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Guest essay by Eric Worrall
To make progress we need to overcome the “Dragons of Inaction” – our distressing tendency to believe what our senses tell us, instead of listening to the warnings of climate scientists.
How your brain stops you from taking climate change seriously
Science Jan 4, 2019 7:13 PM EST — Updated on Jan 4, 2019 9:16 PM EST
By — Nsikan AkpanInaction on climate change has been stymied by politics, lobbying by energy companies and the natural pace of scientific research — but one of the most significant barriers is our own minds.
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Finally, there are what Gifford calls “dragons of inaction” — the specific cognitive barriers that dominate someone’s view of climate change.
“The perception of not having control over the situation is certainly one of the biggest” barriers, Gifford said.
Whenever the NewsHour covers climate change, the most common responses we get from those who don’t believe that humans influence climate change point to the ice ages. They cite how the Earth has experienced natural cycles, between extreme cold and heat, for millennia.
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For instance, even if many people know that the average American emits about 17 tons of carbon every year, they don’t realize half of those emissions could be eliminated with simple fixes.
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Washing clothes in cold water can save up to 15 pounds of carbon emissions per load, depending on your washing machine and your energy supplier.
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Read more: https://www.pbs.org/newshour/science/how-your-brain-stops-you-from-taking-climate-change-seriously
My Dragon of tedium almost defeated my struggle to read to the end of Nsikan Akpan’s rather long climate monologue. But what stood out more than anything is the sheer inanity of Akpan’s proposed solutions. Buying more electric cars. Washing clothes in cold water. Turning down home heating.
Instead of glorifying the utterly inconsequential 15 lb of CO2 you save by not heating the water you use to wash your clothes, instead of struggling to win people’s belief, lets sidestep the issue of whether people believe climate change is a problem, by converting the economy to zero carbon nuclear power, the way France did in the 1970s.
By embracing zero carbon nuclear power, greens would get their bipartisan support for a policy to reduce CO2 emissions, without upsetting people with ridiculous belief building exercises, and earnest campaigns to make us all feel virtuous about wearing smelly, badly washed clothes.
Okay, first off, excusing the inexcusable fact that CO2 is called ‘carbon’ to make it sound worse than it really is, how do you get 15 pounds of CO2 per wash? I use far more water in my morning shower with my high-pressure water saver shower head than my weekly laundry cycle. And my showers are very hot even if it high summer. If I am creating 15 pounds of CO2 per wash (I am not), then I must be creating 150 pounds of CO2 per morning shower. I seriously doubt my weekly laundry is creating 1/2 pound of CO2, much less 15 pounds of it.
Second, why is it possible for the earth to have natural hot-cold cycles in the past but not possible for it to have it now? By acknowledging that the climate changed in the past, these idiots just unknowingly admitted their argument is flawed.
Third, you will not be able to convince me that a gas that has gone from 0.035% of the atmosphere to 0.040% is some magical control knob. Related to this, I will start to pay more attention to alarmist when and only when their accuracy IMPROVES to 1% accurate. If you bat 0-for every time you step up to the plate, why should I believe you alone will win the World Series? In the same way, why should I believe people who have never been right over the long term to suddenly be right now?
It seems it is a permanent April Fools Day in ClimateAlarm Lalaland, problem is, the followers of the “true path” do not get the joke!
Thankfully we have the dragons on inaction to fight back the unicorn of regulating carbon (read: regulate/tax all aspects of life).
Iiiihhh.
Stinky green junkies.
“lets sidestep the issue of whether people believe climate change is a problem, by converting the economy to zero carbon nuclear power, the way France did in the 1970s”
Hey let’s not just stop at recommending more nuclear power. Here are some other suggestions for the CAGW crowd to reduce CO2:
stop fighting fracking–switching from coal to hydrocarbons reduces CO2 per unit of energy used
stop fighting GMO–genetically modified plants produce more with less energy
stop buying organic food, which also yields less relative to inputs
After their heads stop spinning, tell them they should also get behind Trump’s efforts to deal with China’s predatory trade policies, because of China’s coal power plant construction programs.
From the one-square of toilet paper school.
