From: bill@chaos.cs.umn.edu ()
Subject: Re: Bill's Many Messages
Organization: University of Minnesota
Date: Wed, 26 Aug 1992 01:35:45 GMT

In <1992Aug21.234031.20415@usenet.ins.cwru.edu> bj368@cleveland.Freenet.Edu (Mike E. Romano) writes:


>Bill Pociengel:  You certainly are making your presence felt on this
>bbs!

oh? where is this thread being echoed?

>I could not agree more with your proposal for desalinization plants
>here in California.

this has always seemed to me to be such an obvious  solution. i really
fail to understand why it hasn't been considered. it can't be cheep 
to do whats being done now i.e. pipelines from everywhere terminating in s ca.

>More generally, may I ask: are there any environmental problems which
>you consider urgent enough to address as a rural resident?

ground water polution, and non point air pollution. i.e. why doesn't
the us (in general) use more rail? it used to be the great tie that binds
for rural and urban centers. it makes a lot of sense (and i couls save wear
and tear on the truck :-)
more effort into non centralized energy resources (methane digesters, 
engine technology, etc). less concern for the better homes and gardens type
lawns (what has this to do with rural? you just must see what some newbies
call lawn. i mean 5-10+ acres of manicured grass???? i'm baffeled, why??)
imho it seems like a waste of effort, yea then they burn the leaves in the
fall. i'm considering driving around with the truck and collecting this
stuff, but i want more info on chemical breakdown in the grass clippings.
i.e. chemlawn stuff.
to name a couple.

>In the area of clean or renewable energy on a farm situation or rural
>area...do you think this is worthy of research and new inventions?

yes. see above. in a rural setting it may show up now as a need but it seems
to me to be things which we will all need to address soon enough.

>I think you misinterpet my intent .... I hope for constructive discussion
>from my messages...I am raising questions in environmental areas which

sorry. see other posting.

>are often discussed throughout the various media (and scientific journals,
>etc.).  I certainly do not have all the solutions nor nearly all the
>data...although I wish I had more time to do intensive study in certain
>of my interest areas.

i am considering setting up an online database for this type of info.
but knowing how i'm long distance from everyone then they must obviously be
the same from me. i mean it could be expensive to utilize. unfortunatly this
machine is not mine. it belongs to the department of transportation.
i would really like to utilize the stuff from old men, og, and cj mag's but
who would use them?? i mean we're talking uucp or ld calls. (hmmm maybe
client/server where you mail a data request and get mailed the results????
thoughts? suggestions?)

>On a more light hearted note:  do you really think there is any chance
>of multitudes of people wanting to settle in your "backyard"--the cold
>north midwest---no matter how renewable the energy gets etc...or how

ahh but if you check the census data a few do live here. but what concerns
me more (and i too have held this view: 'oh lets just put this dump over
there. no one live there' i mean i have read an article where some idiot was
'painting' hillsides with a jet engine and calling it art. huh?) to me
personally i would like to live in the middle of a few square miles of
woods, hills, and creeks. tho some preferr converted cornfields :-)
my nearest neighbor is now 1/4 mile away and thats almost to close (tho
were i lived in the city we could almost eat dinner together), the longer i
live out here the remoter rural seems to be. i know this is considered rural
i.e. farms, cows, cornfields, etc. but it is not as 'rural' to me as it once
was. i remain due to the work i've put into the land, my neighbors, but
most importantly my family. so you see it's not really that bad here. after
all it's home :-)

>bad the cities become...it is hardly likely.
>The same is true of Alaska.  People who become used to a warm climate
>have a great difficulty leaving...no matter what the situation.

i didnot find it so.

>I sincerely hope that the new generation of small farm owners who are
>often educated and move from the cities to a better life, will find
>better ways of designing the small farm...both for crop growing
>efficiency and for greater harmony with nature.

this is my intent. but then i'm just a joat. (drop the second half of that
saying as i am also a journyman ironworker [see i am a master])

bill pociengel
--
bill@chaos.cs.umn.edu
Newsgroups: misc.wanted,misc.forsale.wanted