Not really off topic but...6

[Subrosa]

It's undeniable that the climate was much hotter at times before we were here. It's undeniable that it has been much cooler at times before we were here. It's just as undeniable that whether we're here or not, this planet is going to get much hotter. And cooler. How much effort is being put into dealing with inevitability, as opposed to attempting to forestall it? As far as chemical sensitivities, I have a strange one. I used to do hazmat work, and have worked with some truly nasty stuff, about as bad as it gets without going nuclear. But one of the less hazardous and more comfortable jobs was packing up chemicals for shipment to a treatment facility. A place that used chemicals closed down, left a bunch of stuff the landlord wants gone, etc. One economic fact of the business is that a waste stream consisting of a single contaminant is cheaper to dispose than one containing several similar, but mixed contaminants. Many chlorinated solvents smell pretty much the same to most people, but my discerning nose allowed me to reliably pick out individual compounds. I would carefully open unlabeled bottles or jars and fan my hand over it, bringing a bit of scent my way, and then segregate each one into a pure stream. But now I find that I'm very sensitive to one in particular, perchloroethylene. It might not be an issue, except that perc is better known as dry cleaning fluid. If I walk into a dry cleaner and have to stand in line I walk back out, because I start feeling lightheaded almost immediately. I generally need to sit in my car a couple minutes breathing deeply to be able to drive afterwards. On the bright side, it's cheaper than booze!

[Dollythehun]

I get that totally. I rarely by anything dryclean only and when I have something dry cleaned it hangs in the garage.

How all our threads seem to be turning so divisive and controversial is beyond me. However, like our immediate environment, it is within our power to make a coarse correction (when necessary). I come here to NOT hear the news channel...

[Subrosa]

Originally Posted by Dollythehun

I get that totally. I rarely by anything dryclean only and when I have something dry cleaned it hangs in the garage.

How all our threads seem to be turning so divisive and controversial is beyond me. However, like our immediate environment, it is within our power to make a coarse correction (when necessary). I come here to NOT hear the news channel...

The forum is just a snapshot of the country at large re divisiveness.

[Dollythehun]

I agree and just said the same to my husband. However, that doesnt mean we can't rise above that. I'm sure you taught your children that just because everyone else does it isn't a reason to do it.

[Leafmite]

Originally Posted by Orchid Whisperer

Last post on climate change - I promise.

Katrina, I strongly disagree regarding climate change. According to NASA, approximately 97% of climate scientists agree that there is an anthropogenic cause to climate change, and that the rapid change which we are seeing now is largely man-made (in terms of global environmental events, changes that occur over a span of even 100 years are considered very rapid). Even pro-fossil fuel scientific organizations, such as the American Association of Petroleum Geologists, agree that there is an anthropogenic link to climate change, and that fossil fuel related emissions should be reduced (AAPG does nod toward differing opinions about the level of anthropogenic change, but not whether there is an anthropogenic link).

In pre-history, yes, there have been larger changes in climate. We would not be OK with the level of desertification that occurred in the Triassic, sea level rise that occurred in the Cretaceous, or glaciation that occurred in the Pleistocene. With the huge number of people on Earth living near coastlines, we can't afford the kinds of impact that will occur with even modest sea level rise. Or the potential impacts on agriculture that may already be occurring.

Yeah, they have been taking ice-core samples in Antarctica and testing carbon levels and studying rock layers and our carbon levels are very, very high. In the past, we have always had plenty of foliage and places for foliage to grow to balance the levels but with deforestation and so many places where trees and plants cannot grow, with polluted waters where nothing grows, there is no way for our earth to balance the carbon. If you grow fruit trees, you can see the effects quite clearly. Pests are not being killed by cold winters, the weather is so erratic that the trees come out early and are hit by frost/cold weather later...stuff that was once very unusual and now it happens regularly. People would never have been invested in growing fruit if this was normal. But, for now, the oceans are absorbing most of the heat and Carbon dioxide so the worst of it won't be until the heat sink and carbon absorption has reached its limits.