The proper way to use only one square of toilet paper:
First, fold the piece in half, then half again creating a triangle. Carefully tear off the top of the triangle, tuck that piece behind your left ear (you will need it later). Unfold the piece and put your middle finger of your right hand through the hole you created so that the paper is like a ring on your finger. Insert the middle finger into your anus and pull it out carefully grasping the paper to cover the soiled part of your finger and pull it over the finger to clean it off. Take the small piece from behind your ear and clean underneath the fingernail. Discard both pieces and flush.
“….Making the future tangible is only one of the psychological barriers that have made climate change into an elusive problem….”
I find it fascinating that the folks at PBS are fancying themselves amateur psychologists now. They have reached a level of enlightenment and righteousness on the issue of climate change that licences them to dictate our lifestyle to us to one degree or another. This of course precludes the possibility that there could be anything wrong with the “science” that they are being fed by the people they know are right.
When the mainstream media reaches this level of — for the lack of a better word — arrogance, it only serves to demonstrate the extent to which they can be duped by their illiteracy on scientific matters and the manner in which scientific discourse is supposed to work.
If in fact a collectivist mindset does indeed dominates the media, believing in group think (the masses are always right) all but eliminates the possibility of thinking independently for themselves on matters for which they have no background. Hence we have the lecturing on cold water clothes washing and veganism.
I couldn’t even force myself to read the whole PBS piece. The mind boggles too much.
Rather than saying the masses are always right, I probably should have said the consensus is always right.
Cold washing clothes is just fine! C’mon, pick the RIGHT detergent!
If you use the wrong kind, I agree, you will have bad results.
We started doing it to save on the electrical bill. Could care zip about the AGW hysteria, but also have no love for the electrical company.
But, even more funny. Make your own detergent. A complete different level of clean. Fragrance free, cheap and much better cleaner than the stuff you buy.
If anything every does smell. Put some Peroxide in the wash, most, if not all modern clothing is color fast with Peroxide and it will remove any smell.
Add Borax to the wash. Eliminates odors and adds to the cleaning power of the detergent so you can use less.
Washing in cold water does not get rid of bugs. Especially flea eggs and larvae.
Do have a scratchy New Year……..
R
If it is heat, then the dryer will kill those bugs and larvae. Have never had any such issues.
A dryer? How callous of you wasting energy like that.
I do have an answer to that too.
I have a non-vent electric dryer!
All that warm, dry and lint free air stays in the house and provides nice heat during most of the year. It is also 100% Hydro, so it reduces my gas furnace usage, a little too. So, essentially Zero CO2 on my part for the laundry. I could Virtue-Signal all day long about my laundry habits, if I believed in AGW hysterics.
You can make a filter using an old nylon stocking. As you point out, I would only do this with an electric dryer. If you want to get more fancy with the filter, you can.
I did this in my first house when I was single.
Right.
Do not wash it hot, but dry it hot!
😁😁😁😁😁
Though, the dryer uses 10x more energy than the washer. So, if you don’t care about your energy bill…
Not sure my comment posted.
R, if it is heat you are thinking about, then the dryer will kill them, and I’ve never had any such problems.
you saying you have a year round flea issue? then its not the washing you need to be looking at..its the house or pets.
I do hear usa had/has a bad bedbug problem
but they live in mattresses and carpets etc so the washing cycle isnt going to do diddly squat for that either is it?
Bedbugs were almost completely gone. As with Tuberculosis, measles, and many other diseases.
Persistent tolerance and reinforcement of (near-insane) “homeless” residents by politicians, plus 30 million Illegal aliens not inspected at entry points across the border as at Ellis Island (as at every entry port in years past!), have re-infested many counties and cities.
The problem with these solutions is carbon is not the real issue. The environmentalists use global warming to push a specific agenda. They already have a solution in mind — a socialist world government, the end of capitalism, etc., and anything that doesn’t lead in that direction will be ignored
It is 100% guaranteed that socialists, anti-capitalists, and advocates of a world government are using climate scaremongering to further their own agendas.
The difficulty in using that in any argument is that there are many who sincerely believe the scaremongering, and they probably comprise the majority. If you’re talking to one of them, they’ll obviously not accept your argument. And if you do happen to be talking to a communist who only pretends to believe the scaremongering is that it’s an easy accusation to deny, and an impossible one to prove.
