[HCoop-Discuss] EnvironmentalPolicy

[ntk at hcoop.net]

> ntk at hcoop.net writes:
> I think having an environmental policy is a lot less important than
> you feel it is. Our resource impact is already minimal; we use a bit
> of electricity and not much else.

More than half of the economy's energy usage comes from business, not
individuals.  Our usage may be small now, but it's still a part of an
economy that in aggregate has a huge environmental impact.  We should take
responsibility for our part, small though it may be on an individual
level.  And the bigger we get the more electricity we will use, as well as
electronics and other products of business.  If it's small, all the more
reason it should be painless to implement, other than convincing people
that we should do it.

> I suspect that you are also incorrect about it becoming more difficult
> to implement as the number of members increases. I think it would be
> easier because the amount each person had to pay would begin to
> approach zero.

It has already approached zero.  In fact it is zero right now and only
$0.04 per month per person if we offset our electricity, once I stop
paying for it (after a year).  This suggests that it's only the inertia
from inaction, diversity of opinions, and lack of consensus that prevents
us from implementing an environmental policy, something that my experience
in organization suggests will not get easier later.

In any event, I expect that the board will be setting this to rest for the
near future one way or the other by this weekend in a way that I hope
everyone can be satisfied with.

-ntk