6 Socially Conscious Actions That Only Look Like They Help | Cracked.com

6 Socially Conscious Actions That Only Look Like They Help | Cracked.com: "A 2009 study found that hybrid drivers drive around 25 percent more than other drivers, even when they share similar commute times. In other words, they get so cocky that their cars are saving them so much fuel that they go out and burn more fuel."

"As a piece of technology becomes more efficient, our use of it goes up, too. So if we invent new building materials that mean it takes less energy to heat a house, humans respond by building giant new homes -- hey, with the money you'll save on heating, you can afford it!"

6 Socially Conscious Actions That Only Look Like They Help | Cracked.com

6 Socially Conscious Actions That Only Look Like They Help | Cracked.com: "The vast majority -- over 90 percent -- of food-related emissions don't come from transportation, but production. So if food is grown in a place where it can't be produced efficiently, like our hypothetical oranges, it'll end up being more harmful to the environment than food that's been efficiently grown and then flown in. Any non-native crop usually requires extra irrigation and stronger fertilizers, which add far more to a dish's carbon footprint than one lousy airplane trip."

6 Socially Conscious Actions That Only Look Like They Help | Cracked.com

6 Socially Conscious Actions That Only Look Like They Help | Cracked.com: "To make up for the environmental damage, you might have to take that reusable bag on your weekly grocery run for about four straight years. And when we finally do get sick of wading through the knee-high piles of unused reusable bags in our homes and throw them out, the heavier material means that they'll take up more landfill space and take longer to decompose."

6 Socially Conscious Actions That Only Look Like They Help | Cracked.com

6 Socially Conscious Actions That Only Look Like They Help | Cracked.com: "Adding corn ethanol to gasoline makes cars less energy-efficient, and producing it actually requires about 30 percent more energy than we can get out of it."

6 Socially Conscious Actions That Only Look Like They Help | Cracked.com

6 Socially Conscious Actions That Only Look Like They Help | Cracked.com: "One study of Cambodian orphanages revealed that only 25 percent of 'orphans' there had actually lost both parents. In the worst cases, this leads to children being placed in orphanages by both of their alive but desperately poor parents, because they can only get someone to help their kids if they completely abandon them to rich people who take pictures alongside them"

The Most Worlds Important Unanswered Historical Question: What Changed in 1800?

The Most Worlds Important Unanswered Historical Question: What Changed in 1800?: "Our world is not even remotely like the world of 1800. In contrast, 1800 was recognizably similar A.D. 1."

"The world of 1800 would have been recognizable to Socrates, except for the printed book. In contrast, the world of 1889 would not have been recognizable to the young John Tyler."

"What happened around the year 1800 in Great Britain that led to approximately 2% per annum economic growth for the next two centuries?"