If we had the same number of people on the Earth that we do today and we “ended Capitalism” and moved our technology back to where it was 150 to 200 years ago before evil coal and oil were used in energy production, we’d be in an even bigger environmental mess than we are now. Entire forests would be destroyed very quickly and then no one would have any fuel to cook or keep themselves warm. There would be horrible wars and mass famine. Probably a third of the world’s population would die.
The fallacy of environmentalism is that, at some point in history, may was energy efficient. That there was some natural state in which man lived in harmony with the environment. That state never existed. The reason man used to “live in harmony” with nature was because there were hardly and men around. When the entire world population was a couple hundred million people, they could use up forests and kill animals and there were still a number of forests and animals left. If the population of the world was a couple billion back in 1700 or 1500 or 400 AD, it would have been chaos. Capitalist provided the system to let populations expand in an efficient manner.
Well I’m sure the envirowackos would have no problem at all with the world losing a third or more of the population. Well, just as long as none of them are included. They are so much smarter than the rest of us dummies. Right?
The beauty of capitalism for an environmentalist or Friend of the Earth is that it rewards the most efficient use of resources.
The capitalist that gets the most bang for his buck from the resources he uses makes the more profit.
Ultimately forcing a producer say of coal fired electricity to sequester carbon dioxide will produce less electricity at a higher price and in the long run produce more waste.
Capitalist left to their own devices eventually will produce the most product while producing less waste, because it is in their own interest.