Interesting Things to Look At

Cautious Optimism

The New York Times has an interesting interactive feature on their website today. It asks the simple question “How do you feel about the economy?” and lets visitors enter a word of their choice or choose one from a list. The website then slowly scrolls these words across the screen, one at a time, displaying the most commonly chosen words in the largest font, and less commonly chosen words in smaller type.

From nytimes.com

I was not sure what to expect when I clicked on this feature. I certainly feel, when it comes to the economy, that the sense of immediate danger (or impending doom) has eased. But with the headlines suggesting that banks might need additional billions to survive further downturns, we clearly aren’t out of the woods yet. When I viewed the feature, the words in the largest font, scrolling across the top of the screen read “Hopeful,” “Optimistic”… But as I continued to watch, the words “Cautious,” “Anxious” appeared.

Among the less-commonly selected words, I saw everything from “Excited” to “Pragmatic” to “Betrayed”. I think people see buds of economic recovery, but it’s pretty clear that most still hold on to some sort of fear that we haven’t seen the bottom yet. Pretty interesting how such a simple concept can be so effective at communicating our collective mood.

Depressing Insight on a Starbucks Cup

I just got a small chai, and printed on the back of the cup was the following:

Failure’s hard, but success is far more dangerous. If you’re successful at the wrong thing, the mix of praise and money and opportunity can lock you in forever — Po Bronson

I suppose I should let the be a warning to me. It’s basically the same as saying “do what you love”, but from a perspective of fear, and without any sense of hope.

I’m not totally sure I want to go to Starbucks again anytime soon though… I mean, if I’m confronted with the hard truths of my existence every time I order a grande nonfat caramel macchiato, it could trigger an existential crisis.

And Now that Earth Week is Over…

In this past week, I’ve come across a number of articles across the blogosphere on the merits of Earth Day.

The reasons we celebrate Earth Day are numerous. It reminds us the value of protecting the environment, it raises awareness about current environmental issues, and as it becomes increasingly mainstreamed, it brings the ideas of the environmental movement to a wider audience. I’d like to think that many people would care, but just don’t understand the impact of their actions. If it weren’t for a single day that brings these issues into the spotlight, the environmental movement would stay marginalized and never reach certain audiences.

Others offer a different (and in a way, refreshing) point of view. I’ve recently learned of the Screw Earth Day campaign. The main argument of this campaign is that one day isn’t enough to make up for the environmental damage of an entire year. They paint Earth Day as a feel-good, self-indulgent, forgive-me-for-my-sins kind of thing – a single day of karmic retribution for our actions on the other 364.

Remember these... More than once a year.

I think both sides have a point. One day to remember the environment isn’t going to make a damn difference, unless it translates into more (and more effective) action. A lot of people, still, in this country don’t know their environmental impact (and some just don’t care), and events like Earth Day can certainly spread environmental awareness. It just has to be done right… It has to be inclusive, accessible, and not alienate those who would easily dismiss it. To the many who are aware of environmental issues, a single day of focus on the environment out of 365 seems absurd. And rightfully so. A single day of recycling, composting and bicycle riding hardly makes up for a year of driving, shopping, working in office buildings and eating all the corn and cows afforded to us by our industrial agriculture system. I think those of us aware of these issues should do what we can to mitigate our environmental impact daily. Consume less. Make good environmental decisions whenever you can. Donate. Volunteer. Work for an environmentally aware organization. Or try to bring environmental awareness to wherever you work.

But I think we have a responsibility to see that the ideas spread. Earth Day is just one of many tools for spreading environmental awareness, and the environmentally conscious, far from bashing it, should realize this. We just need to keep in mind that Earth Day / Week / Month isn’t for us. It’s for everyone else. We don’t need it to remind us to be good to the planet. But someone else, without doubt, does.

I Wish This Was Satire

Up at Portfolio Magazine, is one of the most… um… disturbing pieces I have read in a long while. It is called Confessions of a TARP Wife.

I wish this piece was satire. I wish I had read it in the Onion, and not in a magazine that reports on the world of finance. I would have laughed.

It’s not. Basically, the wife of the CEO of a major U.S. financial company receiving funds from the Troubled Asset Relief Program (who has been unmasked as Liz Peek, the wife of Jeff Peek of CIT Group Inc.) is writing to “confess” to us commoners about the sacrifices she and her fellow TARP Wives are making. There are too many absurdities to list here, including how the author now flies “commercial” (surely still first class) as the company jet is off-limits, is “manically recycling or chatting with telemarketers” (how do these save money?), and holding her husband’s annual birthday bash at an upscale New York restaurant, rather than having it catered.

However, there are a few actions this TARP Wife is taking that are probably saving her great sums of money, but doing absolutely no service to her reputation:

“We now regularly turn down the invitations we receive from museums and arts organizations that will inevitably be followed by a request for funds. No point in getting their hopes up.”

Great… So while museums and arts programs see their budgets slashed, those who still have some money (exactly the group these organizations rely on to stay viable), cut charitable donations… And better yet:

“One daughter recently mused about going back to business school. I hope she didn’t notice my instantly negative reaction, stemming completely from concern about the cost.”

Because clearly, your child’s education is less important than your husband’s birthday party. I’m only glad this TARP Wife “cannot bring [herself] to shake her [daughter's] foundation”. As much as she’d like to cut out that pesky cost.

In the end, the author appeals to us to have sympathy for the financial CEOs who didn’t see the storm coming amidst the actions of the real wrongdoers such as Alan Greenspan, Fannie Mae, the rating agencies, the subprime-mortgage brokers, and investors who didn’t do their homework.

TARP Wife, I’d be willing to bet that none of them saw this coming either.

Running Out

I thought I’d kick this off with a good find via the people at the GOOD magazine website (see original post). They’ve found and posted a graphic that illustrates how, at current rates of consumption, many of the world’s raw materials have reserves that will only last us anywhere from one decade to several.

I’ve read a good bit about peak oil, the idea that world petroleum production has peaked, will be followed by a decline as new reserves become increasingly rare and extraction becomes increasingly expensive. While the graphic below definitely ignores the fact that as raw materials are used up, they become more expensive to extract, it certainly makes the point that we are using all resources, not just oil, at an alarming rate. Reserves of uranium, lead and nickel run dry within the next century (or following the peak oil logic, become prohibitively expensive to extract well before then), yet technological solutions like nuclear power and electric vehicles are being promoted as potential solutions to global warming. I guess consuming less isn’t even on the table… yet.

Image Credit: Gizmodo - Click for Original