The way you get innovation is by adjusting the incentives and disincentives to match actual, long-term costs. Tax negative externalities and the market will respond. It's the whole idea behind Piguovian taxes, which I'd like to see more of.
I think this approach would help solve issues like the Amazon, fossil fuel over-reliance, etc.
We don't have enough housing, and if we build more we're going to wipe out even more ecosystems and use even more resources.
Sure, if we continue the same way we have. If we instead increase density, it won't be as much of an issue.
If we increase costs of living in suburbs and reduce the costs of living in cities, we'd see a lot less sprawl and more affordable housing. Specific proposals:
move sales taxes to property taxes - roughly follow the Land-Value Tax idea
higher gas taxes and vehicle registration fees, especially for large trucks (e.g. delivery trucks)
cheap/free transit
cycle/walking paths separate from cars
In other words, nudge people toward living in cities, and reward them with fantastic infrastructure. That sets proper incentives so the market can innovate solutions.
Those solar panels and air conditioners are produced using fossil fuels
Currently, yes. But they don't need to be. If we jack up fossil fuel taxes, we'll see a more rapid shift toward renewables. I work in a mining-adjacent industry, and I can tell you that they'd absolutely switch if it made business sense, but fossil fuels are just cheaper.
the desert is not wasteland
Agreed, I actually live in a desert climate and appreciate the natural beauty of the desert.
That said, Nevada is very large, and a lot of it is protected, federal land (like 80%), so moving people to the populated areas in Nevada won't significantly impact current wildlife. It's already suburban sprawl, and more people could live there without increasing that sprawl, if the proper incentives are in place.
rich vs poor gap
I also disagree with this notion as well.
Yes, there's an income gap, but the poor are still better off year over year. The real concern, imo, is that shrinking middle class and immigration limitations. Immigrants start way more businesses than non-immigrants (i.e. innovation), yet at least in the US, there's a push to limit immigration.
I think there is a problem, but it's not a "replace the whole system" problem, but more of a "let's give David more chances to fight Goliath." That means:
more regulatory exemptions for small companies
reforms for patent system
large penalties for nonsense litigation for large orgs
more liability for execs for crimes committed by their org
And so on. Pair that with carefully thought-out Piguovian taxes and we should see an acceleration of improvements to the climate, income distribution, traffic, etc. The trouble is getting something like this made into law and properly enforced.