Petaluma is a lovely place to eat, stroll, and browse antique shops and art galleries. We have entertainment and beautiful scenery. But if you want to shop for school clothes, electronics, computers, and many other items necessary for day-to-day life, you have to burn fossil fuel in order to reach stores that sell these items. To me this raises an interesting conundrum: because many of our local folk are vociferously opposed to certain types of retailers (I guess they don’t need school clothes, and such), their obstinacy increases the carbon feetprints of other folks who are forced to drive out of town to purchase their day-to-day needs. But then vociferous folks always seem to love to tell others what do.