>In point of fact, they very rarely have a direct effect on consumption
>but serve the ideological purpose of persuading people to take personal
>responsibility for capitalism (not nature)'s limits. Once softened up,
>all are prepared for cuts in wages.
I'd love to know what evidence you have for this. In the U.S., which saw the sharpest fall in real wages of any First World country from 1973-1995, people have been "persuaded" to accept them out of economic desperation; blinkered political possibilities, constrained by both structure and ideology; wretched labor laws; fear of job loss; weak and unimaginative unions, a working class divided by ethnicity, region, sector, and gender, etc. As far as I can tell - which may not be much, since I only live here and follow this stuff kind of obsessively - green concerns have contributed almost nothing to the situation.
Doug