I think the blame often comes in at the point at which highly influential parties decline to participate in the devising of any solutions contrary to their unilateral good fortunes.

Hence, for example, the U.S. used up massive quantities of oil in between the time it became clear that greater conservation was urgently needed and the time that the domestic auto industry finally dropped its fierce resistance to higher fuel efficiency standards.

Sure, becoming preoccupied with negativity towards those who have been intractable doesn't help solve the problem, but neither, often, does treating all parties as equally responsible, since that tends to give a free pass to those contributing disproportionately to the problem that needs solving.


dkmarsh—member, FineTunedMac Co-op Board of Directors