Superfreakonomics

So I’m almost finished reading Superfreakonomics.

Everyone is already talking about the climate change thing, so I won’t.

The book has interesting bits, but they also seem to be stretching a lot in order to say shocking things. And I find myself arguing with them a lot. “But,” I say, “that doesn’t take into account,” I retort, “what about,” I ask.

The worst example so far is when they talk about the Prius. Now, I own a 2001 Prius, so I take these things to heart. They say driving a Prius reduces emissions over driving a regular car, but then that benefit may get canceled out when the driver buys meat from the grocery store.

[Yes, this is climate-changey, but it’s not what everyone else is screaming about.]

The point is simply that cows produce a lot of methane, so buying beef helps to contribute to greenhouse gases. Ok. But to say it “cancels out” anything is really silly, if not consciously misleading.

An economist should compare two people who eat beef. One drives a Prius and one drives a typical car. Well, the person driving the Prius is responsible for fewer emissions. Nothing is canceled out.

“Hey, it’s great that you turn off the lights when you leave a room, but that gets canceled out when you eat beef.”

“Nice job turning off the running tap, but that gets canceled out when you buy plastic.”

Stupid.

I think this is all part of the thing where people attack anyone who might seem “smug” or “self-righteous.” If you’re a vegetarian or drive a Prius, then you must be a preachy jerk, so let’s find a way to lambast you. Even in nonsensical ways, if we can’t find meaningful ways.

It’s stupid and unproductive, and anyway, I’m not smug or preachy. I’m just better than you and you should try to be like me.

2 Responses to Superfreakonomics

  1. BruceS November 19, 2009 at 12:59 pm #

    When I recently did a “Solar Tour” of homes, I noticed that most of the supergreen homes in the tour were huge. Surely having a 7000 sq. ft. home counters having solar panels on the roof, in terms of green bragging rights. Unless the alternative is a 7000 sq. ft. home without solar panels. If having the solar panels (or driving a Prius) makes one feel justified in building a megamansion (or eating the dreaded meat), then the naughty behavior *does* cancel out the righteous. Otherwise, they’re just unrelated items in a very long list.

    For my part, I drive a 20mpg car, sometimes just for fun, feast on endangered animals, leave the lights on, and dump lots of high-quality drinking water on my yard so I can grow Kentucky Bluegrass in the near-desert.

  2. Raff November 20, 2009 at 2:13 pm #

    This kind of thing irritates me: this is such a defeatist line of thinking! So, it doesn’t matter if you drive a Prius, b/c you eat beef…so you might as well not even bother driving a Prius and get that Hummer instead!

    No, every single little thing that people do to lessen their impact on the environment ‘matters’ since their impact on the environment is less than if they hadn’t done that one thing and done another thing that had a bigger impact. Sure, your impact would be even lower if you drove a Prius AND cut down on beef…but that’s an entirely separate issue from whether the two cancel each other out.

    I think that this drive comes from a desire to be holier than thou, a lamentable human trait. ‘I’ll SEE your Prius and RAISE you my vegetarianism!’ I see this all the time in Seattle, where competing to be more green is practically a contact sport.

    In any event, none of us here in the US has as low an impact on the environment as someone who lives in a small village in Africa and doesn’t use electricity, water or medicine, grows her own food, and never travels farther than she can walk, ever. She’s holier than any of us and I guarantee you she’d drop all of that, move to the ‘burbs, and drive a Hummer in a heartbeat if given half a chance. So everyone should STFU and do the best they can, jeez.

    Ok, back to cramming for the test I’m taking in one hour.

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