The price of being green

I'm writing this posting during Earth Hour, just to make a point. My letter to the Markham Economist (March 26, 2011) appears in this post and below is a more readable version with a links to my sources. 

All three letters on the Opinion page last week (March 19) dealt with environmental issues. Jon Van Loon wrote about the skyrocketing price of electricity due to Mr. McGuinty’s Green power dreams. Matthew Lohbihler wrote about David Suzuki’s deluded war on cars, and Kathy Mann threatens to stop recycling compost because York Region will ban plastic bags from green bins on May 1^st.

Each writer alluded to excessive costs in one form or other. After reading those letters I recalled a column in a national newspaper two weeks ago that was titled “Green except when it costs.” The author wrote about the massive “behavior modification” program instituted by governments around the world to reengineer people’s behavior through public policy. He described a study done by the OECD in 34 of the richest countries on earth that showed that 50% of the 10,000 people surveyed were unwilling to pay more for green energy. Of the remaining 50% most would pay no more than an additional 5% for green energy, and a final 2% of the people were willing to pay a 30% premium for green energy. My point is; the cost of subsidizing green energy and other environmental boondoggles will result in their ultimate demise. That is already happening in Europe, and I expect it will be in focus during the upcoming elections, federal and provincial.    

The backlash against the reengineering of our lifestyles, by environmentalists in cahoots with government, I believe is just beginning. Recently I read a statement that I hope is true: “Environmentalism is collectivism in its demented old age.”