Tuesday, September 08, 2009
Marvelling in the Mundane
Over at Cafe Hayek, George Mason economist Don Boudreaux has been posting pictures and providing brief commentary on mundane items that we often take for granted in our society. Things like toilet paper, the light bulb are posted on the site. As Mr. Boudreaux said, "
I love this series of quick posts because it is a good reminder of the blessings of abundance we have. Read the posts, then look around and count your blessings for the many modern marvels we have and share. To view links to the whole series of posts so far, go here.
It’s important to reflect on these mundane, familiar things in our lives precisely because, to us, they are mundane and familiar. We forget how unusual our lives are compared to those of the vast majority of human beings who’ve ever lived — how much cleaner, healthier, less-hazardous, and more pleasant our lives are compared to theirs.
The chief reason people worry about pollution is because they fear that it will degrade their quality of life by making life more dangerous and more unpleasant. My point is that, while it’s true that industrial and commercial processes emit into the environment contaminants that are harmful, the net effect of modern industrial and commercial processes is to make our lives cleaner and healthier.
I love this series of quick posts because it is a good reminder of the blessings of abundance we have. Read the posts, then look around and count your blessings for the many modern marvels we have and share. To view links to the whole series of posts so far, go here.
Labels: capitalism, Don Boudreaux, environment
