Comments jeffrossini has made

  • don't get too high and mighty

    This entire mine collapse catastrophe has been extremely tragic for all those involved. I respect Grist and the content you publish, but seriously, "All So YOU Can Have Cheap Electricity?!" I am pretty sure you guys aren't using a bike (a la Gilligan's Island) to power the computers you used to research, write, and communicate this.

    I think that was a tasteless and arrogant choice of headlines, and in the words of the most trustworthy tv pundit, Stephen Colbert, "that deserves a wag of my finger."

    Otherwise, keep up the good work.On All So You Can Have Cheap Electricity posted 2 years, 3 months ago 5 Responses

  • [re:] less work

    Less work, less cranking - true.  Less cranking, less resource used - kinda.  While the raw materials and resources for production would decrease as a logical conclusion of your statements, the demand for the final product would not necessarily change.

    While I personally would love to have more free time to sit on the porch with family and talk about yesterday's rain storm, I would bet that a majority of Americans would not know what to do with themselves!  And what do Americans do when they are bored?: buy stuff they don't need.

    Does anyone think that there is a much larger sociological issue underlying this? - and while decreasing the production of goods would help on one level - true, lasting change will require a shift in how Americans consume...On This Sounds Like a Job For ... Nobody posted 2 years, 6 months ago 5 Responses

  • so instead we...

    I am just curious: if Americans work fewer hours, what do we think they will do instead?  I am all for a shorter work week, but if we replace one round-trip to and from work with 4 round-trips to and from Wal-Mart (eek!), the grocery store, soccer practice, etc., then won't we simply be shifting the problem, not fixing it?

    The nature of this topic is not that Americans work too much, but that we believe we "have" to work so much in order to pay for our consumer behaviors.  This is a very real, relevant, and intriguing topic, but I think the consumer culture of America was downplayed just a tad.  Perhaps this is a good starting point for a 10 pager in the NY Times...On This Sounds Like a Job For ... Nobody posted 2 years, 6 months ago 5 Responses