The Irony of Unintended Consequences — eConcepts Communications

California’s 2019 legislature promises to be an Oscar-worthy reality show. Former Governor Brown may have left the state with a surplus of over $14 billion, but the Democratic supermajority already has legislation lined up exceeding $40 billion in spending. It will be interesting to watch how Governor Newsom maneuvers, although he has committed to universal health coverage (not yet single payer), and statewide pre-kindergarten.

Unintended consequences often occur when legislation or propositions are passed that feel or sound good but without careful consideration, or based on statements fervently and frequently made in media as accepted fact without allowing for contraindications.

I was thinking about some unintended consequences recently, and three came to mind:

Over 200 new mineral species have been identified that have originated principally or exclusively due to human activities – some occurring naturally, but most primarily due to mining. This has occurred over thousands of years, and continues as new suites of compounds form. It raises the possibility that unknown technological uses will be discovered for these minerals – including environmental benefits.
According to a study released by Chalmers University of Technology in Sweden, organic food is worse for the environment than non-organic food. It turns out that farming organically results in much higher emissions than non-organic farming because of the greater area of land required to farm it. The study stated that “organic food is so much worse for the climate [because] the yields per hectare are much lower,” mostly due to the fact that fertilizers aren’t being used.
Researchers at Stanford University have found that many people in the Bay Area may have consistently high fungal exposure from their home – due to “green paint.” Highly environmentally-friendly painting companies avoid using paints with pyridine. Pyridine which was a popular house paint additive has an inverse relationship with fungus – so the less pyridine the more fungus.