I find that often, the general public -- whether it be world-wide, or where I see it most, office-wide -- doesn't realize the need for change until it's too late where it starts personally effecting them.

I admit that I'm relatively new to trying to lessen my footprint, but I'm not surprised that only now, as we're all being effected by crazy prices for things that we've been taking for granted, are people hopping on the green bandwagon.

All environmental decisions are actually economic decisions, we just choose not to believe it in many cases. The reverse is also true.

Cheap manufacturing? From here or from China, the cost is cheaper partially due to cheaper environmental regulations. BUT lo and behold they produce more toxins that get into the environment and we eventually will pay for that in the form of higher health care costs.

Cheap fuel? Well, the global warming catastrophe we're currently in shows how much that actually costs. More powerful and more frequent storms mean higher insurance rates, higher taxes (for emergency response, emergency cleanup), higher emotional costs (casualties).

The list goes on and on. We eventually pay for EVERYTHING that we think is "cheap". It's really a question of whether we realize it or not.

I have been saying for a long time on the forums and to friends that the in order to get large scale movement, it has to be economical. Most people aren't going to do what is "right" merely to be a good citizen if it costs them more. But give them the "right" choice that is lower cost and they'll quickly change. It's not rocket science. Heck, you don't even have to convince people that it's "right"... just show them the economics.

Brian

Llyod has clearly hit the bulls eye by pointing out the issues .
we can expect a series of other social changes that are less obvious and longer term as a result of higher oil prices..Policy changes , social patterns are all governed by economics and energy being one of the primary resources for growth , sustained high prices would have impact on all.

Markets accomplish like magic what the political process cannot, no matter how much blood and tears our rulers spill.

Free people don't need to be forced to take good advice. Free people have the motivation and means to live sustainable lives *automatically* - first choice, easy choice, no-brianer.

Tax slaves - impoverished by debt, shackled with regulation, abused and misdirected by soulless bureaucracy - can scarcely be expected to take the long view, nor do they.

For a greener world, distributed, localized, voluntary government is the ONLY answer. Sooner would be better than later.

I want to be a libertarian, I really do. I would love to assume people make decisions based on accurate information and a moral code. But they don't. They make decisions based on what they want in the moment. I want a hummer because its cool, even if I live in Pittsburgh and will never have a need for 4-wheel drive let along ground clearance. The fact is that "Free People" do need to be forced to take good advice. You can certainly argue that people today aren;t free and I wouldn't deny that. People need a lot more education (and I mean good public schools not more time in college) to make informed decisions. In this case it is price that is forcing them, not regulations, but the affect is the same (though much more painful this way).

I completely agree with you on small local government though.

This crazed rhetoric is what drives people away from the environmental "movement" period. It should not even be called a movement.

People are only going to support changes to their daily usage of energy and the products they buy when they are presented with a financial reason to do so. Look at the words in the title of the article.... Rationalization.

People are logical, which is the reason they are not going to shell out their hard earned money for some product that is just a gimmick (see carbon off set cards at the Whole Foods).

When you present someone with a product that is better than what they used to buy and happens to be made in a earth friendly way than the designer of that product has succeeded.

But when you act like a smug jack@ss because you eat only organic, or bought a hybrid car (which are actually worse than regular cars), all you are doing is making people want to combat you.

This has absolutely nothing to do with government or weak internet poetry. This is about making saving the planet help save money

If you follow good advice, you tend to get rewarded. If you disregard good advice, you tend to get hurt. Over time you learn to sort the good from the bad, for the simple reason that its nice to get rewarded and it sucks to get hurt.

Multiplied by millions of people making millions of decisions across lifetimes of learning, the outcome is automatic: free people eventually mostly do the right thing for themselves and each other - faster, better, and cheaper than if they are forced against their consent.

Remember - the smallest and most local government of all is the individual. Kings and nations are never an improvement over neighbors and homesteads.

And coming from those same douche bags that insist all compact car owners are "gay", their words not mine. Priceless! :D

I'm curious as to why erik thinks hybrids are worse than regular cars.

Regardless, I like to think of it as humanity's adolescence: all the things mother nature used to do for us, we are going to have to do for ourselves. No more free lunches. Yeah, it is going to have a cost. It might even be hard. But not nearly as hard or as high-cost as the "easy way" of doing nothing.

Two words: Ecological Economics.

Ban cars.

Does fault lie with the mainstream for not falling in line with environmentalist ideology, or does it lie with the environmentalist movement for speaking in terms the mainstream doesn't understand.

In any issue regarding justice, we have to learn to speak the language of those with the power. In today's world, that is in the language of the almightly dollar. Who cares that people are taking action just to save money, at least they're acting.