according to a recent study at the MIT, even hippies and homeless people in america consume more than double the energy of the average world citizen - because of our implicit consumption of government "services" such as:
- wars
- police
- libraries
- the IRS, CIA, & FBI
- subsidized mass transit
- welfare
- roads
i'm not sure if i agree that homeless people should really be responsible for part of this consumption, given that they don't pay taxes, but that is beside the point.
as a tax-paying citizen and resident, i do consume these services - most of them, i am happy to consume on a daily basis - but this means that i will tend to be nearer the national average for energy consumption. so i will consume nearly 5 times as much energy as the average inhabitant of the planet.
the article's keys to reducing energy consumption - they reinforce the biggies (housing, transport, food, and accumulation of stuff that i mentioned two posts ago), and suggest that the more local and labor-intensive option is preferable.
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