What To Do About It - part 2

Consider the Voter's Dilemma: No presidential election has ever been won by a single vote (even the most recent!), not could it be - we simply cannot count that accurately. So whether I vote or not, or who I vote for cannot possibly affect the outcome. So why bother to vote at all.

Before mentally crafting your reply, pause and think about the force of the argument. It is rather compelling. In fact, the only reason to vote in such circumstances is because there would be trouble if everyone took inaction as a result of that conclusion. We vote anyway because we want everyone else to, we want to do what we we expect everyone else to do. If we thought few other people would, in fact, vote, maybe we wouldn't after all.

In the prior blog on this subject, I promised part deux. And here it is, just making the point that, like the Voters Dilemma, there's the Global Warming Dilemma: whatever hybrid car I buy, trees I plant, energy I avoid using, etc., I couldn't possibly make a dent in the problem. So why bother? Well, if everyone... However, voting has become a norm - we know people will vote. GW is another story - we're not serious yet, we are nowhere near the "tipping point", where an idea suddenly takes off and everyone's doing it (e.g. listening to iPods). So right now, my sacrifices are for nought (or would be if I were making any). On this side of the water, anyway, someone besides Gore has got get the momentum going, grab the dilemma's horns. 'Cos right now, we're cold on Warming.