What concerns me, being the eco-geek (both for economics and ecology) that I am, is that progress will eventually slow down in this economic environment that we live in. Complaints were heard when a tank of gasoline priced at $2, $3, and then $4. Each increase was a harder push for a new green car, more wind turbines, creative ideas on how to harness the sun. What happens when gas creeps back down to $3 a gallon, $2. There becomes less of an urgent incentive to buy into this green way of living. Where’s the tipping point?

Petroleum is still currently seen as a necessity. Getting to work, school, the airport…then there’s heating the home, making plastic goods, slapping on some Vaseline on your lips. Necessity is everywhere, and we can not go green all at once. The main culprit of petroleum consumption is driving though. As gasoline creeps down, that somewhat ugly Prius is no longer attractive. Maybe that SUV you wanted years ago is now looking pretty (especially with the tax credits now for gas guzzling cars…).

With the rate of a barrel of oil dropping, green incentives will lose interest. There is a legitimate cost-benefit point where gasoline is more expensive than to chip in a few more thousands of dollars for a car that returns savings in the long run. Will we hit that point? Better yet, are green initiatives hammered into our brains so much that perhaps cost will not so much phase us as the future of our grandchildren does?