Capitalism vs. Climate Change

John Vaillant reports that in the battle of capitalism vs. climate change, capitalism is still winning. Canadians and Americans love big gas-powered trucks so much that Ford's North American sales of gas-powered F-150s reach 60,000 units per month (254). There are more energy efficient and even electric vehicles widely available, but consumer response to these innovations has been tepid. Fort McMurry is an enormous consumer of trucks and SUVs and anything with a gas motor including motorcycles and snowmobiles.

Fort McMurray itself is a capitalist dream. There is so much money to be made in bitumen upgrading that plants run 24/7 to maximize output. Workers are drawn to Fort McMurray because of sky high wages, and they happily purchase overpriced real estate. There is no such thing as a reasonably priced starter home within the community. A solid trailer costs $200,000. In fact, nothing is reasonably priced within...