Homestead mailing list

[Gene GeRue <genegerue AT ruralize.com>]

> > > I'm not sure what's happening but I suspect that those making the
> > > most noise have something economic to gain from all of this.

Consider how much would get done if there were no profit incentive.

> > And we and our children have a lot to lose.  What sort of earth  
> > will my
> > four year old grandson have to deal with?

Many of us have grandchildren. Those little people don't get to vote.  
And I have seen scant evidence that parents and grandparents  
willingly reduce their budgets to, for instance, reduce the load of  
social security taxes on those little people when they become workers  
paying into the system. We tend to put problems off, even though we  
know some problems will bear on the grandkids. Most serious change  
does not happen without strong pain. Too early yet.
> That is a really good question. Like so many other 'good' questions
> this one leads to more questions.
> I have not seen a suggested solution that did not call for someone
> else to give something up.
> "The Kyoto Protocol is an agreement under which industrialised
> countries will reduce their collective emissions of greenhouse gases
> by 5.2% compared to the year 1990".

A thorny issue is the burden on developing countries. We the rich are  
loathe to diminish our standard of living. But it is immoral to shut  
their door on a future as good as ours.
> What have you already given up?

A big income. Retirement for Chris and yours truly means living on  
eight percent of our former income. It means one car instead of two,  
and driving substantially fewer miles, thereby saving energy and  
reducing exhaust emissions.

We love it. If I had known how good retirement would be I would have  
paid the price to make it happen much earlier. Yet one more example  
of letting things slide. We are superb procrastinators.