Yesterday a bill that would at least begin to address on a national level the global catastrophe to which we are careening died. Had the bill passed, this country would reduce carbon emissions almost seventy percent by the middle of this century. It's too tough. It will harm the economy, some said. It isn't tough enough. It won't help things that much, others said. Erich Pica, the director of Domestic Policy with Friends for Earth, called it a 'good exercise'.Thanks to Senators John Warner, Barbara Boxer and Joe Lieberman for putting on their track suits and at least introducing the exercise.
3 comments:
I have been having this thought- for those, and there are lots, tele-commuting. The infrastructure is in place. Get up in the morning, logon and start doing what needs to be done. Less paper(more trees), less fuel consumption, less stress, all in the plus column. Some jobs, including several of mine, require some travel, but I work with and have grown to be friends with, people whose hands I have never shaken.
If we, not the producers, but the consumers, reduce our reliance on oil, without waiting for someone to "save" us, we can, essentially, tell the oil barons to stuff it.
Sure I like to shop, see movies, go out for meals and I am not suggesting that we all stay at home 24/7, but if we knocked one day of commuting, nationwide, off, imagine the savings. Why not be physically in one's office 3 out of 5. This won't work for Doctors, but it could for other professions. Phone/video conferencing, joint whiteboarding-all that kind of stuff could be and should be doable
right now. All we need is the will to do it now.
Just a thought.
Hold on a second, Prodigal. What you propose reeks of, well for lack of better words, creativity and change. Your proposal also suggests that the profits of corporate America might drop from grotesquely high to perhaps nothing more than absurdly high. Are we ready for such logical and daring solutions?
We better be.
sorry, i am still reeling at the price on the petrol sign. i know back in the uk they pay more than twice that, but i never had a car back there. ten years ago i remember people complaining that the price might soon reach two dollars.
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