Posted on 05/19/2008 5:47:10 PM PDT by kingattax
I am in support of your responsible lifestyle exactly, and that was my whole point. Read my post more carefully.
They're called "Dom Stalin" in Russia - "Stalin Houses." Five-story concrete apartment buildings thrown up by the thousands. No elevator because Soviet citizens should be healthy and vital and able to walk up and down five flights of stairs every day.
So what? The US produces 27.4% of the World Bank's 2006 total worldwide Gross Domestic Product.
So GDP% allows us to use energy irresponsibly?
The only point involved is on your cranium.
Thanks for the attack. Your argument is most persuasive.
You’ve swallowed the koolaid and clearly beyond any rational debate.
Everyone drinks some kind of koolaid, it seems.
WE are not using energy irresponsibly. Our nation is a paragon of efficiency. It’s a nation that consumes 1% of the energy and produces 0.01% of the world GDP that is a nation using energy irresponsibly.
I was going to guess that their energy plan involved burning cow chips to stay warm, but that would release CO2.
Energy is an unpredictable and dangerous resource. Personally and voluntarily limiting its use is prudent. The GDP we generate doesn't matter so much, I think. The total consumption of energy matters more, because the cost of acquiring energy will likely keep on rising and will infect all sectors of the economy, as well as perhaps forcing us in the end to intervene militarily to secure it.
It takes ENERGY to BUILD things, to INVENT things, to MOVE THINGS AROUND.
The reason we use much more energy than anyone else is that we PRODUCE much more than anyone else.
We DO personally and voluntarily limit its use, because it's cheaper that way - the free market at work.
Here in the US, we spend thousands of dollars to install insulation and energy-efficient windows to save thousands more on our heating and cooling costs and increase our personal comfort and thus reducing the amount of energy we use, while in Russia they turn down the heat in the middle of the winter by OPENING A WINDOW.
Who's "using energy irresponsibly," the American with R-45 in the attic and double-glazed Low-E Argon-filled windows, or the Russian with his apartment at 85 degrees and his window wide open in the middle of a Siberian winter?
I never thought of it from this angle, and it makes sense.
Do you place responsibility on the individual consumer to be stingy with how they use energy -not just conserving through insulating their homes?
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.