devils advocate

Investing in wind turbines has to be better than other things!
All the parts to build a turbine have a cost which relates to their production. The total cost is expensive because the electricity they produce costs more than other sources (price/MW). I think the benfit of purchasing green energy comes from it being more expensive and reducing our other spending.
cheap energy + lots of toys
dear energy + some toys
I wonder which is "greener".
Wrong word!

Harping on

If we reduce our direct energy consumption (pursuing the nations targets)then purchase more consumer goods from China, how is that helping?
If national demand for direct energy reduces, so the price of energy will reduce stimulating demand. We live in a market economy.
I keep trying to find examples that reinforce my opinion!

Silence

I have yet to hear politicians or marketing suggest that the problem will take more than being more efficient, saving money. Adverts promote new efficient cars ( not mentioning that carbon footprint payback may take more than 10/15 years) and we then purchase one and feel as though we are helping. If these assumptions are wrong then the money saved is spent, etc........
Since the financial crash all efforts are to get back to where we were:
612 billion (approx) national dept and growing
pensions under funded and growing
Young folk unable to afford their first time house (there has to be a link)
All this is tomorrows money which we have spent today supporting our standard of living.
As us baby boomers age through society, democracy enables us to legislate to our advantage. Weve sold the silver!
remember carbon footprint is strongly associated to a country's wealth!

Where we go

On hearing the news that 10% of Americans are now unemployed I realised we will use our world efficiency to reduce our work load. So we all do less hours, keep employment low, reduce our consumerism. It has to be a contender but I think it would have to be legistrated for.

income, footprint

Rich countries have larger footprints than poor. Wealth relates to footprint. Your FP can not be solely related to your direct energy purchase, it has to take in all your spending.
Back to my frustration, I think the price of everything relates to it's FP.

the problem

If individuals or businesses reduce their energy consumption they end up with surplus cash, which they then spend on other items which have a carbon footprint.
Carbon footprints are strongly related to income, therefore the green movement is just helping us become more efficient (reduce, reuse, recycle) and making us feel better with our continued consumerism!

Start

I have been trying to be green for over twenty years, but reecently I have been having trouble with it's outcome.