How could a sustainable lifestyle hurt our economy?

Question

How could a sustainable lifestyle hurt our economy?

Answer 1

it would put half of us out of work

Answer 2

Because people will spend less money on things they don't need. Yes, when we let our faucets run while we brush our teeth our water bill goes up and in turn supports the water  company- and if we turn it off while we brush- we're using less water- meaning that company isn't getting as much money. There are many examples of this from how much trash we produce to ow much gas we consume- to how much electricity we use... the list goes on.

But our economy shouldn't be the focus- people should worry more about the earth we live on- and as hippy-ish as that may sound- its true. Eventually we'll run out of resources and the economy will be the least of our worries.

Americans – as 5% of the world’s population – consume 33% of the planet’s resources and waste up to 75% due to inefficiency and lack of awareness.

Households directly consume one third of these resources, and indirectly use much of the rest through the purchase of products and services.

How we live is a big part of the problem. It can also be a big part of the solution, if we adopt more environmentally sustainable lifestyles. That means exercising more care, or stewardship, in our use of the Earth’s finite resources (trees, water, energy, minerals, land) to ensure that there will be enough left for our children and their children.

The economy isn't at risk- the well being of this planet and everything that lives on it is. People just need to decide which one is more valuable.

... but thats just my opinion.

Answer 3

Not completely sure of the exact definition of "sustainable" but if you mean wind power, solar that type of thing the damage to our economy will come from artificially diverting resources from more viable endeavors for less efficient, less valuable endeavors.

For example, ethanol.  We forced gas producers to use a certain portion of ethanol in our gasoline which lowers the octane rating.  And then food prices go up because of the amount of corn needed to produce the ethanol.  Because corn is an input into producing pork, beef, and poultry we are paying more for all of our foods.  Since we all pay more for food we have less money to spend on other things (cars, computers, clothes, whatever) which causes everyone else to see a loss of their business.  Their are direct effects (high food prices, loss of fuel efficiency) but there are also indirect effects that may or may not be blamed on the ill-conceived policy that caused them.  

It is good to remember that markets are very, very good at selecting a resource to service a particular need and generally interfering in that process no matter how well intentioned, will cause more problems than it fixes.