Tired of Obama and Rev. Wright? Yeah, me too. I’m still continuing my hiatus on talking about him… so, without further ado:

MSNBC had this article on Juneau lowering their power consumption:

JUNEAU, Alaska - First, there was a run on energy-efficient light bulbs. When those ran out, people began asking for lamp oil. But when they started demanding clothespins in this land of mist and rain, it was clear Alaska’s capital city was caught in a serious energy crunch.

“We sold all our clothespins the first day,” said Doug White, general manager at Don Abel Building Supplies. “I don’t think kids even knew what they were for, but they’re learning now.”

Avalanches earlier this month knocked down transmission lines and cut off Juneau’s source of low-cost hydroelectric power. Threatened with a five-fold increase in utility bills, Juneau quickly powered down.

[…]

Energy conservation is a hard sell in much of the U.S., but Juneau has proved that people will change their ways if the financial incentives are big enough.

Well yeah. What did anyone expect to happen? That the residents of Juneau would say, “Screw the environment and our pocketbooks - let’s pay $950/month on power”? Guess what - when something gets more expensive (power, gas, diesel, clothes, whatever), people use less of it when and where they can. Just ask Chrysler, who managed to tie their entire business model against selling nothing but Hemi-powered cars.

In other news, the sky is still blue, the sun is still yellow, and journalists are still idiots, who are perpetually perplexed by the pragmatic perfectness of simple things like, y’know, capitalism.

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