Quote:
Originally Posted by alex87f
Problem is you can't meet any semblance of CO2 neutrality with cheap fuel. There has to be an incentive for people to get into more economical cars, build sustainable housing, etc., otherwise as you say we'd all live in 1M sq. ft. houses heated by burning whatever wood we can still cut down and would all drive a semblance of 6x6 G-Wagen.
Also, fuel is actually cheaper in Europe atm than it is in some western states (AZ, NV, CA, among others).
If we didn't have cramped cities built a thousand years ago, had a different tax system and didn't care about our footprint, we'd be the united states  . |
Living in Europe, in the moment I think "damn, if only we could live more like this" in the US. More appreciation of the simpler things. Emphasis on experiences more than material possessions. These things help make the medicine of living more sustainably (which EU people kinda have no choice about) a little easier to swallow, I think, among many other positive effects on life. See Scandinavian Happiness - the only times these people were ever unhappy was when they were dealing with me.
But I don't see how the US would ever get there. And I won't lie, I'm not sure I'd vote for all of it. It's just a different world here.