The distraction here is exactly the issue. It actually removes the urgency of climate change. Companies greenwashed us into thinking that all it take is buy a upper-class Tesla to save the planet (Yes I'm reusing this example because I see it every single day in the bay area). This is not the solution, you are marginally polluting less with a Tesla but you are not solving the issue at all. you are only making yourself feel good.
Even worse, as you say it creates two class of people based on money: The ones that can afford the green-washed toys and the ones that cannot and are now blamed for "polluting".
Real change is going beyond single occupancy car for example, or reducing over population on the planet. But those are mainly economical changes that nobody wants to conveniently talk about because those are actually hard. Buying solar panels, walking to work or taking shorter showers are conveniently nitpicked easy metrics for feel-good effect.
Even worse, as you say it creates two class of people based on money: The ones that can afford the green-washed toys and the ones that cannot and are now blamed for "polluting".
Real change is going beyond single occupancy car for example, or reducing over population on the planet. But those are mainly economical changes that nobody wants to conveniently talk about because those are actually hard. Buying solar panels, walking to work or taking shorter showers are conveniently nitpicked easy metrics for feel-good effect.