Monday, June 09, 2008

While grocery shopping yesterday, trying to be a good consumer, I purchased 7th Generation toilet paper. Recycled, no chlorine bleach, etc. Turned out to cost more that $15.00, at which point I promised myself, never again. This reminds me of the incendiary 1960s article about managing finite resources, "Tragedy of the Commons." Basically, we all know we're supposed to buy recycled, and burn less fossil fuels, but this cost more time and money-- we're effectively handicapping ourselves against people who don't bother. Eventually, the conscientious individual sees no results for their sacrifice, and gives up. Net result, despite education and raging hippies, is zero conservation. And so, on this day that gas is now $4 a gallon, and the rich will continue to use it, but the poor won't be able to drive to work, it occurs to me that the tragedy has already happened. Oh, how I wish we had a government that interceded in such things, so that at least we got some tax money out of it, instead of giving it to the Saudis, or borrowing it from the Chinese.

And now back to this miserably hot day in June, which is expected to get up to 103 degrees, and surely has nothing to do with global warming.