Possessing an excessive carbon footprint is rapidly becoming the modern equivalent of wearing a scarlet letter.
Reporter Michael Specter has an interesting piece in the New Yorker about confusing morality and science in the emissions challenge. He touches upon the silly frenzy over "food miles," and the moral dilemma of whether to worry more about deforestation in Brazil and Indonesia, or inefficient light bulbs here at home.
He quotes Herman Kahn, as early as 1978, making a very prescient observation about environmentalism's failure to explore human ingenuity as a way out of ecological crises:
The trouble with you environmentalists is that you see a problem coming and you slam your foot on the brakes and try and steer away from the chasm. The problem is that it often doesn't work. Maybe the thing to do is jam your foot on the pedal and see if you can just jump across.
