It may not be easy to be green, but this is the most green-friendly administration in the most green-friendly time America has seen. I imagine we’re going to see a lot of green initiatives over the next few years, some of which will have merit and some of which will be crazy.
Yes, I said crazy. One place where my liberalism may be lacking “cred” is my somewhat ho-hum drive on environmental issues. I’m not anti-environment, I don’t want to beat up spotted owls with baseball bats or anything, but by and large its not high on my agenda. And frankly, the people for whom the environment IS high on their agenda often make me kind of worried.
Not people like most of my environmentalist friends, who may choose to pay a bit more for recyclable paperware rather than stuff that’s going to go to the landfill, or who, given a few different viable options, will pick an Earth-friendly one because its important to them, no, that’s fine. I mean the one’s who talk about Mother Earth crying tears of oil as we tear her flesh with our phallic drills, and the ones who talk about how we should all dance with an wind spirit named Oursia clad only in the morning dew as sunbeams play our music, and the guy in Germany who wanted to kill a polar bear cub because its mother rejected it and in the wild it would have died. I know, I know these folks aren’t the mainstream of the environmental movement, but they’re out there – trust me, I’m from enviro-city USA – and they freak the rest of us out!
And okay, yes, I have a soft spot for polar bears.
But even as Senators debate the necessity of green building conversions in the President’s stimulus bill, environmentalists are beginning to realize that, like in most things, extremism isn’t the answer. No one responds well to burning down houses because you’d rather have trees there, an admittedly fringe practice. And while many Americans may do something good because it is in and of itself a good thing, many more Americans will do something good if it saves them time, money, or is more convienent.
I’m that kind of lazy environmentalist. I use eco-friendly light bulbs because they last longer, and I don’t have to get up on a step-stool to change the lights as often. (It helps that the local energy company was giving them away for a while, too, though I’ve bought some myself) The fact they cost less in electric costs is nice too, although many Americans don’t think that far ahead. If they had lower upfront costs – and its entirely possible that someday they shall – a tipping point will be reached and people will be all “incandescent what?”
We see it with oil as well. America runs on oil, sure, but the technology is out there to make it run on less oil. Let’s put aside the security concerns about oil – a topic for another day – and just talk about oil consumerism. Lots of people would love to pay less for gas – especially after the massive price spikes of the last couple of years. But oil is all around us, and while electric, hydrogen, or natural gas cars may be viable to one degree or another, it doesn’t seem as convenient.
Private industry can change that. Sometimes, private industry can lead the way. The Prius and other hybrids are a very nice intermediate step because they take advantage of the existing infrastructure and don’t feel very different to the consumer (although the first ride in a Prius not using its gas motor is admittedly weird). My partner in crime Greg tells me that there are natural gas stations all around his area letting cars fueled by that fill up.
The government can help ease the transition as well, in more ways than the green buildings (though green buildings are a job factor as well, I know that). Americans love their pocket book, and tax credits on hybrids (or, conversely, the less popular idea of high taxes on gas guzzlers or gas itself) makes people go “Hey! I wanna save money too!”
Its honestly hard to get large blocks of people to care about the hypothetical environment. You always get the guy who says “Global warming? Then why is it cold outside?” and the guy who says “Ha ha, I’d love it to be 5 degrees warmer!” and the guy who says “More beachfront property!” Yes, you and I know these people don’t understand the environment on the large scale, and the zone of acceptable temperatures for a thriving human population, but that doesn’t matter. The yokels will always win. But everyone, even those who don’t really understand money, understand the idea of something being cheaper.
In other words, eco-friendly movement – want the world to go green? Get cheap.
JC Environment Environment
