tatiana schlossberg

What?? Huh??

The author of the column is Caroline Kennedy’s daughter, Tatianna Schlossberg.

HT Weasel Zippers.

Via NYT.

It sounds simple: If something has a big carbon footprint and you get rid of it, you eliminate those carbon dioxide emissions. Right?

But it’s not always that easy. In a recent study published in The Journal of Industrial Ecology, researchers at the Center for Environmental Strategy at the University of Surrey in England estimated the annual carbon footprint of crime in England and Wales, and found that reducing crime could actually cause society’s overall carbon footprint of society to increase.

The findings illustrated the rebound effect, which describes how reducing the emissions of greenhouse gases in one area can lead to more emissions in the aggregate, because of direct or indirect effects. It’s something that policy makers have often been encouraged to consider when they set out to reduce emissions.

Crime is one example where a rebound in carbon emissions could be an issue, according to this study. While there is an energy cost to operating prisons, the study notes, inmates generally consume less than an average citizen in the country, so fewer prisoners might mean higher overall energy consumption.

Additionally, the money saved from reducing crime would go into the government’s budget and people’s pockets. All that money could be spent in other ways — infrastructure, buildings or goods — that may require more energy to produce or operate, possibly adding more greenhouse gases to the atmosphere….

And while the researchers expressed concern about the rebound effects of reducing crime — and where the money saved from reducing crime would be spent — they conclude that it’s important to raise awareness of the environmental costs of crime, and incorporate this in overall policy, though it may be “unrealistic to expect police and criminals to consider their carbon footprint.”….

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3 Comments | Leave a comment
  1. Alain41 says:

    So the study isn’t saying reduced crime could increase carbon emissions, it’s saying reduced prisoners can increase carbon emissions. Well, there’s a gulag for that. Off you go. Don’t whine, it’s to save the planet. Worship Gaia.

  2. Minnie says:

    Huh ? Umm ? Well ok then . So Obama pardoning a record number of prisoners is based on this so called research is going to increase the carbon footprint ? ! Makes perfect sense in the wackadoodle world of people with so much money they have lost their wits !! Now comes Miss Tatiana Kennedy Schlossberg who no doubt received payment for this drivel ! And lauded no doubt for her brilliance . Its kind of sad actually . She might want to try just having a job for while mingling with us peasants before she goes further stark raving mad ! !! LoL

  3. Redwalls says:

    So fill up the gulags, not with right thinking people, but with all those pesky wrong-thinkers that slow down progress. Then realize 5 years later that the carbon cost of feeding and housing those people would be even lower if they were disposed of. Not in a mean way, but in a humane way like what George Bernard Shaw talked about. See how the Left is all about love, kindness, and sustainability?

    I can’t believe people buy this stuff, but I guess I would too if all I read was mainstream media.

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