by Eagles BEA

Created on: June 14, 2009

Five things we could do without if we really cared about the environment. These are things that, when used, provide absolutely no benefit for their extreme power consumption. I am not talking about a car, or a swimming pool, or a BBQ or a treadmill. Because they do provide some benefit when used, even if their worth can be debated against their amount of power consumption or pollution. I am talking about five things that provide absolutely NO benefit at all, except maybe to that one individual that is consuming the power. In no particular order-

Tanning beds. An astounding waste of power, that provides no benefit to anyone at all, maybe not even the person using it. Vanity is the only reason to fire these things up. Even the energy efficient models cannot be justified in the amount of energy they burn and waste nationwide. People would say, how dare you, but you can get mad all you want to. I am talking honestly. Really care about the environment? Unplug every one of them, go outside and get a tan. People say, but I live where there's no sunshine. Then, be white.

The Las Vegas Lights- unbelievable that the elite rich and famous who cry and scream and pose about the environment do not do one thing to protest the big city lights of Las Vegas (or New York or Los Angeles). They do not want anyone taking away their party or nightlife by reducing the worthless glare, by one watt. People say that Hoover dam takes care of it and that no one should say anything against the Vegas display eventhough it's an amazingly useless waste of energy. Energy that could be put into national power grid and reduce the amount (by that much anyway) of power usage every night by , let's say, Los Angeles. I am not talking about normal streetlights, that provide safety and security for the people in the city. I am talking about the over-the-top show of lights that don't do anything except add to the narcissistic party atmosphere of Sin City. What a shame that someone doesn't have the courage to say so.

Ice Sculptures- an unbelievable and often overlooked offender. Many people can debate the worth of art in general: rock, bronze and marble sculptures that are supposed to stand the test of time. But no one can defend the practice of ice sculpting. And it's even been an Olympic event- in a world where most everyone claims to care about the planet. These displays start as water that has to be circulated by pumps to keep ice clear and frozen into 300 lb blocks, that's

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