Once I got beyond the irony of “green parking” at a shopping mall (a pantheon of capitalism and consumption), I wondered what it was about those dedicated spaces that that bothered me so much. It took me a while to figure it out.
It’s politically correct to go green. As individuals, it’s been en vogue for years. Today, your company better get on the bandwagon, or else. If you’re not eco-friendly, or at least appearing to be, you’re greedy. You’re mean. You’re wasteful. It does not matter what you’re actually doing, you just have to appear “green”. Eco-friendly parking is to a shopping mall, as a Toyota Prius is to an upper class tree hugger living in a 5000 square foot home.
One of these days I’ll get into an explanation of how environmentalism was hijacked by the left. For now, let’s just agree that environmentalism is very important to corporate America. I can’t get passed the irony of that statement.
7 comments:
Fred,
People respond to incentives.
Even small bonuses such as closer parking spaces at malls or even at your place of work (Sprint has these now) should increase the adoption of hybrid technology. I know that the juxtaposition of consumption and conservation may be a little unnerving or irritating, but something that helps our Earth can't be that bad, can it?
Try to think of the hybrid spaces in the same way as you would a recycling bin or solar panels at a mall. Do those bother you? The mall is still a pantheon of consumption, but even seemingly small steps in the "green" direction can add up to reduce total consumption and footprint.
As long as the measures truly promote conservation and intelligent use of the resources that we have available to us, I think we all have a responsibility as stewards of this Earth to support them.
Sam, there is an undercurrent of forced change here that I'm not comfortable with. What happened to letting the consumer decide which cars they want?
We will soon be forced to drive hybrids. This will be the case, no matter how expensive or unreliable they are. It will be done, and it will be done in the name of saving the planet.
My next post will explain the stupidity in this course of action. I'm writing it now.
Fred,
Are you going to respond to any of my arguments or just blindly speculate about the future? Can we stick to logical discourse?
What is so wrong with incentivizing behavior that helps our environment? Providing incentives and forcing change are two very different things.
Sam, good point. Let's get back to logical discourse.
To answer your question, I don't have a problem with special parking spaces for selected individuals - especially on private property. The mall owners can give preferential treatment to twenty somethings that drive sport tuners if they want. It's their prerogative.
My beef is with the fact that this is all heading down a slippery slope towards a restriction on personal freedom.
By your argument, I'll assume that you think this planet is in peril. So let me ask you a question: What is more important to you? Personal freedom or stopping global warming?
Fred,
If we're going to stick to logical discourse than you should probably stay away from slippery slope arguments (they are fallacious).
Where did I say anything about global warming in my argument? I'm more concerned about the conservation of our natural resources (especially the very limited ones like fossil fuels). I think we all gained a better understanding of just how finite our fossil fuel supply is this summer when oil and gasoline prices skyrocketed in response to increasing demand, and hopefully we can all appreciate the benefits of reducing consumption.
Sam, there are innumerable examples of laws that lead to more laws. The slippery slope does exist - not every time, but it does exist. Need an example, or will you take my word for it?
And thank you for keeping me honest. You did not say anything about global warming. And on the cause for this Summer's high gas prices? It was not a result of increasing demand. You see, there's more than one way to increase prices. One can also reduce supply - that is, to drill/produce and refine less. This is what happened this Summer. It was not situation where oil producing nations couldn't find enough crude to keep up.
I actually think there's a lot more fossil fuel out there than we think (especially natural gas). Accessibility will be a key factor this century. This is one reason that oil companies need a lot of capital (i.e. for R&D).
Of course, there's nothing wrong with conserving at all. I recycle. I even have one of those reusable grocery bags. Just don't tell me what to drive.
No one is telling you what to drive and there is no need to get upset about the government or private businesses creating incentives for people to drive vehicles that conserve our limited natural resources.
The defense rests its case.
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