taxes to support other forms of extended producer responsibility. Taxation can be all the more effective a tool when combined with other kinds of initiatives to discourage the bad and encourage the good. Flexibility is essential in determining the precise combination of subsidy, taxation, etc. that have the optimal positive effect on specific markets. In some cases, subsidies for certain kinds of recycling can actually undercut savings gained through product redesign or reuse (Krozer & Doelman, 2003). Prices in different sectors are more or less elastic, or responsive, to tax measures, depending on specific market circumstances. Choices for taxes or subsidies or whatever should, again, be based on a clear overall vision and an integrated product policy that actually achieves the desired results. A final comment must be made about the structural effects of tax shifting, a topic that is often raised concerning carbon taxes to deter global warming. That is, the fear that such pervasive change would be too shocking and damaging. The response is, assuming we want to survive, how conscious and controlled do we want the transition to be? Today we are probably seeing the beginning of long-term price increases not just in energy, but in the many products dependent on fossil fuel feedstocks. These price shocks are due to decreasing supply of oil, a trend that many argue is ushering in an era of continual oil wars, decline of suburban infrastructures, and demise of all oil-based industry. The building industry is very dependent on both oil-based materials like asphalt and plastics, and on energy-intensive materials like cement. Green taxes are a way to manage a transition to sustainable production that does not produce a negative shock, but a positive incentive for more sustaining and sustainable forms of production. As part of