Thursday, January 31, 2008

Yahoo! Yahoos

Posted By on Thu, Jan 31, 2008 at 11:23 PM

This past week, Yahoo! has posted its odd share of headlines. On Tuesday, before leaving work in the late afternoon, there was "Middle age is depressing, study says." Right on. Meant just for me.

Today, it’s "Humans blamed for water woes in West, study finds." I'm not sure what Einstein was needed to commission this study, led by climate expert Tim P. Barnett at the University of California.

"Building is just going crazy," is just one quote from the story that made me wonder if we really need more evidence to prove our stupidity.

Did we need a study to tell us this? Did we need a study to tell us about water woes out West? Maybe it's just a nice way to create a paper trail, so we can go back to those in power and remind them we were told this was going to happen all along, but no one listened.

Growth is out of control. Building is part of that. Global warming is here. Economics is part of the issues we wrestle. Why not spend the money on a study that shows how we can meld our money-loving ways with the sacrifices needed to turn things around?

Americans haven't had to sacrifice since World War II. Somehow, I don't see us coming together to change our evil ways any time soon. My mother's generation remembers Victory Gardens and ration coupons. But aren't we beyond the capability of making sacrifices like those made during that war?