Saturday, July 7, 2007

Live Earth - Update 2

So, watching the London show I've enjoyed the intentional set design of having something recycled as the light fixtures. Australia had tires, London has oil drum lids. While one is a product of petroleum, the other is what's used to deliver it. Looks good.

I suppose as I'm getting ready to go pay almost $3 a gallon to fill my car, one of my continuing frustrations with the naysayers on climate change is their complete lack of economic patriotism. Oil prices have been cited as hurting small business, who Inc. Magazine cited as creating 60% of the new jobs in the nation last month. Don't believe in global warming, fine, then take a look at our sagging GDP growth and rising inflation.

Implementing these measures reduces oil consumption and saves money for families and businesses. The oil industry has told us time and again that they're not gouging because prices are based on supply and demand. More recently they've said they're not going to increase supply, so our only recourse is to reduce demand. Kind of like my doing the South Beach Diet, it's not about changing yourself for a short time (ex. drilling off the Jersey Coast), it's about changing your mindset. Individually, as families, and as a nation changing our mindset only has benefits.

There's a lot each of us can do in our own lives to save a few bucks here and a few bucks there, and it will add up. On a government level, any elected representative opposing implementing many of these measures is wasting taxpayer money making taxes higher than they need to be and our national debt worse. I don't know why that's not said more often, but it's the truth.

No comments: