Japan’s Environment Ministry is encouraging its citizens to go to bed an hour earlier at night, and get up an hour earlier in the morning.
There is much wisdom in the old “early to bed, early to rise” adage. But that’s not what the Environment Ministry has in mind. They see going to bed early as a way to fight global warming.
By saving an hour’s worth of lighting and other electricity use every day, the Morning Challenge campaign says the average household can emit 85 fewer kilograms of carbon per year. Staying up late ensures mankind’s doom.
It is astounding that the Japanese regulators think that your bedtime is government business. Then again, this is the same country that has a legally allowable maximum waistline.
Posted in Mankind's Doom, Regulation of the Day, The New Religion
Tagged bedtime, carbon emissions, climate change, environment ministry, global warming, japan, japanese environment ministry, morning challenge, morning challenge campaign, regulation, Regulation of the Day, sleeping habits
The Onion reports that “Government advisers are developing menus to combat climate change by cutting out ‘high carbon’ food such as meat from sheep, whose burping poses a serious threat to the environment.”
Oh, wait — that article was actually in the Times of London. It isn’t satire. At least, not intentionally.
(Hat tip to Drudge)
(Cross-posted at Open Market)
California is mulling banning black cars because they require more energy to keep cool.
The New Religion continues its post-reductio phase.
Soft toilet paper is bad for our forests, says the New York Times:
“No forest of any kind should be used to make toilet paper,” said Dr. Allen Hershkowitz, a senior scientist and waste expert with the Natural Resource Defense Council.
Don Boudreaux points out, “It’s ironic, is it not, that this report appears in a newspaper?”
I swear, these people are their own reductio ad absurdum.
Salmonella-contaminated peanut products have caused quite the uproar of late. 6 people have died. 486 have gotten sick at latest count.
Will I get sick? Let’s calculate the odds. U.S. population is currently about 300 million people. Odds of death? 1 in 50,000,000.
Let’s assume 600 people get sick before the outbreak ends. Odds of illness? 1 in 500,000.
Pardon me while I continue to enjoy delicious peanut-based snacks.
The New York Times asks, apparently without irony, “How much does your morning glass of orange juice contribute to global warming?”
I’m supposed to feel bad about drinking orange juice now? Really? Even Catholic guilt has nothing on the New Religion.
Madison, WI wants to reduce the number of parking spaces and garages in the city. The aim is to discourage people from using their cars, which cause global warming.
Madison is well known for being a profoundly religious city. This report (pdf) is full of ideas to compel citizens to practice the new faith.
An environmental activist frets that using Google’s search engine increases greenhouse gas emissions.
One more item to catalogue from the New Religion’s post-reductio phase.
