The mud flats would also cease to function under an additional couple of meteres of water. The point about the barrier affecting ecosystems is all very well except that the argument falls flat when the effects of doing nothing are taken into account - I wonder sometimes about the effects that rising sea levels will have on places like Florida - I suspect that there will be a significantly smaller state in a few decades time.

The tidal power statiion requires water flow so there will still be the tides, so the mud flats will still be covered and exposed on the same timescales, just that the water will flow sets of turbines generating electricity.

Well I look forward to technology solving the worlds problems, even if much of the technology is far from ready, hasn't been installed or doesn't even exist.
We will just have to hope it all arrives in time.

I think all this worry and fretting about emission stickers on tourist vehicles is not necessary.

The countries that are bringing in emissions regulations for cities are aiming to have those regulations influence what kind of vehicles their RESIDENTS and DAILY COMMUTERS use. That's where 99% of the potential emissions reduction will come from.

I suspect that once enforcement begins and we begin to see how and when local authorities enforce these rules, we will see that their focus is on local vehicles (e.g. going through parking lots, looking at the stickers on vehicles parked along the streets), and they will most likely not be very interested in harassing a tourist, simply because:

1) There's nothing to be gained from it, they won't be solving a long-term problem, and;

2) No doubt local authorities (town councils, tourist boards, etc.) will recommend that the enforcement team tread lightly on tourists, because they might quite innocently not be aware of the rules.

So, let's not get stressed about a potential problem until it actually does turn into a problem... which I doubt it will.

Michael

the only world problem is stupid people. doh

good thing is some countries are waking up and coming back to old energy source and that trend is growing.

Which ones; coal mines or windmills? :rofl:

In what way is going backwards to coal good? It puts out far more CO2 than other fuels, it puts out far more sulphur dioxide than other fuel, it puts out more particulates than other fuels - none of these are beneficial which ever way you look at them. In short, coal is the dirtiest fuel going and the sooner the world stops using it altogether the better.

It would be better if Germany restarted their nuclear power stations that they closed in the wake of the Fukushima flood following the tsunami - not that any of the German power plants were near to a fault in the tectonic plates doh

That might be good - if our species wasn't also engaging in massive deforestation of the planet at the same time.

For plants to consume all that extra CO2, we actually have to let them grow and exist.

Plants also like water. Just not so that they are submerged for weeks on end (aquatic plants aside). And your evidence that climate change is fake is what? I didn’t start out listening to mainstream media talking about climate change when I first heard about it, it was on the fringes initially and in technical journals but the evidence to show that it is happening ended up being so great that the mainstream media had little choice to accept it or else look incredibly stupid.

From an efficiency perspective having all those filters to block CO2, SO2 particulates etc reduces the efficiency so why not skip that problem entirely and stop burning coal? Find cleaner alternatives that are more efficient. For instance Australia has the opportunity to generate vast amounts of power from the sun - the technology is coming through that allows power generation after the sun has gone down - so the only things stopping lots of countries going down that route are the fossil fuel producers buying politicians and, to be blunt, idiocy - why dig up fuel (expensive), transport it (expensive), burn it (dirty and inefficient) when the sun comes up very day with a fraction of the running costs after the initial build (which is less than a coal burning power station). Other sources of very green power complement solar - wind, tidal, hydro, geothermal etc - and all are sustainable for the long term.

Well, I posted this so that travellers have an idea of whats coming so they can be prepared, and now we're down to the point of conspiracy theories.

In a forum that's all about widening one's horizons and seeing the beauty of the world I would have thought people would have been a little more sympathetic to environmental issues.

We try to maintain a low level of moderation, but will always step in when in comes to name calling and overtly critical comments. By all means disagree with other people's opinions, but please do it in a friendly manner.

Variety being the spice of life (as they say), differing opinions are welcome here. We'll all do well to address *issues,* not the presumed intelligence, gullibility, or malicious intent of other people, whether here or elsewhere in the world.

It will also serve us well to think about whether our own posts tend to elevate the level of discourse, or drag is down into the muck. The former is good; the latter not so much.

Mark

Thanks a lot Chris.....i've just sprayed tea over my feckin laptop....ah well it was time for a new one anyway. Maybe I can make some money recycling the battery

The subject is low emissions zones to be implemented across Spain from next year.

And there we go again. Others on this thread have expressed support for emission controls, and then you use words like stupidity again.

You are of course welcome to disagree with other people's opinions, but please do it in a friendly manner that doesn't cause others to report your posts.

Is there any chance at all of getting this back on topic. I'm heading down to Spain in a few days in a highly polluting vehicle (two of them actually) and it would be handy to know what the current regs / restrictions are. Maybe we can push the bikes through those bits.