10-04-2009, 10:13 PM
Quote:If by 'we' you mean the posters on this forum, then it might be possible to both know and do the right thing. If by 'we' you mean the population at large, then their ignorance, their apathy, their stupidity, and their greed ...If everyone would refuse to do the right thing until anyone else does too, we wouldn't get very far, is it? Apparantly, some people have really good excuses;)
Quote:If 90% of people get out of the market for products that cause pollution, the price for those goods will drop through the floor.Only if producers would be prepared to drop the prices, hoping customers would return. Since those wouldn't (knowing the problem would also return if they did), production would have to be scaled down to 10%, which in turn would increase prices, possibly driving away even more customers. That's basic capitalism, not?
The Jevons Paradox basically says that if your production becomes more efficient, it will not result in using less resources, because consumption will grow. We are talking about decreasing consumption here, so I don't think this Paradox applies. Maybe you are implying that the remaining 10% customers could consume and pollute as much as the previous 100%? That would be quite a feat, seeing what we do now.
Boycotting works. And in a 'free market' system, you don't even need to reach 90% cooperation. Especially in economic weak periods like this, a few extra % market loss can be devastating for some companies. The current crisis is quite good, really, from a certain point of view.