Eco-friendly?

I have been thinking a lot about what it means to be environmentally conscious over the past 3 years, especially as it relates to Pianos. Sometimes I wonder if it's possible at all...

However, there was a Star Trek episode I keep going back to, where Captain Picard returned to his home in France and argued with his old-world brother. The brother detested computer-type things, like the fake food and, as a winemaker, the fake wine the replicators make. In the end, I suppose there was some sort of agreement. I don't remember exactly, but this is what I've taken out of the episode today: I embrace technology. However, it should be done concientiously, with the expectation that old habits will have to be replaced by healthier ones.

That's basically it. Sure we  can cut down a million trees and build treefarms in place of old forests. But there must come a time when we stop destroying the oldgrowth forests before there are too few left. 

That time has come. 

I feel I have done very little to be really eco-friendly in the piano business. But I will continue to do more as the years come. One day I hope to work with a line of organic products, and to endorse fair-trade built pianos. Anything you can do to help with this would be most appreciated. Always feel free to contact me with questions or comments.

The Debate on Global Warming

This paragraph was taken from a UK message board conversation. I think it is very informative:

It's a well established fact that climate changes naturally and sometimes dramatically. The pertinent question isn't "has climate changed in the past?" (of course it has) but "what is causing global warming now?" To begin to answer that, it's helpful to look at the major causes of natural climate change in the past.

Solar activity
Solar variations have been the major driver of climate change over the past 10,000 years. When sunspot activity was low during the Maunder Minimum in the 1600's or the Dalton Minimum in the 1800's, the earth went through 'Little Ice Ages'. Similarly, solar activity was higher during the Medieval Warm Period.

However, the correlation between solar activity and global temperatures ended around 1975. At that point, temperatures started rising while solar activity stayed level. This led a team of scientists from Finland and Germany to conclude "during these last 30 years the solar total irradiance, solar UV irradiance and cosmic ray flux has not shown any significant secular trend, so that at least this most recent warming episode must have another source." More on the sun & global warming...

Milankovitch cycles
Earth's climate undergoes 120,000 year cycles of ice ages broken by short warm periods called interglacials. The cycle is driven by Milankovitch cycles. Long term changes in the Earth's orbit trigger an initial warming which warms the oceans and melts ice sheets - this releases CO2. The extra CO2 in the atmosphere causes further warming leading to interglacials ending the ice ages.

For the past 12,000 years, we've been in an interglacial. The current trend of the Milankovitch cycle is a gradual cooling down towards an ice age.

Volcanoes
Volcanic eruptions spew sulfate aerosols into the atmosphere which has a cooling effect on global temperatures. These aerosols reflect incoming sunlight, causing a 'global dimming' effect. Usually, the cooling effect lasts several years until the aerosols are washed out of the atmosphere. In the case of large eruptions or a succession of eruptions such as in the early 1800's, the cooling effect can last several decades. Strong volcanic activity exacerbated the Little Ice Age in the 1800's.

Summary
The usual suspects in natural climate change - solar variations, volcanoes, Milankovitch cycles - are all conspicuous in their absence over the past 3 decades of warming. This doesn't mean by itself that CO2 is the main cause of current global warming - you don't prove anthropogenic warming by eliminating all other options. But the primary causes of commonly cited climate change in the past have played little part in the current warming trend.

As for CO2, empirical observations show that CO2 has a warming effect as a greenhouse gas, CO2 is increasing in the atmosphere and the expected warming you would get from greenhouse gases is occuring. Any alternative theory that found a different cause of global warming would also need to explain why the expected (and observed) warming from CO2 has not eventuated.

My current philosophy on Global Warming

I posted this on this conversation board form the UK.

-snip-
"Those who persist in screaming otherwise are doing so for purely political motives. "
-unsnip-

This is not true. I am  the farthest thing from political (other than the petitions i sign).
Hello, i am very interested in this conversation. i believe with Michael F. that humans are causing unhealthy global warming. HOWEVER, i have no science to back it up. In this way, i could be accused of being cult-like.
HOWEVER, i do believe i have good unscientific reasons. I have a HUNCH.

About Treehuggers: I am most definitely one. I live in the big Apple and sometimes touch the scant trees as i walk along the sidewalk just to stay connected to Nature. There is no greater compliment. From Nature we come and to Nature we belong. Why not love the trees? Anyone who doesn't like trees, (and this is a pyschological hunch, but one so self-evident that i could never in a million years be persuaded otherwise), has very deep and ill-founded personal problems. I'm not sure what the nature of these problems are, but I wonder if an unconsious self-loathing is the root.

But i digress. My hunch, i'm thinking, is informed largely by the way i've noticed i treat my very own precious body. I believe (though i have no proof) that i consistently mal-treat my body through excessive coffee, sugar, processed food and lack of exercise. Will this kill me? i don't know. I'm going to die anyway. However, i have a hunch that if i did NOT maltreat myself in this way, i would live longer and, yes, even happier. So why the heck do i keep doing it? Because, One: habits are hard to break; and Two: i have not felt significant enough effects to INSPIRE me to change this behaviour yet.

Why do smokers keep smoking? Same reason.

Another reason I believe my hunch is justified is philosophical: I respect my life and all life (except cockroaches :) )  This means i don't want to take irresponsible advantage of other living things. Now, i am already doing that on account of living a mainstram USA lifestyle. However, since i have chosen not to join a commune (something i have the highest respect for) i would at least like to help minimize and reduce the bad i am doing. Planet Earth is a living planet. How much respect is too much for the very planet which suppors us all! When you respect someone, for example a friend, you don't force cigarettes down their throat and cut gouges out of their skin (the equivalent of Mountaintop removal Mining).
It's just common sense to treat the Earth well. This means only taking what you need:
    -cutting own trees one at a time and choosing them carefully, rather than clearcutting whole rainforests.
     -being aware of the different species  that we share the planet with and not willfully destroying them.
     -not shoving coal powerplant cigarettes down planet Earth's throat.