Comments on: Eco-Libertarian: Freedom to Be Responsible http://www.maxgladwell.com/2009/02/ecolibertarian-freedom-responsible/ Social Media, Geolocation, and Green Living Thu, 29 Jul 2010 20:59:31 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.0.1 By: Ricky http://www.maxgladwell.com/2009/02/ecolibertarian-freedom-responsible/comment-page-1/#comment-2212 Ricky Thu, 12 Mar 2009 17:23:07 +0000 http://www.maxgladwell.com/?p=1273#comment-2212 I use the term Free-Market Environmentalist, but EcoLibertarian sounds smoother on the tongue. I was watching Earth 2.0 on discovery, and one of the solar entrepreneurs said "I'm a capitalist first an an environmentalist second". I cheered at the statement and wondered what sort of progress we will have until more people start having this attitude. You can be a "hardcore environmentalist", recycle everything, eat only organic, use carbon neutral everything, and yet, never see any of the effects of your efforts. While certainly one possible solution is to convince the vast majority of humanity that the cumulative effects of their actions will result in a net benefit, and have everyone engage in dramatic lifestyle changes, I hardly think that's a SMART goal. The effective alternative that I see, is to make environmentalism the logical choice. When BioDiesel is $1/gallon cheaper than gasoline, that will be the logical choice. When wind energy costs less than coal, that will be the logical choice. I use the term Free-Market Environmentalist, but EcoLibertarian sounds smoother on the tongue.

I was watching Earth 2.0 on discovery, and one of the solar entrepreneurs said “I’m a capitalist first an an environmentalist second”. I cheered at the statement and wondered what sort of progress we will have until more people start having this attitude.

You can be a “hardcore environmentalist”, recycle everything, eat only organic, use carbon neutral everything, and yet, never see any of the effects of your efforts.

While certainly one possible solution is to convince the vast majority of humanity that the cumulative effects of their actions will result in a net benefit, and have everyone engage in dramatic lifestyle changes, I hardly think that’s a SMART goal.

The effective alternative that I see, is to make environmentalism the logical choice. When BioDiesel is $1/gallon cheaper than gasoline, that will be the logical choice. When wind energy costs less than coal, that will be the logical choice.

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