My degree is in Chemical Engineering and this is just another thermodynamics problem.

[No-Pro-mwa]

Biting tongue, I'm not going to add my only to say perhaps this thread should be closed.

[greenpassion]

I agree Shannon. And I've always wanted to use that little icon of the guy beating a dead horse. Well done!

[Dollythehun]

Aye! Perhaps before we post, we should look ahead to the implications...although, the OP was innocently about house temperature.

[estación seca]

I have used this one once or twice:



And I'm surprised this one isn't already worn out. (I earn it a lot too):

[Paul]

Originally Posted by greenpassion

.... my home which is over 70 years old and built by someone who had no idea how to build a house, it is frigid and dry and I have 26 phalaenopsis orchids in Spike. Has anyone ever been able to manage something like this, and bring there plants to fruition? Heat is not a problem but very expensive. I have a hot-air furnace. Humidity once again is. Can these orchids that I grow who has been accustomed to 45 to 55% humidity go down to 20 for an extended period of time.?... and I can't keep the humidity up in this large room past 37%.

GP, the RH in my apt often is around 10-15% during the winter. One year, I tried running a humidifier 24/7. Even running a humidifier in a room provided only a very short-term minor improvement (I think I succeeded in attaining 35%). The vast majority of my orchids and other plants have weathered this less than desirable situation for years. Yes, there are some that can't handle it well or at all, but they are in a minority and phals are not among those that can't.

I have central air heat so there is no practical way of regulating heat via thermostat throughout the apt to meet different needs. Would it be possible to have one or two electric space heaters in the plant room? I assume you have taken some of the basic insulation steps like plastic covering the windows for the winter?

Interestingly enough, there are some of the old time plants that actually fared far better in homes like yours as opposed to the better insulated modern ones. Cyclamen are one that springs to mind.

Originally Posted by katrina

With that said...I grow only one very humidity sensitive orchid (a Paphinia) and even 50% isn't going to make that one happy. It was an impulse buy and I didn't do my research...I will probably lose this one at some point.

Even non-drafty windows can have a lot of cold radiating off the glass when the lows are that extreme and that could affect any plants sitting too close.

Katrina, if you have or can get a tank -- either an old fish tank or an Exoterra or similar -- you could put the Paphinia in there. I've kept Paphinia Majestic in a 90gal terr for well over 10yrs now.

Regarding windowsill temps, one of those digital thermometers one finds at places like Lowes/HD are nice to have.

Originally Posted by estación seca

I used to think old houses should be preserved only due to their age. I'm coming around to realizing housing technology has improved so much it is exceptionally unwise, economically, to maintain obsolete structures.

I do hear what you're saying and there is truth to it. But there is also something to be said for the style of some of those old homes compared to the bland cookie cutter things often made now. Then, too, there are the other cons regarding newer homes you mentioned as well.

Originally Posted by estación seca

On the topic of going with the cheapest bid: The old San Francisco Veterans Administration Hospital had new construction added in the 1960s. The government went with the lowest bidder. The new construction had no on-off switches for the fluorescent lights. This saved a huge amount of money on the construction. When I was there around 1980 the lights still could not be turned off.

And I'd be curious to know how much $ is wasted by leaving all the lights on 24/7...

On a related note, I know of contemporary schools which do not have windows which open. The argument being both the cost savings in not having windows or at least ones that are small and permanently shut as well as "but we have air conditioning..." Yes, and what happens when the power goes out or the A/C breaks down on a hot day?....

Originally Posted by katrina

"Climate change" caused by humans...HA! The climate on this planet has had far larger shifts in the past...long before humans ever walked the face of this earth. There is some valid science on both sides as well as a fair share of BS, on at least one side.

That humans are THE cause of climate change is a fallacy. The Earth goes through cycles and always will. But I will agree that humans are a contributing factor. As human populations continue to grow out of control, not much chance of that changing, I suspect.