So You Smell Something?

So You Smell Something?

Paul Krugman, a New York Times liberal columnist, wrote this morning that the stench encountered near septic tanks is a product of global warming. That’s interesting, since I have heard and read no such complaints in the media lately, and there are instances of this unpleasantness being reported 50 years ago.

Cesspools date back to the Romans, and septic tanks were first developed in the 1940s because widespread sewerage was yet to be employed. And the fact is that many of these systems are still in use as homes were bought and sold and are often 50 years old or older. In some places there are laws about replacing them and connecting to sewers if a house is sold which still has such a system.

It’s the age and ancient technology of these things that’s the cause of the problem, not climate change. Save your cards and letters, I’m not denying climate change, heaven forfend. But I am criticizing the alignment of unrelated issues to one’s “agenda.”

This occurs too often in business, as well. “We aren’t selling our new product because I’ve never thought much of our sales manager.” (Social proof: See the gigantic box office disappointment of the new movie Furiosa. If the product is a stinker, it’s not the marketing people’s fault.) Or the ubiquitous, “What do you expect from….” (fill in the blank).

Something does smell here, but it’s not about the climate, it about biased reporting.