm on my cell and handicapped w/out spellcheck

[Exterminator]

side note: pardon the spelling errors I'm on my cell and handicapped w/out spellcheck

Likely story.   

[Palehorse]

Companies place factories outside the US for a number of reasons which all fall under avoiding US requirements and regulations - which happen to be in place for good reasons. Instead of alowing these companies to continue to exploit people and the environment we need to get tougher not softer and the best case scenario would global include global cooperation.

Which brings up another point for consideration. Given the number of foreign owned companies in the US these days, what is preventing them from say, closing down Nestle in Anderson in order to meet a demand from their home country to increase the number of jobs available there? Answer: Nothing. Should there be?

I wouldn't disagree that the regulatory bodies and regulations that they are supposed to work within are in place for "good reasons" however, there are certainly many areas in which these regulations are either over the top or unreasonable when it comes to manufacturing. Streamlining is certainly way past due when it comes to entities like the EPA and FDA. I am not saying that they should be eliminated by any stretch, but rather more can and should be done to facilitate companies surrounding timelines for compliance and paperwork requirements.

The government is a huge labrynth and their forms, regulations, requirements, etc. are just as bad.
At a minimum, we make cut~n~run a viable option for companies because of the expenditures required to come into compliance as well as the unreasonable windows within which compliance is expected to be achieved.

As for uniting gloabl efforts; you're more likely to see a man walk on water than to have 2 or more countries agree on requirements; much less all of them. . .

[me]

I might bring up another point which might not set well with some of you and really isn't right but it is food for though.  The factories might be sending a small amount of pollutants here, which is not right agreed, but if the regulations are made so tough and expensive here that they move elsewhere where there are no restrictions wouldn't that be worse in the long run?  Sure the pollutants wouldn't be here but neither are the jobs and the pollutants would eventually reach here. 

[Palehorse]

I might bring up another point which might not set well with some of you and really isn't right but it is food for though.  The factories might be sending a small amount of pollutants here, which is not right agreed, but if the regulations are made so tough and expensive here that they move elsewhere where there are no restrictions wouldn't that be worse in the long run?  Sure the pollutants wouldn't be here but neither are the jobs and the pollutants would eventually reach here. 

And I do believe THAT is the whole point of the messages being delivered; isn't it? Unless all pull in the same direction then all we are doing is stalling the inevitable. No? But as usual there are 2,000 entities pulling in 2,000 directions; each one of them wanting to lead and none of them willing to follow.

[dan foster]

You're making the incorrect assumption that there are no emissions associated with food processing.  If you have to heat anything as part of the process, there will be emissions.  Granted, they won't be the same as, say, a foundry but much of what is spewed out by a foundry isn't greenhouse gasses either. 

I am not sure.  I would like to know how much CO2 is released from just making crackers.  It is a bi-product of both the dough rising, as well as, the baking.

The problem is more complex than just greenhouse gases, though.  It is also particulates (smoke).  Now the problem isn't just reducing greenhouse gases as the amount of particulates that have been released, which have actually been masking the acceleration of global warming.  We should already be over 5 degrees warmer than we are, but the amount of sunlight reaching the ground has been reduced by the "haze".

If you just reduce the particulates without a major reduction of greenhouse gases, ahead of the particulates, we could very quickly go up in flames (well, maybe not flames, but the northern coast of alaska could feel like the Caribbean pretty quickly).  So, fixing the problem will be far more difficult than our efforts were to cause it.

[Sandy Eggo]

Which brings up another point for consideration. Given the number of foreign owned companies in the US these days, what is preventing them from say, closing down Nestle in Anderson in order to meet a demand from their home country to increase the number of jobs available there? Answer: Nothing. Should there be?

I wouldn't disagree that the regulatory bodies and regulations that they are supposed to work within are in place for "good reasons" however, there are certainly many areas in which these regulations are either over the top or unreasonable when it comes to manufacturing. Streamlining is certainly way past due when it comes to entities like the EPA and FDA. I am not saying that they should be eliminated by any stretch, but rather more can and should be done to facilitate companies surrounding timelines for compliance and paperwork requirements.

The government is a huge labrynth and their forms, regulations, requirements, etc. are just as bad.
At a minimum, we make cut~n~run a viable option for companies because of the expenditures required to come into compliance as well as the unreasonable windows within which compliance is expected to be achieved.

As for uniting gloabl efforts; you're more likely to see a man walk on water than to have 2 or more countries agree on requirements; much less all of them. . .

I wouldn't disagree that the government, regardless of which level, is notorious for making every process as burdensome and complicated as possible. Honestly, I think much of that could be remedied if someone who is actually knowledgeable about a process was actually the one in charge of reviewing and creating the regulations for whichever particular process is being governed. I also don't honestly believe that we'd ever get every nation to agree and comply...that's a "best case scenario...kinda like world peace, but certainly if our government can offer tax breaks for simply doing business as usual, then it can offer tax breaks for going green initiatives.  I defer to  your expertise regarding manufacturing, but as someone looking from the outside in I find it hard to believe that the US is powerful enough to sanction other countries, but can't seem to find a way to encourage our own companies to do business within the CONUS without making the planet a cost of doing business.

[Sandy Eggo]

Likely story.  

I have better stories.

[Palehorse]

. . .I find it hard to believe that the US is powerful enough to sanction other countries, but can't seem to find a way to encourage our own companies to do business within the CONUS without making the planet a cost of doing business.

I guess for me that is the frustrating part. They focus so much on regulatory initiatives and  compliance with processes utilized that they fail to see where these same efforts can drive a major impact surrounding the environment if only they would do so. But they don't or won't.

Show me a government official that works to make environmental initiatives a priority, by utilization of initiatives to obtain compliance instead of corporate punishment methodology, and I'll show you someone that should be president and Time's person of the decade!

[DannyBoy]

Here is a smart ass comment.....We need GREEN weapons.  All those rocket lauches (including space shuttle type), missiles, explosions, tanks, jets, etc are destroying our climate 10 times faster than any industrial emmissions.  This war in Gaza and Iraq has set back climate change progress 20 years.

We also need less wild fires, volcanic eruptions, and earthquakes......those natural disasters are puking so many 'green house' gases....we need to put some regulatory compliance measures on mother nature.

[Palehorse]

Here is a smart ass comment.....We need GREEN weapons.  All those rocket lauches (including space shuttle type), missiles, explosions, tanks, jets, etc are destroying our climate 10 times faster than any industrial emmissions.  This war in Gaza and Iraq has set back climate change progress 20 years.

We also need less wild fires, volcanic eruptions, and earthquakes......those natural disasters are puking so many 'green house' gases....we need to put some regulatory compliance measures on mother nature.

[dan foster]

Here is a smart ass comment.....We need GREEN weapons.  All those rocket lauches (including space shuttle type), missiles, explosions, tanks, jets, etc are destroying our climate 10 times faster than any industrial emmissions.  This war in Gaza and Iraq has set back climate change progress 20 years.

We also need less wild fires, volcanic eruptions, and earthquakes......those natural disasters are puking so many 'green house' gases....we need to put some regulatory compliance measures on mother nature.

We are just one good volcanic eruption away from a year (or more) without summer.  However, it isn't the greenhouse gases from that, but the particulates punched up high in the stratosphere.

[Dexter Morgan]

Hey... if you can't take the heat, ......



Sorry, but I think for the most part we are being civil.

Chill Bo D. I was just kidding.