Ross: Perhaps no regulations are necessary to address climate change

By most accounts there was a huge turnout for those climate demonstrations last Friday. Organizers claimed four million marchers across the world, with 250,000 in New York City alone.

They’re trying to put pressure on governments to impose tough environmental rules. But I wonder if that will be necessary.

Seattle march is one of many Western Washington events this week

Consider that it took just a little over a year for a single unknown teenager – Greta Thunburg — to turn her lonely climate protest outside the Swedish parliament into a worldwide movement.

And the young people she’s attracted seem to be committed not just to marching, but to living out the spirit of their cause. Greta herself sailed across the ocean to attend the UN climate summit rather than fly.

You could dismiss her followers as naive idealists, but in a few years, they’ll be deciding everything from what kind of car to buy, whether to fly or take the train (despite the inconvenience) where to buy food, what kind of homes they want to live in, which companies to patronize and invest in, and which companies to boycott and troll on social media.

And they have the kind of motivation my generation frankly doesn’t. They’re actually going to experience the consequences of the buying decisions they make.

Ross: Remember when oil companies warned us about global warming?

And if the they can hang onto their convictions once they have money – it won’t matter that politicians were too timid to impose tougher rules. The free market will do it for them.

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