And the best way (which I’m sure you were also alluding to here) is to make it so the only consumer choices are ones that benefit society.
Federal and state MPG standards have been some of the best tools we’ve had for the environment. When you set fleet minimums, car makers are forced to make efficient cars and then consumers can only buy efficient cars. This is one of many good tools we have for this, but the point is it cannot ever be left to consumers alone.
Negative externalities are communal problems that have to be solved centrally by government incentives. Corporations will never do it and consumers will never do it. Companies have pushing the blame on to consumers to buy our way out of pollution, climate change, and everything else since the Crying Indian ads. It amounts to privatizing profits and socializing losses. It’s about time we stopped falling for it as a society.
