A look at the ‘penny debate‘ from an eco-perspective:
“Pennies make pounds!” my mother used to say, stressing the importance of saving. The lesson, of course, was that small things, over time, grow to be big things. The phrase could be interchangeable with our own view on conservation, that sustainable course correction comes one degree at a time. But there’s a problem with my mother’s theory- not to pick on my mom here, because I think most mom’s have said this, right?- and that is that, increasingly, pennies just make pounds of waste! David Owen’s recent piece in the New Yorker provided an excellent overview of the economic and cultural debate. Put simply, the argument against the penny goes like this: at a cost of 1.7 cents a penny, the US Treasury runs an annual deficit of an estimated $50 million to produce this most annoying of coins. Add to this its relative buying power (or lack thereof), and we begin to really question the penny’s utility. But let’s consider the ecological backpack of those pennies in the jar on your dresser. more…
