Beach bonfires may be banned (Seattle fights global warming)

The Seattle Post-Intelligencer ^ | June 6, 2008 | Kery Murakami

[Junior_G]

Even with the skies overcast and threatening rain, Khang Nguyen, 18, and Joel Juan, 19, kicked back after school at Alki Beach.

"It's just a relaxing way to hang out with friends," Nguyen said of the bonfire crackling in front of them one evening earlier this week.

But Seattle Parks and Recreation might do what even this week's chilly weather couldn't -- douse the long tradition of beach bonfires at Alki and at Golden Gardens.

Park department staff is recommending reducing bonfires at the two beaches this summer and possibly banning them altogether next year.

The park board will hear the recommendation Thursday, and the city plans to run public-service announcements and hand out brochures later this month about the effects of bonfires on global warming.

[Junior_G]

Seattle's pissing contest with San Francisco to see which city can be the most idiotic continues unabated.

[yldstrk]

Oh yeah it’s those beach bonfires,,,the kids should not be allowed to have any fun at all, they might get the idea that life is to be enjoyed. That does not fit in with Commie theory at all.

[freedomlover]

the city plans to run public-service announcements and hand out brochures later this month about the effects of bonfires on global warming

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/jawdrop

[Abathar]

I have just changed my will. Instead of being buried in the cometary that is located on our property I have instructed the wife or kids to build a huge funeral pyre in the back yard out of used tractor tires and railroad ties.

That way when they light it off every environmentalist within twenty miles can see my huge black cloud on the horizon and b*tch about the damn idiot who is burning it.

[tractorman]

Time to ban valcanoes.

[television is just wrong]

wow.

[Junior_G]

The only time Mayor Nickels is ever in the news is when he’s promoting a new “green” initiative. It seems like all of the city’s resources are being squandered on environmental efforts that aren’t going to change the weather patterns in Bangladesh, no matter how much these nutjobs wish it were so.

[Brilliant]

But smoking pot is still OK.

[Junior_G]

I love it. In my will, I’m going to ask my wife to encase me in a castle made of styrofoam, then light it up. I’ll ride the ebony-black plume all the way up to heaven.

[Junior_G]

How do you think they come up with all these good ideas?

[ClearCase_guy]

But Seattle Parks and Recreation might do what even this week's chilly weather couldn't

Ironic, eh?

[17th Miss Regt]

Yes, but fire season has started. If one of these beach bonfires gets out of hand, the entire ocean may burn.

[beltfed308]

These people for sure are right on it! No shortage of Kool Aid out on the left coast.

[redstateconfidential]

Poor Nguyen, his family fled The Commie paradise of Vietnam only to arrive into the waiting arms of all of Uncle Ho’s bastard stepchildren running Seattle.

[Oberon]

The utterly foolish thing about this is that banning bonfires does NOTHING to affect CO2 release. The only carbon dioxide (or other chemicals, for that matter) released during the burning of wood is the very same carbon dioxide (and other chemicals) that were sequestered in the wood during the time the tree was growing. The CO2 was originally taken OUT of the atmosphere by the tree over the past few decades; all the carbon in the tree came from atmospheric CO2 in the first place.

Even if you don't burn the wood, that carbon will still be released back to the air as the wood rots; it'll just happen over a somewhat longer period of time, a year or two at most in the soggy Northwest as opposed to a few hours in a bonfire on the beach.

So not only is this measure picayune, it's also utterly pointless.

[4yearlurker]

I predict some that some building codes will not allow wood burning fireplaces in the future. Gas only. Just think. You can save the trees and the atmosphere at the same time!

*sigh!*

[HerrBlucher]

This is good news. When moobats have to start sacrificing....anything....their cause will soon end. Without a campfire to hold hands around and sing Kumbaya, life will be meaningless for them.

[libertarian27]

Smoke is Smoke/sarc

[Young Werther]

As a former lifeguard on the Jersey shore I can assure you that it's not the bonfires that generate all that heat!

Whoo Hooo!!!!

And you don't have to go in the water to catch the crabs!!

Pass the conondrum Please!

[NavyCanDo]

So, what happens to the beach when no one can pick-up and burn the drift wood? And as anyone in Washington knows, there is allot of drift wood that washes up. They are either going to have to pay the Parks Department to police the beach and dispose of drift wood, or all of those beach volleyball players are going to have to find another place to play.