Constant Conservative

In today’s world, “green” pretty much stands for environmentally respectful approaches to life and the universe (times 42). As a conservative, I am not afraid to be one who conserves. At times, this means my choices and behavior might appear environmentally-conscious. However, most of the time this is the case, there is another reason–often based in hard dollar costs. In short, I am happy when a thoughtful approach to stewardship of the environment matches up with my financial thinking. When it doesn’t, then I have decisions to make.

The common belief in “green good, two legs bad” has far-reaching consequences in our economy.

Timothy Birdnow shows us one example of how “green” thinking, coupled with a number of other factors, is causing (or at least contributing to) problems that one would never consider related:

At first glance, one wouldn’t see a connection between a rash of stolen copper pipes from vacant buildings and sky-high prices for food items — say the $70 that a local St. Louis grocer was charging for a single holiday goose — but those connections are there, and they ultimately stem from environmentalist-driven land use policy imposed by the government. It’s difficult to imagine that restrictions in ANWR may be responsible for copper theft, but responsible it is! Ditto food; why would we pay more for our holiday feast because the price of natural gas has risen?

Food prices have been inflating for some time because of the ethanol requirement that George W. Bush mandated and that fans of alternative fuels — and corn growers in the Midwest — love so dearly, but there is another aspect to all of this that is going unnoticed; we have a shortage of ammonia, a critical ingredient in many types of fertilizer.

Ammonia cometh from natural gas.

[...]

So, we are starving in the midst of plenty. Environmental restrictions on exploration and development, coupled with resistance to the construction of gas pipelines, have made natural gas scarce. The use of natural gas has been encouraged by our government as an alternative to coal or other “dirty” fuels, yet the increase in demand is not being met with an increase in production. This shortage moves through the economy like a wave, driving price increases in sectors nobody considered.

The economy is like a cloth; each thread is part of the whole and pulling one thread can unravel the entire thing. For decades we have been tugging out those threads through environmental regulations, civil rights regulations (ahem, subprime mortgages), health and safety regulations, etc. Americans seem to want these things, but are unwilling to pay the price associated with them. Too many in this nation believe that they can have something for nothing. In this life, nothing is free and those costs will have to be passed along. We are reaping the harvest we have sown.

Actions have consequences. As a child, I learned that consequences which were postponed always cost me more. I do not think the universe has changed so much since I was a child, after all.