Capitalism is bad for the environment?
Steven Greenhut is a California resident working as Western Region director of the R Street Institute. “It just strikes me as a symbolic thing,” he says. “I just see this as virtue signaling.”
Greenhut argues states and cities should “let the market do its thing,” adding that the country is seeing “significant growth” in electric vehicles already, in addition to companies such as General Motors saying they plan to stop making gasoline-powered vehicles by 2035.
“The main thing is developing an infrastructure,” Greenhut continues. “Tesla has been so successful because they’ve developed an infrastructure. So, here on the West Coast you can drive up and down the West Coast without much of a problem charging your car.”
The move in Petaluma comes as officials in Whatcom County, Washington, consider a ban on natural gas heat in homes. The stated purpose in that case is to reduce greenhouse gases and have zero carbon emissions by 2030.
“These are liberal enclaves doing symbolic gestures that will have no impact on anything, certainly not on the climate, [but it] might make it a little more difficult to earn a living, or to gas up their cars,” Greenhut concludes. “It’s just that kind of trendy symbolism we’re seeing.”
