I once tried to explain this to a liberal who wanted me to recycle paper at the office. I explained that, if nobody wanted to pay me for used paper, at BEST recycling was a break even as far as energy is concerned....but more likely used more. In a free market, cost of just about anything is directly related to the energy needed to make and ship it. If new paper costs less, it must have a lower ‘carbon footprint’.
She shrugged it off.
Had a cell phone company rep on the phone asking her why they were not sending me an itemized bill...she explaned that “ they were environmental and thats why. I told her that “...if you have to go out and get an axe to chop down a damn tree do it and send me an itemized bill!
They got the message.