Not really. The baby boomer generation are going to die off and take their miserly attitudes with them. There is no other option other than to move to a post-carbon economy and for it to be renewables all the way. You will die out and new people will come along with different energy demands. They might be happy to get about Dutch style, on a bicycle. To most Americans that mode of transport is unthinkable for things like shopping or bringing up a family, but the Dutch do it.
I believe there are plenty of people paving the way for our post-carbon world, building a new and clean world from the filth left behind by the baby boomer generation.
Currently millenials do not put 2 and 2 together when it comes to climate change and their personal habits of consumerism, we did better in the 1970's after the crisises of the time at turning lights off when not needed. But this time round we have people using sensors and things like LED lights to keep the energy consumption sensible.
The only way for countries like the UK to meet their emissions targets and air quality targets is to get rid of the targets (Brexit) or to get serious about electric cars. Right now one energy company is converting lamp posts to charging points, so soon on-street charging will become very easy. A small step but an important one as it makes the impossible possible and at affordable cost. So you might just get an EV because that is how it works and you just charge up every time you park next to a lamp post.
There are only four petrol stations inside the congestion charge zone in London, there used to be far more. Imagine a time when there are none and you have to go to a motorway to find petrol or diesel for your classic retro vehicle.
Even General Motors are taking EVs seriously.
As for the disposable bag, try visiting the UK. They went extinct when stops started charging for them. The other day I found a hoard of three in a drawer. In former times people would have small cupboards full of the things. It took a long time coming, but the end of the disposable free bag was survived by retailers and consumers alike.
I think that EV cars will be like flat screen televisions and ICE cars will be like CRT monitors in not too many years to come. We didn't initially get a better picture with flat screen displays but those richer colours did not save the CRT, even if there were no 'dead pixels'.
In a matter of time the batteries will be integrated into the frame or the wheels or even the furnishings and these EV cars will be a far simpler product than those ICE things. The supply chain will die out for ICE and this new post carbon world will start to happen. Watch and see.
I don't like blaming one generation or another. What happens is that people age and as they age they shift their political stance. Another important differentiator is whether they have children or not.
As for the Dutch, yes, we have a lot of bicycles and people tend to get a bit more exercise here but there is still plenty wrong with Dutch society and if you took a 10 km altitude photograph of the country you'd probably still conclude the dominant life form is a steel box on wheels.
> They might be happy to get about Dutch style, on a bicycle. To most Americans that mode of transport is unthinkable for things like shopping or bringing up a family, but the Dutch do it.
Unfortunately you lost nearly all your credibility by using the Dutch as a positive example. The Dutch economy is overwhelmingly based on the extraction, production, and export of natural gas, chemicals, and fuel [1]. This doesn't seem environmentally friendly to me.
No matter what law you pass or what incentive you give, recent college grads (I'm a liberal from Berkeley, myself) will find a way to maximize my utility at the expense of the environment. Corporations do this and so do millions of people around the world. Even the Dutch are not immune.
If you want to truly save the environment, go work in battery science and solar production. Because right now, even in HN's beloved Scandinavian countries, oil and gas remains their number one industries. The Norwegians especially know this and are milking it for all it's worth. How will you convince them if you can't convince me - someone not distracted by the billions of dollars involved with oil and gas drilling?
I believe there are plenty of people paving the way for our post-carbon world, building a new and clean world from the filth left behind by the baby boomer generation.
Currently millenials do not put 2 and 2 together when it comes to climate change and their personal habits of consumerism, we did better in the 1970's after the crisises of the time at turning lights off when not needed. But this time round we have people using sensors and things like LED lights to keep the energy consumption sensible.
The only way for countries like the UK to meet their emissions targets and air quality targets is to get rid of the targets (Brexit) or to get serious about electric cars. Right now one energy company is converting lamp posts to charging points, so soon on-street charging will become very easy. A small step but an important one as it makes the impossible possible and at affordable cost. So you might just get an EV because that is how it works and you just charge up every time you park next to a lamp post.
There are only four petrol stations inside the congestion charge zone in London, there used to be far more. Imagine a time when there are none and you have to go to a motorway to find petrol or diesel for your classic retro vehicle.
Even General Motors are taking EVs seriously.
As for the disposable bag, try visiting the UK. They went extinct when stops started charging for them. The other day I found a hoard of three in a drawer. In former times people would have small cupboards full of the things. It took a long time coming, but the end of the disposable free bag was survived by retailers and consumers alike.
I think that EV cars will be like flat screen televisions and ICE cars will be like CRT monitors in not too many years to come. We didn't initially get a better picture with flat screen displays but those richer colours did not save the CRT, even if there were no 'dead pixels'.
In a matter of time the batteries will be integrated into the frame or the wheels or even the furnishings and these EV cars will be a far simpler product than those ICE things. The supply chain will die out for ICE and this new post carbon world will start to happen. Watch and see.