I'll Try to . . .
You have all seen these ads from Chevron. The ones where cube rats just like you and me look very serious and promise to: Oh, you know, do something to reduce my energy consumption. Like hook the hamster's exercise wheel up to the grid or some such.
Because Chevron would like us all to think that the energy/global warming situation is all a matter of our individual responsibility and we damn well ought to start feeling guilty about it and making ineffectual gestures. You know the kind that leave you feeling anxious and impotent but don't really cut into Chevron's profit margins.
Wonks Anonymous will try to support collective action to conserve energy and encourage his readers to do the same. Here are some suggestions:
Because Chevron would like us all to think that the energy/global warming situation is all a matter of our individual responsibility and we damn well ought to start feeling guilty about it and making ineffectual gestures. You know the kind that leave you feeling anxious and impotent but don't really cut into Chevron's profit margins.
Wonks Anonymous will try to support collective action to conserve energy and encourage his readers to do the same. Here are some suggestions:
- Real conservation incentives. A carbon tax or something like it which will increase the cost of using energy and push us to conserve.
- Real policies that make it easier to save energy. The nice looking woman in the Chevron ad who will take public transit once a week obviously is not thinking about the SF Muni. We need real transit projects, maybe subsidies for solar panels, maybe just massive R&D to deliver more cost effective solar panels. Oh yeah, we could also probably come up with compact fluorescents that don't make us look like something out of a Dracula film.
Compact fluorescents come in a wide range of color temperatures (they just use different mixes of gases), some of which produce light pretty much indistinguishable from incandescents. If you want a warmer light, select a CFL with a color temperature of 3000K or below. I happen to prefer the 'cooler' colors because they are closer to daylight--so that what you see in the mirror is closer to what others see when you go out for a walk. Boo!
As for the need for building up mass transit and investing in renewables, hell yeah. The President-Elect has already stated his intent to use part of the stimulus to those ends; our job is to make sure he and congress stick to their word.
Also, it wouldn't hurt if he required any federal aid for road and highway repair to also be tied to mass transit development and expansion--so that we are building a full and greener transit system (and one that people actually /prefer/ to use) rather than just encouraging more people to drive on their shiny new roads. We also need to subsidize mass transit like hell. Amtrak prices are outrageous when compared to the cost of driving the same trip (do I want to spend $15 driving from NY to Boston or $100+ taking the train for the same amount of time? Hmm...).
Some of us like to be flattered by their domestic lighting. I admit that CFs have come a long way and I stand ready to publish brand recommendations.
WA
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