Unintended Consequences

Unintended consequences. No matter what we do, there will be unintended consequences. But there is a way to reduce the damage - simply think things out to the logical conclusions BEFORE you make changes. Look past your nose, and think past today.

The government wants to make really huge changes in how we live, with "green" technologies which for the most part do not even exist yet. And the "smart grid" that will regulate the amount of power that can get to your home has already been started. And with such massive changes, there will be huge unintended consequences because the people putting these things in place cannot see past their noses.

Here are some lesser examples:

1) Ethanol. Now required to be 10% of gasoline, soon to be expanded to 20% or more. However, the unintended consequences are higher food prices (we are burning our food supply), higher cost (it costs 1.7 times more to make ethanol than to make gasoline) and more, not less, pollution (it takes 1.4 gallons of fossil fuels to produce 1 gallon of ethanol, with plowing, irrigating, weeding, fertilizing, harvesting, transporting and processing).

2) "Green" fluorescent lights - the goivernment is mandating in the future that no more incandescents be made. However, fluorescents have been shown to trigger seizures in epileptics. And the "green" bulbs cost 4 times as much to make. Since they also use twice as much glass, it requires twice as much fossil fuels in the manufacturing process. And because they use mercury, a dangerous toxin, they must be disposed of at hazardous waste sites. Most folks live an average of 20 miles from such a site, which means we all burn an extra two gallons of gas to dispose of a stupid bulb. Most folks won't bother, so our water supply will eventually be tainted with mercury.

3) The new, "green" LED street lights. They burn 80% less energy, which is good. But because they do not burn hot enough to melt ice and snow, they get covered and drivers cannot see them under some winter situations. So far, they have caused dozens of accidents and at least one death that has been substantiated. The cost to try and keep the lights clear are out-weighing the savings. It costs a bundle to pay the person who uses a high-pressure compressed air unit to clear them. The air compressor uses a lot of fossil fuel. The truck needed to transport the compressor around the city uses a lot of fossil fuel. So, just how "green" is green?

4) By law, all communications are being relegated to satellites - TV, radio, computers and phones. What is not considered is the result if a major solar flare smacks us - it would fry the satellites, and all communications necessary for survival will be gone, perhaps for a year or more. Such a solar flare just glanced us in 1998 and knocked out all power throughout eastern Canada. And don't forget that China and Russia - neither of them allies - have the technology to knock out our satellites anytime they choose.

And now the government wants to start sweeping changes, none of which have been thought out any better than the above examples. And since the plans are so massive, the unintended consequences will also be massive.

We, the People, need to tell our leaders to stop rushing us to extinction, and take the time to think things out into the foreseeable future. If they don't, we are all in big, big trouble.

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