One More Epicycle

I like the idea of saving the Earth.  I grew up in a town with lots of parkland and I’ve never quite adjusted to the more urban environments I’ve lived in since.

Unfortunately I’m a natural sceptic, and so when people tell me that separating my papers from my plastics helps I can’t suppress the impulse to ask “how, exactly?”  And when you start thinking about the energy budget involved in recycling, you rapidly come to the conclusion that it’s not all it’s cracked up to be.

So when I read this article describing how an envirofriendly Toyota Prius was crushed in a miles-per-gallon test by a BMW 520d (!) I wasn’t entirely shocked.  Sure, it wasn’t a scientific test, one data point doesn’t prove anything, and so on.  I know.  Still funny, and probably right.

I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: I understand that it’s not fair that a bunch of science geeks and engineers sitting in offices playing networked FPS games and reading slashdot have done, and will do, more to save the environment than anything you can do, and that a lot of the things you’re encouraged to do are either useless or counterproductive.  (Don’t forget: you can join the Hour of Power response to Earth Hour.  Tim Blair assembles a helpful list of things you can do to participate!)  That they’re going to do it for a paycheque from greedy capitalist exploiters is just the icing on the cake..

Genuine environmental protection requires honest and complete consideration of the tradeoffs involved.  If that means recognizing the silliness of many of our secular sacraments, so be it.