Opus 2022-268: Cookies and Global Warming

If you want to know why conservation will never work as well as competition then consider the humble plate of cookies.  The smell of chocolate chips and cookie dough is wafting through the house and a plate of freshly baked morsels appears mysteriously on the counter.  You do a quick count and realize that there are five for each member of the family.  It is a good day.

You practice self control and either have none or just one.  Delayed gratification is the meme for the day.  You come back the next day and find nothing but crumbs.  What happened?  You were trying to cooperate and your little brother saw it as a race.  

Cooperation is wonderful if all is supervised by someone of power and discernment.  There are certain situations where it is the only way to survive.  I remember the time my children were able to participate in the folding of the flag at Fort McHenry.  The flag is 30x40, feet not inches.  It would be impossible for one person to fold it and keep it from touching the ground at the same time.

Sometimes the cooperation and competition exist side by side.  They take turns in dominance.  Picture the drive home from work.  Certain rules must be agreed on.  The lanes are clearly marked and the speed limit is posted.  You know the rules.  Does everyone cooperate totally?  No way.  When you observe the distance between you and the car in front of you it is necessary to overlook safety at times or someone will cooperate themselves right in front of you.

When your mother is watching the plate of cookies, cooperation is a wonderful thing.  When she looks the other way, all bets are off.  Conservation works that way.  When the camera is on all is well.  We are thoughtful and careful.  But when the media looks the other way then all the people who talk conservation grab all they can get and run.  You have seen meme posters of the rich and powerful flying in their private jets to a conference to limit your use of fossil fuel.  You are aware that when congress passes laws limiting your liberty they usually exempt themselves.  You know you can go to jail for lying to the FBI but they are free to tell you all the whoppers they want.

All I can say is that each of us needs to live up to our own standards.  That may cost you a few dollars but if you are a person of integrity it might be worth it.

Or maybe not.  Be wise, not stupid.

homo unius libri