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• Thursday, February 21, 2008 11:06 PM

  Different thing ...

  'I’m doing what I can to support responsible living, but I’m open to the idea that nothing we do can change Earth’s inexorable march toward a more tropical tomorrow.'

  The message has been simplified just to get it across, I think. 'Recycling things and fuel conservation are sensible' isn't a news story 'new study says we're all going to die' is.

  I was buying a new printer a week or two ago, and a printer and cartridge was $40, the replacement cartridges were $50. I understand the economics - make the printer a loss leader, lock me into buying those cartridges, but *the first cartridge came with the printer*. When the ink runs out, it would be cheaper to *buy a new printer*.

  And I don't need to see a picture of a sad polar bear cub to see that that's utterly insane, but at the same time, it's never going to be a talking point on a news show.

  The airline thing has suffered from the same need to make a news story. There's still this idea that planes are for the 'jet set', that it's a luxury, that it's awash with money and glamor, unlike us ordinary joes.

  I know for a fact that airlines don't burn a drop of fuel they don't have to. That, for the last couple of years, the most important people in the company are the guys buying the fuel, because a decimal point wrong costs millions.

  —palindromebeta Read palindromebeta's other letters
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