Inconvenience Store

Bicycle: 8

Foot: 8

It’s a draw––you can see more on bicycles, but you get a better feel for places by foot.

Car (gas powered): 4

Car (solar powered): 6 (predicted)

Even if cars didn’t pollute, they would still kill people. And they’d still make people assholes.

Cheaper gas for high-demand summer months: baaaaad idea. Hillary Clinton impresses me less and less.

She and McCain are clearly not listening to economists on this one. Anyone who wants to talk seriously about combating climate change should be willing to propose an increase in taxes on goods/services associated with carbon emissions. And even if Clinton et al. say it’s just a short-term proposal to get us through a period of high demand… well, it’s just maddeningly inconsistent… the whole point of their environmental proposals is that we’re trying to reduce the use of gas. And given the short-term inelasticity of supply, it’s likely that a price decrease will mainly benefit oil companies rather than consumers.

Why this depresses me more: This is a clear illustration of how America’s democratic tradition is going to be one of its biggest obstacles to fighting climate change—when it really comes down to it, people think with their wallets, and (at least in election years) politicians seem pretty willing to cater to this. WE ARE GOING TO FACE SHORT-TERM ECONOMIC TRADEOFFS IF WE WANT TO FIGHT GLOBAL WARMING. PLEASE UNDERSTAND THIS. But most people don’t, and politicians aren’t willing to be honest. Interestingly… if something compelled it to care about the issue, China’s authoritarian government would be in a much better position to crack down on greenhouse gases than are our leaders.

Posts on this blog will be sporadic and usually brief. They will likely focus on issues dealing with living in the modern world, particularly as they relate to economics and/or sustainability. Or at least that’s what I’m thinking right now–I’ll probably just end up posting whatever the hell is on my mind at a given time.