Two options for environmentalists: fascism or capitalism
If you want to help this planet’s environment, you have two options: fascism or capitalism. Sort of puts the hippies in a pickle, as they hate both. But it’s simple: you can proscribe earth-saving technologies and practices (fascism), or you can allow people to adopt them voluntarily (capitalism). There is no in-between. There is no way to compromise between voluntary action and violent coercion. The Kyoto protocol (if you actually want to guarantee results that would satisfy it) squarely falls into the fascism side. If that makes you uncomfortable, take heart. There is another way.
I like to call it “free and sustainable environmentalism.” The best way to make new technology sustainable is to make it economically beneficial so that people will voluntarily adopt it. If a hybrid car would save me money, I’d buy one in a second. But it’s a losing deal. I get about a 30% mpg boost for a huge price and maintenance boost (and a resale value that plummets as the warranty on the batteries nears its end). The real environmentalists are the capitalists who are investing their money into new technologies that’ll be better for the environment and will save people money once they mature. The real environmentalists are the inventors who discover better technology and the entrepreneurs that bring it to the masses.
The prime example that is available today is Compact Fluorescent Lights. These low-energy light bulbs pay for themselves in energy savings within the first year, and for the next six years (or so), they generate a profit. That’s money in my pocket. That’s a no-brainer. Those are the only kind of bulbs we buy in my house now. Want to save the environment? Create a similar energy saving breakthrough for air conditioning. That’s half of my electric bill in the summer, here in Florida.
The best part is that, as a consumer, you don’t have to strain yourself. Just keep an eye out for better, greener technologies, and when it becomes economically beneficial to switch, switch — and then tell your friends.
