Comment on Former chemical engineer in the coal industry, urging B.C. municipalities to change the term natural gas to "fossil gas"

roguetrick@kbin.social ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago

• kakes@sh.itjust.works ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago

  From the article:

  “They would really resist. They just started saying the most amazing things back to me, like, ‘But it’s natural,’ or ‘It’s green, it’s good,’” he said.

  I generally try not to talk down to people, but jesus christ how ignorant can these people possibly be? Do they think just because it isn’t literally coal that it’s somehow beneficial? Who educated them? Absolutely wild.

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  • roguetrick@kbin.social ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago

    It's funny to me, because when it was coined, natural gas made SENSE. See towngas, the majority of gas used in cities, was made at gas plants from coal. You'd have gasplants that created the gas. Natural gas, therefore, was just gas that was natural and not made.

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    • bitwaba@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago

      The ole head in the oven suicide trope was based on town gas having a high percentage of carbon monoxide.

      The gas didn’t have carbon monoxide. The gas released carbon monoxide as a byproduct when the gas was combusted to release the heat for the oven.

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      • roguetrick@kbin.social ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago

        Incorrect. The production of town gas from coal created large amounts of carbon monoxide. People didn't turn the oven on, they just turned on the gas. Suicide rates in england dropped more than a quarter after the switch over to natural gas. Town gas is mostly hydrogen and carbon monoxide. https://caer.uky.edu/power-generation/coal-gasification/

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  • MelodiousFunk@kbin.social ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago

    Who educated them?

    I think the most common answer for this topic would be, "No one, really." Except maybe energy marketing/ads. You know, the folks that brought us "clean coal" and "fracking is totally safe and will definitely not bork your groundwater."

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  • WashedOver@lemmy.ca ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago

    Not being familiar with all things oil and gas would be pretty common for people not living in areas where it is processed or compressed. It’s much like a Linux enthusiast being upset at Windows and Mac users not realizing there are other OSs for computers. Might not be in their realm of thought.

    Natural has been a wonderfully misleading marketing term for food products too. There’s no regulations in the US on what one calls “natural” ingredients. Most people mistake it for being like organic just as intended. Natural just sounds good. Unfortunately radioactive material can be natural too.

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    • totallynotarobot@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago

      “Organic” is just as much of a bullshit buzzword as “natural”.

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      • rikudou@lemmings.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago

        But it’s least well defined, so you can rely on it always meaning the same thing, which is IMO the most important thing.

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    • kakes@sh.itjust.works ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago

      You got me there, I am indeed from Alberta, Canada. Do people really not have any idea where the fuel they use every day comes from? Maybe I’m just more curious than others, I guess.

      To be clear, I don’t disagree with changing the term to something less misleading. Just surprised is all.

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  • bitwaba@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago

    Same people that think “organic” = “healthy”

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    • Not_Alec_Baldwin@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago

      I have some organic cyanide you might be interested in…

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  • Red_October@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago

    If you’re careful in selecting your samples you can get people to say just about anything.

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    • not_woody_shaw@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago

      Ali G’s secret is out.

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• TonyTonyChopper@mander.xyz ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago

  biodiesel is made from corn

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