tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4425732352511468694.post3014612533958947895..comments2023-08-20T04:55:39.436-07:00Comments on Ars Psychiatrica: Business as UsualNovalishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10501890494890617030noreply@blogger.comBlogger3125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4425732352511468694.post-14321880233509504432010-06-19T07:06:32.671-07:002010-06-19T07:06:32.671-07:00You're absolutely right.
Europeans pay more t...You're absolutely right.<br /><br />Europeans pay more than twice as much as Americans for fuel at the pump and it shows in their rates of consumption. There are other factors that contribute to the difference between European and American per capita consumption of oil, but price is a major factor. When gasoline costs $8-$9 per gallon, do you purchase an SUV that get 17 mpg when a 30 mpg vehicle would suffice?<br /><br />Our other problem is reliance on coal. Abandoning nuclear energy was a huge mistake.<br /><br />All of the other schemes for government investment in new technologies amount to tinkering around the edges of the problem. Consumption will continue to be a function of price.Dr Xhttp://drx.typepad.comnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4425732352511468694.post-11928668022619342342010-06-17T00:37:55.768-07:002010-06-17T00:37:55.768-07:00The diffusion of moral responsibility means inacti...The diffusion of moral responsibility means inaction on a catastrophic level.<br /><br />Individual contribution is so quantifiably insignificant when regarded as an isolated action that humans too easily give up say 'why bother?'<br /><br />Yes, when it hurts: first I'll take a pill to numb the pain, if it still hurts I'll cut off the offending site of pain, and then as a last resort, if the pain still haunts, I'll address the cause of the pain.....or just take another pill to delude myself into thinking it doesn't exist.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4425732352511468694.post-63952740123236967002010-06-16T19:08:25.980-07:002010-06-16T19:08:25.980-07:00I love the new look of the blog, and am really enj...I love the new look of the blog, and am really enjoying your latest posts. <br /><br />Agree with your comments on what motivates us to save energy, etc. Also, I deeply resent the hypocritical posturing about energy and green living by our current political leaders. <br /><br /> My policy is that I try NOT to do anything that drastically poisons the earth (ie: batteries, lead paint, pesticides, etc.) and that on "green" stuff, I do any of it that costs me less money than the "conventional" alternative. Thus, I compost, garden organically, line dry clothes, buy clothes and other crud from the thrift shop, share stuff with friends and neighbors, etc. But I am deeply suspicious of most of Obama's cronies plots and schemes for "green" energy. Also, having grown up in Latin America and studied the THird World, and had a father who built farms all over the world, to feed hungry people, I know that organic methods will not be enough to feed a starving world. This is not to acquiesce in the devastation of the land that some forms of industrial agriculture have wrought. The answer wiill involve compromise, and adjustment both of our individual habits, and legislation about the most harmful methods. <br /><br /> My spouse is an MBA and historian, who has done in depth financial analysis of most green energy generating technologies and none of them make sense economically as yet. They do, however, like Gore's infamous carbon credits, potentially enrich a bunch of people. Also, with green technology, the law of unintended consequences is always important. Think of a Prius, for example. Which I would like (last time I bought a car, two years ago, one couldn't get hold of one because of the gas prices, so I got a turbodiesel Jetta which gets 40 mpg) because I would save money on gas that would more than make up for the higher purchase price, and they are cute. BUT: the manufacture of the highly toxic battery and how to dispose of it eventually? Not very green. <br /><br />I am basically a stingy sceptical New Englander. While I like buying stuff as much as the next person (and "green" stuff has this alluring aura!), the key thing is to moderate one's natural greed and lust for more, more more. Now, do as I say, not as I do vis a vis camera equipment.... :)Retrieverhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09036341287285545932noreply@blogger.com