The tale of two nations

In the United States, we often hear that the U.S. is the world’s greatest place to live.  There is still much good to be said about the United States, but there is also increasing dysfunction.

In his 2004 article, “The European Dream,”  Jeremy Rifkin dared to compare the U.S. way of life to that of the European Union.  He wrote “[I]t saddens me to say that America is no longer a great country. Yes, it’s still the most powerful economy in the world, with a military presence unmatched in all of history. But to be a great country, it is necessary to be a good country.”

Many other people have expressed concerns with the direction of the U.S., of course. Rifkin’s article goes further by letting the objective facts do most of the talking:

[The European Union’s] $10.5 trillion gross domestic product now eclipses the U.S. GDP, making it the world’s largest economy. The European Union is already the world’s leading exporter and largest internal trading market. Sixty-one of the 140 biggest companies on the Global Fortune 500 rankings are European, while only 50 are U.S. companies.

[I]n the European Union, there are approximately 322 physicians per 100,000 people, whereas in the United States there are only 279. The United States ranks 26th among the industrial nations in infant mortality, well below the EU average. The average life span in the 15 most developed EU countries is now 78.01 years, compared to 76.9 years in the United States.

Children in

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Don’t buy gasoline-powered lawn mowers

Unless you really and truly need one, that is. 

The lack of respect given to the push reel mower is a good example of how mindset affects consumer behavior.  I’m referring to the type of mower with a rotating cylinder of blades that is powered by your muscles.  This post is not really about saving energy.  Small residential lawn mowers use very little gasoline compared to our transportation and heating uses of oil.  Rather, I find choice of lawn mowers revealing about the nature of consumer choices, specifically about the American love affair with engines, noise and power (NASCAR, anyone?).

In the past week, we’ve spent some time discussing things people might be willing to do to conserve energy.  Here’s a no-brainer for those with small-to-medium sized yards.  Push mowers are far superior to gasoline powered mowers.  Most people simply don’t consider this choice, however. Thanks to sales hype regarding the much more expensive gasoline-burning models, buying a non-gasoline powered mower never ever occurs to most people. Major hardware stores relegate such mowers to the back shelf.  Consumer Reports gives little attention to these wonderful machines, year after year.

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I speak from experience. I’ve used a push-reel non-engine lawn mowers for 12 years. They are as easy to operate as those powerful roaring gas-powered mowers. Here are seven solid reasons to chose a no-gasoline model next time you buy a mower:

  1. Push-reel mowers cost only $100 brand new. The mower I bought was manufactured by American Lawn Mower Company,
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Bicycle Commuting: Consider joining in!

Grumpypilgrim and I are both big advocates of bicycle use, including bicycle commuting. In my own case, I started using bicycle to commute to work in 1999 (I live in St. Louis). I’ve accrued more than 10,000 miles bicycle commuting since that time. I’m about five miles from my place…

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Who gets to be “on top”? Science versus Religion

For centuries, established religions have asserted that science should be viewed through the lens of religion.  Over the past few years, scientifically-oriented writers have turned that view on its head.  They have asserted that it is more appropriate to view religious practices through the lens of science.

The recent flurry of books includes the following:

  • Religion Explained: The Evolutionary Origins of Religious Thought, by Pascal Boyer (2002)
  • The Human Story, by Robin Dunbar (2004)
  • Breaking the Spell, by Daniel Dennett (2006)
  • Darwin’s Cathedral: Evolution, Religion, and the Nature of Society, By David Sloan Wilson (2003)
  • How We Believe, by Michael Shermer (1999)
  • Why God’s Persist, by Robert Hinde (1999)
  • The End of Faith, by Sam Harris (2004)
  • Attachment, Evolution and the Psychology of Religion, by Lee Kirkpatrick (2005)
  • In Gods We Trust, by Scott Atran (2002)

Though I own each of these books, I have completely read only half of them; I’m partly through the others.  They are a priority on my reading list given the high stakes of failing to understand religious practices (religious tensions and wars everywhere one cares to look). 

For anyone just getting started in this area, I recommend Dennett’s 2006 work, Breaking the Spell.  This book is classic Dennett: eloquent, heartfelt and clear.  He works extra hard so that he is not only preaching to the choir. He spends the first one-hundred pages working to convince Believers to give him a chance.  It’s quite an extraordinary opening gambit.

Most of the above books concern …

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Good news on Internet neutrality

This, from http://www.freepress.net/ :  A bipartisan majority on the House Judiciary Committee yesterday passed the "Internet Freedom and Nondiscrimination Act" -- a good bill that would use antitrust law to protect Network Neutrality. Special thanks to those of you who called the key members who cast the deciding votes. The question…

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