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Seventh Circuit Judge and University of Chicago law professor Richard Posner writes that the future losses of delaying climate change outweigh the present value of cleaning up the problem.

In other words, solving this problem makes sound economic sense.

Thanks to Al Gore’s new movie, as well as rising prices at the fuel pump and rising temperatures everywhere, the idea of becoming “green” is beginning to gain popularity. Auto makers are beginning to make more efficient vehicles (at least the automakers outside of Detroit). Environmental consciousness is beginning to meld with marketing. But what exactly does it mean to go green?
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In an effort to curb pollution, city and state governments are forming agreements with other municipal, state, and international governments to curb greenhouse gas emissions. For example, California Govnernor Arnold Schwarzenegger and British Prime Minister Tony Blair agreed last week to reduce emissions of greenhouse gasses and to trade carbon pollution credits (although I’m not exactly sure how this will work, since the United States, and thus California, are not parties to the Kyoto Protocol). Also last week, President Bill Clinton brokered a deal between 22 of the worlds largest cities to reduce carbon emissions by those cities.

With all of these agreements between cities, it would seem that the nation is on the right track to reducing our greenhouse gas emissions and finally doing something constructive about carbon pollution, right? Wrong.
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Green living experiment #1 – Changing a light-bulb

Consistent with my earlier post, I am working to reduce the overall power consumption in my apartment and, ultimately, reduce my carbon (and sulfur) emissions. My first attempt in doing so is to change my light-bulbs from standard incandescent bulbs to compact florescent light-bulbs (CFLs). I think my overall power reduction is impressive, and I’m anxious to see the results.
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