Happy Waste Energy Day, June 1, when instead of taking buses, Harvard’s school children get driven to a couple of dropoff locations. (It's also called "Walk to School Day.") They can then pretend to walk to school, thus joining together in a mass delusion that the town is saving resources when in fact we are squandering them. Each bus will be replaced by dozens of cars, inconveniencing hundreds of parents, as well as the people around them, the people around them, and so on and so on. In my family’s case, we will drive past the school to the drop-off location at the pond. Do the buses run also? That would make the experiment perfect.

It’s potentially an opportunity for a nice lesson in the inefficiency of government. I hope some teacher is brave enough to teach it that way.