But to your list above you can add “internationalists” who simply want to redistribute wealth. You can add government bureaucrats who want to raise taxes. You can add rent-seekers who want to build infrastructure, and politicians who can build power by spending money.
Luddites. Apologies to Luddites as they were essentially correct about mechanization destroying cottage industries.
NPR is a bad joke on US taxpayers.
By embracing zero carbon nuclear power… the CO2 emissions problem could be addressed, perhaps when combined with carbon capture. In that case, what would justify massive wealth transfers from Western nations, to countries who are too corrupt to have functioning economies of their own?
What do you suppose Zimbabwe would rather see: $5Billion USD per year, or emissions at the levels agreed to in Paris? Only with a strategy guaranteed to fail can you justify a massive, continuing cashectomy.
I’m doing my part.
I never add ice to my Scotch. And I always take a hybrid limo from the private airport to the global warming conferences, and I ask the maintenance team to use cold water to wash the G4.
Has your company ever had an energy savings program that didn’t include a reminder to turn out the lights when you leave a room?
If you read guidelines on how to implement an energy program that item is always included, even though it doesn’t actually have any appreciable impact. But the purpose isn’t to save energy — it’s to serve as a constant reminder to do things that save energy. And it gets people to use THAT as a reference point. (Wow, turning the heat down in the warehouse, is like turning the lights out 5 million times!)
Another of the big “dragons of inaction” the specific cognitive barriers that dominate someone’s view of ‘Climate Change’ is rational and critical thinking which draws one’s attention to the fact that there has been no scientific proof produced yet that CO2 causes Global Warming of any significance. Mere repeated propaganda will not get one to the starting line.
Instead of washing in cold water, how about not washing at all?
/sarc
the modern trend to only wear outerclothes once then be anal retentive about washing and bugs is hilarious
change underwear daily of course,
but if you work in an office or aircon sales job etc then you’d be damned lucky to break a sweat so how are the clothes magically “too dirty to wear”
air em out overnight
generations of people got by just fine doing that and saved a shitload of time n water n labour to boot.
I love the way the refute the skeptics by refuting an argument no skeptic is making.
I don’t know of anybody who claims that AGW can’t be true because of ice ages.
Burning a gallon of gas is supposedly 20 lbs of CO2.
Seems hard to believe that using cold water instead of warm (or even hot) would save 15 lbs.
The equivalent of 20 lbs of CO2 in my Prius gas tank gets me 50 miles…15 lbs gets my load of laundry warm or hot?
Let me know when Al Gore takes a bulldozer to his big mansion and stops using private jets… then we can talk about hot versus cold water. Till then… it’s just climate propaganda.
Ah but the bulldozer would need fossil fuels to operate. Better to knock the mansion down by hand.
So, disenchanted that their opponents have found ~9 objections to their argument, they express dismay when a 10th objection is also produced. I think not.
If you live in Arizona and the water out of the tap is warm, do you have to chill it for this to work??
I’m surprised that no one here knows that if you have a five or less year old washing machine bought in the US you likely don’t have hot water available in your washing machine. That freedom to choose to wash your clothes in hot water was taken away for most machines in early 2000’by agreement with green lobby to save energy, which usually is about Global Warming. If you have GE Energy Star labeled washer
go measure the temp of Hot Water settings. GE weebsite will tell you regulators control the temp and not to shut off the cold water valve just to get hot water. Government regs at work…. while other
Give arms like the CDC tell you to be sure and was
Bedding in hot water to kill bed bigs, diseases etc.
so if I need to, I’ll boil water on the stove and pour it into my state if the art washing machine… more evidence greens would be happy reducing it standard of living even if manmade global warming doesn’t exist.
I have purchased two different washing machines since 2000, neither has had any restriction on hot water use.
Anthony, with respect, I believe I said “5years or less” not since 2000.
I believe I said ‘likely’
I referenced Ebergy Star rating (which is on most major manufacturers, thus the ‘likely’ reference’
Challenge others who do meet that criteria to measure your temp output
When did you purchase yours, has it the industry Energy Star rating, and what is the hot water temp?
https://www.energy.gov/articles/new-energy-efficiency-standards-residential-clothes-washers-and-dishwashers-save-consumers
Does anyine really believe this was about saving consumers money..,, by force?
