Intended (Unintended) Consequences

My Grandma Jacobs once reminded me that the people building golden statues lost their jobs when Moses came off the mountain and declared ‘no false gods’ (including golden calves). This declaration impacted real families and real lives.

Reducing our consumption to slow climate change has real consequences. iF we switch to driving electric vehicles, workers building gas-powered vehicles will lose their jobs. People who make those gadgets we no longer purchase will need to find other work. If we choose solar over coal, coal miners will suffer. Wasting less food or reducing our meat consumption will impact farmers.

Consuming less or changing what we consume will have impacts across the US economy. Consumer spending (spending by you and I) makes up 70% of the US economy. Not spending will reduce GDP and impact the stock market. Not spending on fossil fuels will lower energy prices and the profitability of fossil fuel companies.

I drive an Electric Vehicle. I love it! I will never own a gas powered vehicle again. The ride is awesome and not pumping gas in the winter is something I wish on everyone. But the most important part about driving the EV is that I am NOT supporting the oil industry! This is my protest against big oil. If everyone drove EV's there would be no need to drill in Alaska or offshore. There would be no need for new oil pipelines. This is an Intended Consequence.

I don't agree with many things the current president is doing but his "kids don't need 30 dolls, just 2" is something I can get behind. However, his concern is purchasing from China, not the US. He would be happy with purchasing 60 dolls if they were made in the USA. That is where we differ.