Environmentalism & Technocracy?

Here is one of the most significant things I have heard Skip Sievert say in my short association with him:

...A price system which is what we have depends on perpetual growth. We believe when the oil runs out soon, or some other thing happens, our growth society will fail, as it should. To much destruction for no other reason than to make money. That is chasing a mirage. A dead end that leads to resource destruction, and our own destruction for no really good reason except to make money. . . .

However, regarding peak oil, global warming, and other environmental issues, there is this criticism (found in Tikkun) of technocratic approaches and how unpalatable and politically unappealing they are for the American people:

Democrats too often turn immediately to technocratic proposals to address climate change—proposals like capping carbon emissions, trading greenhouse gas credits, and increasing Corporate Average Fuel Economy (CAFE) standards. These are certainly worthwhile initiatives, yet without locating them within a larger value system, they epitomize what authors Michael Shellenberger and Ted Nordhaus call a type of “policy literalism” that often proves unpalatable and uninspiring to the American public. They also perpetuate stereotypes of Democrats as advocates of burdensome regulations and proponents of “big government” (no matter how Orwellian these phrases have become these days).

Couching climate change in the dry language of technocracy narrows the range of sensibilities that people use to relate to public issues and thus undermines the ability of Democrats to fashion a coherent climate change policy grounded fundamentally in moral vision.