For the past few years, I’ve expressed frustration over my fears that global warming hype would damage popular will to embrace conservation and clean energy.
(Short version: Much of the weather weirdness of the first part of the decade is likely more attributable to random noise and shorter-term cycles. “Global warming”, which is probably real, is also subtle enough to be difficult to distinguish from that noise and shorter-term cycles. Thus I’ve been concerned that when those cycles/noise reverse, political will will evaporate, even though there are very good reasons over-and-above climate change to embrace clean tech and conservation.)
Well, it seems that the economy may be making my fears moot. From the New York Times:
From Italy to China, the threat to jobs, profits and government tax revenues posed by the financial crisis has cast doubt on commitments to cap emissions or phase out polluting factories.
Automakers, especially Detroit’s Big Three, face collapsing sales, threatening their plans to invest heavily in more fuel-efficient cars. And with gas prices now around $2 a gallon in the United States, struggling consumers may be less inclined than they once were to trade in their gas-guzzling models in any case.
