A little while back, I read something about the Stern report, which takes a look at the costs of climate change and of mitigation. This report estimated that to keep carbon levels at 500-550 ppm would cost about 1% of the world’s GDP.
As I read this, I was feeling sad because the Copenhagen talks were not accomplishing much, and I thought what if people who cared about the environment just stopped spending to send a message? I suppose all that would really happen would be that the government would just stimulate that much more, and the recipients of the cash transfer would spend more.
Anyway, that was the line of thinking that led me to the spending freeze. I mostly wanted to feel like I was doing (er, not doing) something tangible to help, rather than just sitting around worrying about the environment and saying what a shame it is that no one is willing to sacrifice.
And on a semi-related note, here is an awesome one-minute video about why growth is not always good:
