Global Warming

I'm willing to walk in lockstep with the whole idea of global warming, greenhouse gases and the like. But, I was just wondering...

When electricity is generated at a power plant, lots of heat is generated to produce steam, the steam drives a steam turbine, which drives a generator and electricity is generated. Any waste heat is released into the environment with cooling towers or cooling ponds or just discharging the warm water into the nearest large body of water.

When ever electricity is used - say with lighting - part of the energy creates the light; while the rest of the energy generates heat, which is released into the environment.

When cars, trains and ships are driven, part of the energy produces the forward motion; while the rest of the energy generates heat, which is released into the environment.

So, I guess my question is, "Does any of this waste heat get factored into the whole "global warming" equation?"

Which kind of brings up the other half of the conversation. We must've moved just about all of the American manufacturing jobs to China, because you'd be hard-pressed to go to the store - any store - and find something made in the good ol' U.S. of A.

All those Chinese goods need to be shipped over, which consumes petroleum (imagine that) and causes even more heat to be released into the environment, not to mention creating all those extra greenhouse gases. Now, if production was done in the U.S., since we have environmental regulations (unlike China) which means that overall, less greenhouse gases would be released into the environment.

So, protect the environment, buy American. If you can find anything made here. Am I right?

Peanut Butter and Pet Food

There were two big scares concerning food recently. The first involved salmonella in peanut butter. The second involved SOMETHING in the wheat gluten used to make the pet food.

In the first case, the salmonella was traced to a leaky roof and leaking pipes in the peanut butter factory. The interesting thing was that the same plant that made the name brand Peter Pan peanut butter made the Wal*Mart house brand Great Value peanut butter. Hmmm. They make the name brands in the same factories as the house brands.

In the second case, the SOMETHING was traced to the wheat gluten, (which just happened to come from China! Shhhh! You'll be hard pressed to find any reference to that in the media.)

At last count, there were 53 different brands of dog food and 47 different brands of cat food involved in the recall.

The interesting thing was that the same plant that made the name brands Eukanuba, Iams, and Mighty Dog, made the house brands. Hmmm. They make the name brands in the same factories as the house brands.

NOTE: Yes, I'm about a month or so late on this. I've been trying to decide if I should post this or not.