Yes, it does often seem that conservatives don't see the despoliation of the world as particularly interesting. Perhaps they have a secret plan to move all conservatives to a new planet somewhere. Shall we whip up a conspiracy theory to that effect?
No, they don't seem to care about the future of life on earth.
I suppose then if motorists can not afford.to replace their internal combustion engines with electric motors, they should consider riding on bikes, buses or trains.
Agreed. Americans will be forced to modify their lives, and for that I'm grateful. Get rid of those lawns, buy fewer processed goods packaged in plastic, and yes, more bikes and fewer cars. We've got friends in California now getting ready to put artificial turf lawn down in place of their grass, because California is running out of water. I saw on the news yesterday where American credit card debt is on the rise, meaning that people will be doing more downsizing as they approach their credit limits and can no longer finance their present standard of living. But as I said, I see a net benefit coming from that.
Even if it backrupts the economy?
Yes, even if it bankrupts the economy. Climate change is the number one problem today, on the level of global nuclear war, but is actually here now and already doing considerable damage, with much more to come.
But how is that going to happen? If gas prices make people pay more for everything, they will simply need to downsize their consumption to equal what their dollars (or ruples or euros) can purchase. I see the American standard of living falling, and not just for a few months or years. But this will be good for everybody.
We don't have what we need in place to go to some other energy form.
It doesn't need to be in place now. Clean energy infrastructure will rise to meet the demand for affordable power as the need arises. They're already talking about
electric airplanes.