On Friday, October 11, 2013 9:54:39 PM UTC-7, songbird wrote:
David E. Ross wrote:

...

Malibu 0.11 inches

Beverly Hills 0.03

USC 0.04

CHE 0.03 (my local weather station, about 2 miles north of

US 101 and just east of Oak Park)
[...]

if i were an ethical and principled grocer selling produce

i would give all my customers an option to pay a carbon tax

or to get a carbon credit for how they transported themselves

to getting my produce and how carbon efficient they were

living. all voluntary and all proceeds to be aimed at

projects to further suck carbon from the air. i wonder what

the response would be?

Song, darlin', you are too optimistic about the ability of the common people (ducks to avoid blows) to relate to anything more abstract than their daily struggle to survive and to the local sports team.

Just look at what the media feeds them on TV. Mute the sound and observe the array of products the consumer is being hustled to buy as ESSENTIAL to their health and sexuality. Even the cars are sexy...

If your putative customer of the ethical grocer paid .00001% attention to global warming as he/she does to the latest I-phone,pad, whatever coming on the market we might have a shot at stopping -- since reversing is probably off the table -- the trend to disruption of global weather patterns.

But much as I would love to, I don't think the consumer is capable of abstract thinking. When pushed hard enough, they resort to venting their rage against whatever group is handy.

That's what happened in Germany post WW-I, after the old men running the Allies made a VERY ill-considered judgment to punish the German people by starving them and exacting enormous reparations. Exactly what could have been predicted happened: The common people vented their rage against -- you got it!

As one who lost most of my family in that catastrophe, I'm far from giving the Germans a pass -- their Jew hatred goes back centuries -- far beyond WW I or preceding wars. I'm just saying that a more sensible solution, such as the Marshall Plan after WW II, might have avoided a backlash of historic magnitude.

All this to re-make the point that the common people can barely see beyond the ends of their noses. Especially in a culture like the U.S. where money counts way, way, way ahead of social justice.

HB