HIV vaccine a reality!

[Jester]

Wouldn't it be nice, yes, if people would start seeing the problem as it is, namely their own.

Why talk about incentives for consumers to trick them into doing the right things, when we ourselves are those consumers? Do we really need to deceive ourselves? And why would ecological damageing industries be punished, if we can simply decide not to use the products those make?

Because all that good work could be quickly undone by a small minority of people who do not care about the environment.

If 90% of people get out of the market for products that cause pollution, the price for those goods will drop through the floor. Then, 10% of people who are still in the market will buy up the production, because the marginal utility of buying a massively under priced commodity will be very high.

You can't boycott polluting industries out of business unless consumers act so uniformly that they have market power - a monopsony. Getting such a thing would be nearly impossible, unless you can convince practically everyone not only to believe in your idea, but to act accordingly. This is especially true of fungible, polluting products like steel, energy, or oil. You will be undone by the law of one price.

We need incentives. Real ones. Pigovian ones. Otherwise, we're just essentially giving people who don't care about the environment an enormous gift of cheap goods. I believe it was you who once pointed out the Jevons Paradox - a similar principle is in play here.

-Jester