The Luxury of Being Green?

Ianqui says: It’s true that many of the potential “solutions” we’ve been talking about are steps that people can take only if they’re in a comfortable enough position now. But just because only some proportion of the population (30%? 40%?) can afford to buy a Prius*, go to Whole Foods, and install fluorescent lights in their lamps, does that mean we shouldn’t do it? Does it mean we shouldn’t spend time trying to think about alternatives if they’re only practical for some people?

I would argue that it’s this 30-40% who are spending the bulk of the resources with their big Hummers and driving all over town to run errands and ferry the kids to enrichment activities. So if those people are able to curtail their energy usage, then we’re probably doing a very good job of conservation, and hopefully keeping the prices lower for people who do have fewer options.

If anyone has numbers to back that up, I’d love to see them.

More after the jump at The Oil Drum.