Message to the Gas Boycotters

On Facebook, there is a group calling for a day-long gas boycott. So, I joined the group just so I could post on the message board. Here is what I posted:

Instead of trying to organize a boycott, do something better. Take your $25 or so that you aren't going to spend on gas and invest it in a company that works with "green" energy. That company can then try to create a product that is both green and cost efficient. Until something better comes along, why should anyone be made poorer to help the environment? I know someone will say "it is for their health," but studies have shown poverty lowers life expectancy more than all the smog in Los Angeles.
One reason why the global warming movement will never gain traction is too often the proponents of global warming focus on forcing people to change rather than trying to convince them or leading by example. If you truly believe oil is bad, then don't make it a day or a week or even a month. Stop buying gas and put that money towards your goal of alternative energy. Create something that will make me, the big bad oil addict, WANT to switch. Until the day that alternative fuels are cheaper than oil, without government intervention, environmentalists will only convince the gullible. Government intervention won't solve anything. For proof, look at how many "endangered" animals are killed every year by conservationists who don't want their property rights taken away and put in poverty because an animal lives in one tree on a large farm.
Hopefully I have given you something to consider. In order to make an effective argument, one must know the person being persuaded. Until groups such as this realize that to many people, money and not the environment drives individual actions, global warming will be seen as scaremongering (just as global cooling was in 1974).



Ok, see if that makes sense to you.