Nice that the gov is ‘making us’ save money by giving up our hot water.
https://cei.org/content/federal-efficiency-rules-ruin-washing-machines
I just bought a state of the art Samsung Inverter 6 KG washing machine in the Philippines for a friend of mine wanting to supplement her income and not do the dam laundry by hand. There was no hot water input. Just a cold water In. Most new washers in Asia are such, and the better ones are inverter moters, as are the A/C and fridge moters.
Mind you, the water temp can already be warm just coming out of the black poly pipe, especially if it is laying above ground. A better argument for cold water is just saving some money on your electric or gas bill. I find the laundry is done very well even on cold water.
Earthling: that’s great you like to wash clothes in cold water and that you recommend it….I don’t. Can I have my hot water back in my washing machine?
I’m often struck by greens and earthers who explain how their ways of doing things are so cool and work..for them…on things things that somehow ultimately and unnecessarily become a ‘one size (theirs) fits all’ mandatory law on how to conduct our daily hygiene.
Bruce, I think you can buy whatever washer you want in North America. You might have to shop around and get the model you want with hot and cold water in. Fill your boots, there is no shortage of brand new hot water washing machines in NA. And there ain’t no law about hot water washers now being illegal. Geez.
I am in Asia anyway if you read what I wrote, and the water is warm to hot that comes out of pipes that lay on the ground so having a hot water line in is redundant for hundreds of millions of people that mostly don’t have a hot water tank anyway. I am not telling you to wash your clothes in cold water, so don’t tell me how I should wash my clothes either. I only need hot water in a wash from time to time and it ain’t a big deal for me. I have hot water washers in a condo and a house in NA, and cold washes as good as hot for most things. I could care less about saving 15 pounds of CO2, but I might want to save a few bucks if the price of electricity for hot water is 25 cents Kw/hr.
Earthling:
“… so don’t tell me how I should wash my clothes either.”
Where in all of my comments on this issue, did I ever tell you how you should wash your clothes?
Sorry Bruce, maybe you right about not telling me how to wash my clothes. You told me I could and it is my right, and I only shared a personal experience that washing most stuff with cold water is just fine for me. I don’t think you need to extrapolate from that, that I am some rabid Green promoting that. In Asia where I am, the water already warm or hot, so no big deal.
I just don’t think there is a ban on buying a washing machine with hot water in. I just bought one for my Condo in NA and it had hot and cold in. It’s an option you can buy one with only a cold water inlet. I would never buy that in North America, but in Asia it makes sense because the water already warm or sometimes hot from the water pipes being exposed to sunlight. Not everywhere, but it hard to get cold water out of a pipe here in Southern Asia. The majority of hundreds of millions don’t have a hot water tank, so the manufacturers build those mainly for the third world markets. They are available in NA too, but I think you are leading people astray by stating our right to a hot water inlet on a washing machine has been taken away. When it comes to that, we can all invoke the Second Amendment and rightly so.
ANTHONY: FROM GE’S OWN TROUBLESHOOTING WEBSITE…
Washers – Hot Water Not Working or Not Hot Enough
Heating water in your home uses energy. To conserve energy, new washers are designed to limit the amount of hot water used by adding some cold water to the fill when you select HOT water. This allows the washer to fill without causing your water heater to need to replenish as much hot water, which reduces the amount of energy used by the water heater.
On most top load models with a lid lock, the unit will only fill with Hot water if the lid is down and locked. If the washer is set for hot or warm water and the lid is up, it will only fill with cold water. This is designed as a safety feature.
Effective March 6, 2015: The U.S. Department of Energy revised their standards and federal guidelines for hot water energy consumption for all clothes washers. These changes affect all washer manufacturers in order to save energy and conserve resources. All manufacturers must comply with the new standards.
We are committed to meet the Federal energy standards and deliver a product that upholds GE Appliances wash performance standards. To comply with these standards, HOT water temperature selection is a mixture of hot and cold water from your household plumbing. When you select HOT, you will receive some cold water with the fill; this is normal.
Since the appliance is designed to fill with limits on the amount of hot water filling the appliance, it is not recommended that the cold water supply be turned off during a HOT water fill. The appliance is designed to fill with a mixture of hot and cold water to save energy, and is operating normally when doing so.
