White Flag on Blue Line

<insert squaking sound of chickens here>

Do all these real estate speculators somehow think that the sea level no longer will be rising and the glaciers no longer are melting?

Travis did not win....the residents, property owners and tax payers of Santa Barbara won. This was stupid from the beginning.

"...you should feel nervous because global warming is a really scary issue."

Au contraire, mon frere. It is neither scary, nor an issue. it simply "is."

While human activity may be exacerbating and/or accelerating this condition, there is absolutely nothing ( and I do mean NOTHING) that any of us can do to change the nature of the future outcome.

Consider, as but one example among many, a billion Chinese who long to "advance" from an agrarian society to an affluent, industrial one. The "Chinese Dream," like the American dream before it, now includes as an important first goal the acquisition of the quintessential upwardly mobile status symbol - the automobile. My bicycle be damned!

I doubt that the typical consumer will have the means to afford a new Prius. Rather, that first "new" car is likely to be a 1956 Ford Fairlane belching soot and guzzling fossil fuel. Get my point?

Thus, no matter how many CFLs we install in our "green" homes, they will matter not a whit against the countervailing forces at play in the larger world.

De-forestation. Cut down forests to plant corn for ethanol. Remember your physics, "for every action there is an equal and opposite reaction." Trees absorb CO2 and produce oxygen, possibly helping thwart the acceleration of global warming. We live in a "closed system." Again, from your physics class, "matter is neither created nor destroyed but simply changed from one form to another." Extrapolate from there. Get my point?

Global warming, global shwarming. Or, for those on the other side of the debate, new ice age, new shmice age.

Conclusion: Enjoy what you can, while you can. Do a little good if you can while riding on the great mandala. Don't sweat the BIG stuff. Que sera, sera!

HUGE "WIN FOR THE WISE!" Hooray!

Travis did not win; he posted the people's comments, others read and got involved. Shows the NP is doing ok reaching the people mentioned by Cypress.

Helene thought the $12,000 donation closed the case. The Mayor then deferred to Helene's coup. Mayor and Council lose for now!

They are now trying to extend their 'terms.' Wait and Watch.

Related subject: Esquire did not seem to 'misquote' the other 29 mayors interviewed! Hmm. (NP col. 8/23 front page.)

I am concerned that the "blue" nature of the line might be offensive to SMURF-fans. Furthermore...the line does nothing in the way to advance SB´s goal to attract more homeless and at the same time discourage beautiful redevelopments. Oh, and for the love of god, does ANYONE know of a minority who might be interested in a 6xweek job of petroling up my Hummer?! Thank you.

I think the city should spend a lot of money to paint a red line on both sides of State Street from Cabrillo Blvd. to Anapamu St. It would make our citizens aware, and alert our tourists, of what would be a really nice area if we could get rid of the drunken transient panhandlers.

Just a really good idea.

By the way...Doesn't the word "transient" mean, going from place to place? I don't see them going anywhere...except maybe Going #1 in the stairwells of the city parking lots, and #2 on the lawn near the library.

Thank you for sharing your wise words, Observer.

Both supporters and opponents of this particular project may be seen as trying to "do a little good" in the different worlds they inhabit on the one planet they share with each other and the many others living on Earth in their different worlds.

Who can say for certain who is "right," who is "wrong," who "won," who "lost" in this situation?

As I reflect on the meaning of what is taking place, I am grateful for any evidence that we can work through our inevitable differences in a spirit of humility and grace.

Thank you to all who are commited to that.

Fifty years from now, the growing effects of human activity on the planet will be a fact of life and have spawned tangible conditions that we will be living with on a daily basis. By then, this tempest in a teapot in Santa Barbara over a temporary blue line painted on our sidewalks won't mean a thing.

The only issue we might want to consider now in the late summer of 2007 is how drastic an impact will climate change, pollution and the human-created imbalance of the global ecosystem have on our daily lives. To wit, what will this do to our water and food supplies, which opportunistic microbes and parasites will arise and what challenges might these new realities present us to maintain an acceptable level of health and physical comfort.

For a preview of what life could well be like in the near future, take a look at what's going on in South Asia right now, particularly India's Uttar Pradesh and Bihar states. Flooding, hunger, widespread illness and general 'war zone' conditions prevail at this moment, all created by highly unusual weather, bacteria multiplying in stagnant water and wholly inadequate medical supplies, food and resources.

I love all the suggestions that lines should be painted all over town to mark fire danger zones, gang turf lines, the most dangerous intersections, etc. I mean, these are here and now problems, not speculation about the future. (Is it 20 feet in 100 or 1,000 years...I forget...) The ocean level hasn't risen significantly in half a century. The point is the blue line idea has proven horribly devisive. Sure, there's more discussion on the topic, but from my vantage point it hasn't convinced anyone to change their mind. I feel sorry for those who choose to blame the NP for stoking the fire, and those unwilling to see that the blue line project shoulda been dropped weeks ago.

"Not all scientists believe, they pointed out, that Greenland will in fact melt."

No, of course Greenland won't melt, but the ice sheets covering a significant part of it are already melting and will continue to do so unless radical changes are made. Sure "not all scientists believe" that -- I'm sure there's a chemist working in a lab somewhere who doesn't believe it -- but virtually every climatologist believes it, as the evidence is very clear.

jqb wrote: "...unless radical changes are made."

And just why is it necessary to make radical changes? As I wrote above in my post of 8-23 @ 8:11pm, "...we live in a closed system.... Que sera, sera!"

Capiche?

I for one would like to see the light-blue line for SB in a Google Earth .KMZ file or on Google Maps. Has this been done? If not, could be a nice project.

Aha, I should have searched before posting. Looks like somebody beat me to the idea:

http://www.lightblueline.org/node/154

The maps are really interesting. I wish the blue overlay was a bit more transparent, but good work!