Super Freakonomics - a Review

This book was a page turner, just as the last one, Freakonomics, was. I love how it makes you think about things in a new way and provides so much information on new ideas and the progressive steps people are taking. The research done for the book is abundent. If you are looking for a quick read and for something that will really open your eyes - I recommend this one.
One of the parts that I liked the most was about buying local. There has been a huge kick in recent years to buy your food from local farms and ranches. And while the authors were not advocating to stop this practice, they did write about how sometimes this is not always lessening your carbon footprint, because it often takes more energy to grow food/meat on a small scale than it does in producing on a large scale, despite the saved energy in transportation. I also liked the part about how people have really good intentions, like buying a Prius, yet go to the grocery store and buy meat, when cows are doing much more damage to the earth than driving a regular non-hybrid car.
I found this interesting because it is something we have been discussing all quarter in my sustainability class. Your footprint can be so big due to things you don't even think about, like eating meat and dairy. One of the big problems there is the water usage in raising beef and dairy cattle. We had to take a few quizes (online) to determine how much of an impact we as individuals were having on the earth - and I was blown away by my results. I feel that Tony and I really try to be conservative when it comes to energy. We have a modest size home, we keep the heat pretty low (never above 63), take short showers and believe if it's yellow let it mellow (TMI?), yet I had a pretty high score on both quizes. Oh, and we don't eat meat every day and when we do, lately, it's been only elk meat. I think that was probably one of the flaws of the quiz, they only asked if you eat meat and didn't discern between the types of meat.
Well, I digress, but if you like thinking about economics in a whole new way - check this book at (at your local library - save a tree!).