Davida

shakespeare, I so hear you. What amazes me is that, 50 years ago, the pollution pollution (the pollution that was readily visible and everywhere) was muc more pronounced than it is today. We bitched and moaned about how it was too hard to clean up until we were told: Clean it. And then it was cleaned with almost no impact to anyone, ONCE we were committed to it. Same thing with CFCs. When we tied the ozone layer degradation to CFCs, people bitched and moaned about how we could never give up CFCs unless we wanted to do away with refrigeration altogether.

And, guess what, we drastically reduced our production of CFCs internationally and almost overnight. It will take a while before they stop wreacking havoc on the ozone layer (long story and a different blog), but progress was noticeable. And the impact on most of us? Did you notice it?

I suspect, once we get committed, we’ll find that we can improve our efficiency and reduce our carbon output far less painfully than we ever imagined. Take, for example, this article in the NYT on Palm Desert California where people installed expensive solar systems with loans from the city (paid back through property taxes) that turned $1400/month energy bills into $500/YEAR bills. That’s pretty freakin’ cool. And there are several distinct and cost effective improvements in solar technology in the works that could drastically improve that original cost.

Kind of reminds me of the trashing we’re doing of our own world a bit lower to the ground. And so many still don’t think it’s happening. Denial is convenient, but not so helpful when we actually have to live with the damage long-term.