Environmental Markets

I liked the sentiments expressed by commenter "kolmogorov" here on Slate expressing his desire for environmental markets rather than environmental puritanism.

I want an environmentalism dominated by environmental engineers and economists, by markets working out the most efficient solutions, not by envionmental shamans shaking their rattles and checking my piety.

This was in response to Emily Bazelon's article on how the motivations behind the Prius's success may have more to do with a desire to advertise oneself as being environmentally conscious rather than a primary desire to take action on the environment. That being said, a Prius does use a lot less fuel than a similar gasoline-only car. But it is still an automobile.

Preach all you want against consumptive habits, but if you want to reach beyond the already-converted, you're going to need to establish some sort of environmental tax structure that builds in the cost of the externalities into the cost of production and transportation.