RE: OT reducing your carbon footprint

[Jeff Larson <jeff.larson@sailpoint.com>]

> Why is it that conservatives (Fox News) don't want to conserve
> anything (except maybe archaic social taboos)?
> Why is the Right nearly always wrong?

You know, I hate it when otherwise productive debate devolves into
polarizing nonsense like this.  In my experience there is a
staggering amount of idiocy on both "sides".

Bill O'Reilly and Michael Moore are the same to me.  They spin the
facts and pander to their receptive audiences that like to have their
opinions spoon-fed to them.  I personally don't find that the
solutions to the world's problems fall cleanly into two sides.  Maybe
that's because I like to make my own opinions rather than buying them
from someone else.

Do you honestly think people on what Americans call the "right" don't
care about the future?  Do you think most people on either "side" have
the slightest idea of the economic and environmental consequences of
the government programs they say they want?  We'll all whine about
immigration, outsourcing manufacturing jobs, offshore drilling, and
global warming.  But if the price of Chinese tube socks at Costco goes
up a buck there'll be rioting in the streets.

Having said all that, these are perfectly fine points:

> A simple thing to do to help: stop eating beef, stop supporting the
> beef cattle industry.
> ...
> whenever possible, live more gently and intelligently.

Here is a fascinating article on the beef industry from a few years
ago.  I still eat beef, but I do try to be more aware of where it
comes from.

http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9C06E5DB153BF932A05750C0A9649C8B63

It is sad that we've taken what was once a relatively natural and
self-sustaining process and found a way to make it dependent on oil.
Of course this is also the reason we've got 99 cent "value meals" at
McDonalds.  Every time I go to McDonalds I see plenty of SUV's with
"leftish" bumper stickers on them.  I wonder if they care about
the future?

Jeff