In reality, life goes on. Any disruption to the world order here merely exposes its inefficiencies and waste. If everyone simply shut down for an hour a day and did something meaningful, like read a good book, it would not only solve the energy crisis but create a more humane climate. I compare it to Snow Days in Seattle, a city entirely unprepared to deal with icy roadways. When snow hits, the hill-infested streets empty of traffic.
People simply stay off the road.
And yet the city continues to function perfectly well, suggesting that a third to half of all car trips are discretionary, unneeded and counterproductive. Then there's the feeling that Big Something is after you. In this case, Big Power. Earlier in the month, a Los Angeles Times poll showed that the majority of Californians doubted the power crisis was real. It was a put-up job by the utilities to bilk the public, forcing us to pay artificially higher costs so the parent companies could get rich.