Our revealed preference for pollution

In earlier posts, we reported on the Little Green Lies being told by environmentalists, that we can be green without giving up very much. Now, the Economist reports that Americans don't want to be green if we have to use our own money to pay for it,

Only half of Americans would favour rules to force power companies to emit less if that raised their monthly electricity bill from $85 (the average in 2005) to $155 (an estimate of the hike needed to lower American emissions by 5% by 2020). And only 37% could stomach a tax that raised petrol (gasoline) prices to $4 a gallon. That would be an unprecedented hardship for Americans but barely half what the stuff now costs in Britain.

In other words, our preference for pollution is revealed by our purchasing behavior.