I had the general idea but couldn’t quite make the connection until my friend, Corinne, did it for me.

In passing, she mentioned that the followers of the Extreme Green Movement had just fastened on to another iteration of political correctness. Of course, she was right.

Now we’re enduring guilt-mongering crusades urging us to use those twisty lightbulbs, unplug everything when you go to bed or leave the house, learn to make do with a couple squares of toilet paper, drive green, get all pets from shelters (bye-bye, breeders) … and, of course, there are lots more strictures on their to-do list. Some people, I read, have actually given up refrigerators. Cucina fresca for all!

To me, some of these suggested actions reveal a level of unrealism that is certifiable, and I strongly suspect the practitioners harbor wishes to have lived in the days of covered wagons.

Let us not even get into the cow situation. While it may be scientifically valid, the idea of cows, uh, passing gas and ruining the world is a bit more than my pea brain can handle. Oh, those carbon footprints. They are by now about a size 14, moving toward Sasquatch proportions.

For the record, I do not question that global warming is a scientific fact, freezing my buns off notwithstanding. If I drove, I would consider a Prius. I cannot bring myself, however, to imagine life without a refrigerator. And if cow flatulence is a possible doomsday scenario, well, dears, we really are sunk.