Additionally, new laundry detergent is formulated to work with any water temperature for wash performance. For best wash performance, we recommend:
HE (high-efficiency) Detergents
Oxygen (Oxi) Detergents
Look for “HE” and/or “OXI” listed on the package and follow package instructions for best results
If you really obsessed with this Bruce, I suggest you turn off the cold water valve so it can’t mix the cold and hot. The washer won’t know the difference and will fill with hot water.
Alternatively, you could splice a tee into the hot water line and make both inlets only hot water. That way you could really get your laundry washed in as much hot water as you want. Hopefully you don’t shrink all your laundry.
Interesting though that they do this. Thanks for looking that up. Maybe it to protect people from their high tempature hot water tanks. The dish washer doesn’t do this, and there is a reason why the hotter the water, the better.
Earthling:
We are on a website where people make points and back them up when challenged. To suggest I’m obsessed… because I made a point and took the time to back it up when you challenged it, is a bit disengenuous. Why did you even challenge it?
Whether you and I are fine without being able to wash our clothes in hot water is not the point at all. And whether a housewife or househusband can reach back behind the machine and turn the cold water off isn’t the point either for crying out loud, first very few people will, second GE says DO NOT do that, third you will have no COLD rinse.
No, the posited point(s), which shouldn’t have been that difficult, is/are much bigger, and there are several.
One (posited) you can’t buy a hot water washing machine in the United States any more. Even you found that hard to believe.
Two, the government has taken that consumer choice away.
Three, Consumers don’t know it.
Four, the labels still say HOT and are therefore not only misleading, but fraudulent.
Fifth, its lowering the standard of living to take that choice away….all the articles in the world about when to use hot and cold are of no value if the choice has been taken from y you.
Sixth…this freedom, this choice, is taken away due to global warming alarmism.
As a lawyer it flies in the face of Federal Trade Commission, Consumer Protection laws, etc., as consumers throw their bedding, diapers, etc. in HOT water that is not hot at all, and they are told that it is hot when its not.
I’m not obsessed, but I’m fascinated you couldn’t care less about any of the above. That it doesn’t seem in the least bit problematic that an entire society, the entire US of A for that matter, might be being denied by its government the ability to buy a machine that washes clothes in hot water (without your fancy home fix like replumbing).
By the way, have you taken the temperature of the ‘hot’ water coming out of your new ‘hot’ water washing machine?
one of the most significant barriers is our own minds.
By this logic, I could justify the existence of magical unicorns. “Well, if I just believe in my heart that unicorns exist…”
Eric, first of all climate clowns are not washing their clothes in cold water nor are they driving electric cars. You and I are supposed to do that. See the climate overlords need to use everything they want to ban so as to…well, overlord. This is a strictly do as I say not as I do routine. Always has been, always will be.
I’m going to call BS on the claim that heating enough water for 1 load of clothes is going to create 15 pounds worth of CO2.
Maybe if it was an industrial sized washer, you were heating the water from just above 33F to 110F and both wash and rinse were done with hot water only. (Not warm)
And then only maybe.
PS, I was giving the moron the benefit of the doubt and assumed he meant CO2 when he just mentioned carbon.
An atom of carbon weighs about 1/3rd what a molecule of CO2 does, which would make his claims 3 times more ridiculous.
MarkW can call all the BS he wants, but MarkW is mathematically challenged.
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The typical top loading washing machine uses 45 gallons of water per load. Let’s us assume that they use a “hot” wash and a “cold” rinse. That means that 22 gallons of water need to be heated. Now, assume that the water heater takes in water at 50 degrees F and heats it to 180 degrees F. 22 gallons of water weighs 180 lbs.
180-50= a delta T of 130. 180 lbs of water with delta T of 130 is 23400 BTU. You need 6.86 kwh to produce 23400 BTU.
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Each kwh of energy from a coal burning power plant produces 2.07 lbs of CO2.
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So 2.07 times 6.86 = 14 lbs of CO2
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Hard to call BS on that MarkW
Ground temperature (water flowing in pipe to the house) = 50 degree F. Where? Upstate NY, ND, ID, MN, WI in mid-winter?
