From: ejhupper@rs6000.cmp.ilstu.edu (Eric Huppertz)
Newsgroups: rec.autos,rec.autos.tech,misc.consumers,sci.environment,talk.environment
Subject: Carburetors, gasoline, and why I don't recycle
Date: 2 Sep 92 01:08:28 GMT
Organization: Illinois State University


I refuse to recycle.  If I have an empty soda can, and there's a
garbage can right next to a recycling bin, I'll throw it in
the garbage can.  Same with newspapers, bottles, plastic jugs,
you name it.  I say, into the trash with it.

Friends, acquaintances and strangers alike look at me with dis-
belief and sometimes contempt when I tell them I refuse to 
recycle.  They act as if I might have committed some heinous crime
against humanity.  I haven't; I'm just living in the real world.

And I'll tell you exactly what I tell them:  Carburetors.  That's
right, carburetors, the gas/air mixture devices that make internal
combustion engines work.  

You see, carburetors have been the subject of much study for decades.
And there have been several enterprising groups who have developed
carburetors and engine systems which are hyper-efficient by 
comparison to today's standards, but only par for the course where
scientific development is concerned.  I once read an article which
stated, as I recall, that one such fuel-injection system promised
to double the effective power of its engine, while extending gas
mileage to well over 130 (that's one hundred thirty) miles per
gallon.  On a news program years ago, I saw a group of college
students who had developed a carburetor that guaranteed at least
100 miles per gallon of regular unleaded gasoline.

So where are these miraculous systems?  Are they installed in our
automobiles, reducing our fuel consumption and air pollution output?
Of course not.  You know as well as I do where they are:  In the
vaults of the world's major oil companies.  That's right, build a
better carburetor and Exxon will beat a path to your door.  I can't
imagine how rich the developers of these super-effient systems must
be, now that the oil corporations bought their ideas and stapled
their mouths shut with platinum stapleguns.

So what does this have to do with recycling?  Everything.  These
recycling programs are a waste of time, and I personally think that
they have been implemented just to give Jane and Joe American a chance
to feel that they are doing their little part to help "save the
environment".  No question about it, recycling makes you feel good
about yourself; but did you ever stop to ask what happens to all
these items after they get tossed in the recycling bin?  After all,
the paper recycling process creates more pollution and toxic waste
than making new paper.  I wouldn't be surprised if half the stuff
we throw into recycing containers winds up in the landfills, just
like the garbage.

Think about it.  The oil companies have us driving around in these
clunky, dirty, inefficient cars, burning gasoline and oil like they
were going out of style, pumping tons and tons of needless pollution
into the air every minute--and oh sure, I'm going to save the planet
by buying greeting cards with the "recycled" logo on them.

And speaking of gasoline, don't you think it's a little suspicious
that there have been virtually no advancements in the quality and
efficiency of this fuel in the past 25 years?  I'll wager that more
research money goes into new formulas of Coca-Cola than new formulas of
one of the world's most needed liquids.  With all the advancements in 
so many other areas, it sounds fishy to me that such a lucrative 
substance as gasoline remains at its present level of inefficiency.

So I, for one, will not make an effort to "protect the environment"
by recycling my little aluminum cans, or buying brand X because it's
packed in recycled cardboard.  Not until I am assured that the oil
companies are doing their part: working for the planet rather than
against it for the sake of some pretty serious bucks.




The above is (c)1992 by Eric J. Huppertz.  
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+ Eric J. Huppertz   | Disclaimers: | Signature virus mutation: I will copy +
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Newsgroups: rec.autos