Due to the recent law moving daylight savings up to this Sunday, I’ve been inspired to write a post about unintended consequences, and specifically negative consequences.

The intentions are to make the days “longer,” or basically move the daylight hours later in the day, which in turn should lead to less lights being used. The primary goal of the bill is to reduce energy spending. As I considered this train of thought, it occurred to me that maybe there will be some unintended consequences.

If the sun is out for longer in the day, it follows that people will not need to turn their lights on as early. While that sounds good, that idea doesn’t operate in a vacuum, and there are a number of other results that can occur due to this bill. The best one I’ve thought of is air conditioner usage. If the sun is out longer, that means it cools off later, and if it warms up in the next month, people will start using their AC more. This is an unintended consequence, and it could just make things worse. Here are some other fun unintended consequences I know of:

• Safety seals on medicine actually increased accidents (according to 20/20). The unintended consequence was that people started leaving medicine in less safe areas accessible to children, or they left the caps off all together because they were too hard to use. So much for being safer.
• Another study on 20/20 found that bike helmet laws might actually make people less safe. People driving cars tend to give bike riders without helmets more space. They assume they are less experienced, and less safe, so they don’t drive as close. The opposite is true for people that do wear helmets.
• Food stamps and other governmental assistance are designed to help people that are poor. The unintended consequences are bountiful. When people give you money for being poor, it doesn’t encourage you to become less poor. Government funded housing, or “the projects,” are an abismal failure. Giving people a home sounds nice, but when the people don’t value the home like an actual home owner does, then you get the ghetto.
• In the early 70′s DDT was banned in the US and eventually in large portions of the world. Crazy environmentalists thought it caused cancer and was poisoning everything, so they decided to ban the stuff. The unintended consequence was that malaria from mosquitos is a FAR greater threat to humans than DDT ever was. Malaria hasn’t been a problem here in a long time (thanks in large part to DDT), but in third world countries there are at least a million deaths a year from malaria. Environmental groups that think they have people’s best interest in mind end up making it a lot worse.*Update – Links contradicting the theory that DDT hurt birds here, here, and here. These are all from the same 100 Things You Should Know About DDT.
• As the global warming crowd increases its warcry, a new unintended consequence could occur. As fossil fuels increasingly become the devil, it’s really going to suck if you’re a low budget country in Africa.

What negative unintended consequences have you observed?

Today Stacie and I went out and bought me some sanity. That’s right, an air conditioner. My brother helped me install it with his tool skills, and now I am enjoying a comfortable 76 degrees. Now I can use the computer, watch tv, watch movies, play videogames, and study all in my room. Hmmm, if I had a toilet I’d never have to leave my room. *Ponders…..

So today I’m watching the Dodgers beat the snot out of the Cubs in my room, when I instinctively reach up to WIPE SWEAT OFF MY FACE! That’s right, I was sitting in my room sweating profusely. On the verge of insanity, I decided I must have an air conditioner in my room. I’ve started looking and hopefully I’ll get one this week. When I visit Palm Springs and Florida I expect it to be hot….but not my OWN ROOM.

On a side note, Nick informed me why LiveJournal is so much better than Xanga:

nicholas a bear: livejournal is better
nathan118: why?
nicholas a bear: i dunno xanga is gay
nathan118: oooh good reason

Silly Nick.