Most of US population is 60-65 degrees F starting temperature, or higher, in mid-winter.
Those areas are up to 75-82 or higher in mid-summer. http://www.greencastonline.com/tools/soil-temperature
Outlet water temperature from a hot water heater = 120 – 125 degrees F. NEVER 180!
More realistic Delta T = 125 – 70 = 55 degrees F, not 130. 65-70 degrees F if five foot ground temperature is colder at 55 degrees.
“Conveniently” assumed an “Electric” hot water heater and 33% power efficiency? Why? Few US hot water heaters are electric.
My gas hot water heater is 95% efficient at turning “raw” BTU’s into hot water!
Amazing the incorrect numbers you can generate by assuming incorrect starting points.
Outlet temperatures are not what the internal cutoff temperature for the water heater are.
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You obviously don’t know how the control system for a water heater is set.
Steve,
Water heaters are NOT heating water to 180F, I have personally set in several Electric Water heaters, they ALL show the maximum heating range at 140-150F. That is the MAXIMUM, but most are set around 110-120 for home use, that is one reason why Automatic dishwasher have a built in heater to increase the heat for another 15F or so, to kill the germs on the dishes.
It is easy to change the heating settings, thus your statement is silly.
I have no doubt about what you have set the temp in water heaters for. However you don’t realize that the sensor you are making the setting for is the outlet temperature of the heater. Keep in mind that when the hot water flows thru the heater, the inlet temp is well below the outlet temp, and there are several minutes delay between the outflow and the turning on of the heating elements (electric) or initiation of gas burn (natural gas.) The sensor you are adjusting for is NOT the internal temperature of the tank inside of the water heater.
Again. No. The measured output water temperature is 122-128 degrees F. That is the bulk (average) temperature of all water in the water heater, and that bulk temperature is correct – regardless of your assumptions about 180 water right at the burner, the electric heat coil, or the safety fuse.
By the way Sunset, my calculations were conservative, in that I assumed a hot wash, cold rinse. Double everything I said if the rinse is hot/warm.
Again. Wrong.
Steve, the only thing that matters is what the outflow temperature is.
LOL @ur momisugly RACookPE1978, “soil temperature” is not the temperature at 2-3 feet below the surface where most water pipes are buried.
Er, well, yes it is.
https://www.physicsforums.com/threads/temperature-for-3-or-4ft-underground.826193/
Oh, and keep in mind the distribution of the population of the USA when you calculate the “average.”
RACookPE1978 posts: “Conveniently” assumed an “Electric” hot water heater and 33% power efficiency?
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Nope, and electric water heater is even more efficient than a gas heater.
Steve, where is the electricity coming from to power that Electric heater?
I notice you left that part out completely.
It comes from the wires that are attached from my home to the street.
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What you want is better expressed by this:
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Realistically, it depends a lot on your specific geographical location………which is why I used the “average” in the amount of CO2 per kwh produced.
Again. Not true. At any level of energy measurement.
If you think that your gas water heater is more efficient than an electric one, I suggest you wait for your gas water heater to fire up, then touch the flue pipe. You’lll note that it is hot/warm. Hot exhaust gas is venting out of your living space, and every BTU going up that pipe is wasted heat energy.
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Electric water heaters have no flue pipe.
Not true. The 95% efficiency for the natural gas energy to hot water energy does, in fact, include those flue gas losses.
Steve,
Your assumption that the water will be heated to 180 degrees is:
a) correct?
b) incorrect?
c) biased?
d) not an assumption, but a data manipulation?
e) both b & c ?
f) both d & e ?
(EPA recommends 120 … since you believe that EPA is correct in all things green, you should recalculate with 120).
I just had a new electric water heater installed. It came with a factory pre-set temperature of 120 F. However, if you do not set the temperature to 140F you run the risk of having “smelly” water. This is caused by a harmless bacteria that exists at temperatures less than 140 F. There are massive scalding warnings pasted all over the outside of the heater and in the instructions if you adjust the temperature above 120 F. I adjusted my heater to 140 F. You just have to be smarter than the hot water.
1) Very few places in the world have cold water at 50F and even those places it’s only that cold during the winter.
2) No hot water heater heats to 180F, 110 to 120 max.
3) 45 gallons per load, you are delusional.