In order to accomplish this people are going to have to form Co-ops in order to afford it. I for one would love to put solar cells on my home, but simply can’t afford the retrofit. I’d love to own a hybrid car, or other lower carbon emission vehicle. There is actually a car in production in India that as a compressed air engine.
(http://www.popularmechanics.com/automotive/new_cars/4217016.html)
(http://www.theaircar.com/acf/)

The paradigm is not just one of ecology or ‘ecoequity’, though. The impact on the economy will shake a capitalist nation such as ours right to the core. How many people are employed by oil companies, nuclear power plants, and auto plants not tooled for building hybrid cars? How many people are employed companies that provide the afore mentioned companies with equipment and services? Our economic focus will have to change with our ecological focus.

It starts at the level of personal choice. We can each choose to impact the earth less in one way or another, or in multiple ways. Once the choice has been made and acted upon the shift will happen slowly (maybe too slowly). In the end, I believe, the shift (if it happens) may prolong our time on this planet, but eventually the planet’s capacity to support this much life will be compromised. Don’t fear for the planet, though. Earth will be hear long after we are gone, and with all the building blocks of life still present, life will abound once more.

I’d like to make our lives, our children’s lives, and our children’s children’s lives better, but can the momentum… the inertia… of industry and population growth be countered? I don’t know.

Thanks for giving me something to think about.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Media_ecology

Ken Hudson