Consumer environmentalism failed because both rich and poor buyers chose energy waste

Evidence

The postwar decades thus suggest the weakness of a consumer-based environmentalism. In the 1950s and 1960s, the nation’s consumers were either unwilling or unable to conserve energy. The well-to-do were often drawn to homes designed to provide a new closeness with nature – yet they also wanted a host of high-energy comforts and conveniences. Working-class homebuyers often wanted homes that cost less to heat and cool – yet, as the price of home-ownership, they had to accept places with little protection against the extremes of climate. The result in each case was a dramatic increase in energy consumption. — Adam Rome, The Bulldozer in the Countryside, 292

Categorization

• XREF: Directly foreshadows the consumer/producer explanation for why subsequent environmental regulation became necessary — ties to this book’s core thesis about environmental law arising from failed private solutions. — connects to: Builders, not consumers, chose energy-wasteful electric heat for profit reasons — Adam Rome, The Bulldozer in the Countryside:…, 290; Cheap energy and 1950s consumer culture defeated the conservation ideal — Adam Rome, The Bulldozer in the Countryside:…, 246; Market-driven consumer economics omits environmental costs from its calculations — Albert Bandura, Moral Disengagement: How People Do Harm…, 2656 (+6 more)
• SEED: An essay angle on why ‘consumer choice’ as an environmental lever fails structurally — producers control the housing bundle, both ends of the income spectrum end up energy-wasting.

Broader Connections

• Consumption resists change because it is profitable and shielded from environmental costs #expands (0.88) — Albert Bandura, Moral Disengagement, 2986
• Voluntary environmental planning fails because buyers won’t pay for public goods #corroborates (0.85) — Adam Rome, The Bulldozer in the Countryside, 1066
• Market-driven consumer economics omits environmental costs from its calculations #expands (0.82) — Albert Bandura, Moral Disengagement, 2656
• Consumers can sometimes use dollars as the currency of ecological choices #contradicts (0.82) — Robin Wall Kimmerer, Braiding Sweetgrass, 716
• Energy-efficient housing priced itself out of reach of budget-conscious buyers #corroborates (0.80) — Adam Rome, The Bulldozer in the Countryside, 245
• Solar home design failed partly on aesthetic, not merely economic, grounds #qualifies (0.75) — Adam Rome, The Bulldozer in the Countryside, 247
• Green consumer choice is a class privilege unavailable in food deserts #qualifies (0.73) — Robin Wall Kimmerer, Braiding Sweetgrass, 717