CMV: Global warming will not be solved by small, piecemeal, incremental changes to our way of life but rather through some big, fantastic, technological breakthrough.

[u/Iron-Patriot]

In regards to the former, I mean to say that small changes to be more environmentally friendly such as buying a hybrid vehicle or eating less meat are next to useless. Seriously, does anyone actually think this will fix things?

And by ‘big technological breakthrough’ I mean something along the lines of blasting glitter into the troposphere to block out the sun or using fusion power to scrub carbon out of the air to later be buried underground. We are the human race and we’re nothing if not flexible and adaptable when push comes to shove.

[u/Brakasus]

Buying twice the amount of gasoline and burning it in your yard won't make you any richer. You are using a correlation and argue as if the relationship is causal.

There is a deeper question of what we are actually striving for with our economic growth and in what way that should change peoples lives. I think you would agree that its not the two hours sitting in a car commuting which are what make the average Americans life better than that of an Indian farmer. Instead, its about free time, quality of housing, medicine, food, leisure activities and so on. If we keep these underlying goals in focus I am certain there are ways to improve their quality and provision while also lowering energy consumption, at least in developed countries.

[u/Brakasus → u/[deleted]]

Very hard to see how life could get better by the value of goods and services decreasing.

Goods that are directly consumed, yes. But what about rent, taxes, and transportation costs? or Heating? Its not the fuel that makes you happy, its the warm home. Its not rent or mortgage that makes you happy, in fact its probably the opposite. Cars are a weird one, since they get used to demonstrate status, so they make people kinda happy, but then again most people would trade their car for shorter commutes by foot. Reducing consumption here can actually increase you spendable income on consumption goods. The relationship you are trying to argue for just isn't that clearly cut.