On the Slow Path to Change

While I do not think that many can quite contradict what Mr. Maniates has to say in his article, I think it is important to note just how comfortable we have become to our current ways of living. Consumption is now more than just a luxury, its a religion and its going to take something drastic to occur in order to see some major changes in the way we live.

In that case, we cannot truly blame the politicians and environmental activists to tread the ground carefully in their attempts to convince people that going green is not too complex of a process. Their task as enforcers is to try and get as many people on board as possible, which is why they emphasise the “ease” through which one can right our past wrongs. Lets face it, the majority of us are very happy with our consumerist lifestyles and are not going to weaned off of it anytime soon, especially if it is clear that it is also going to take a lot of effort to do so. Why would anyone get on board that wagon, especially when there are still skeptics in the world who think that the world is fine and that global warming is just a myth?

It is unfortunate that in order for the message to really hit home that severe changes need to be made today, and not delayed until tomorrow, something truly drastic needs to occur, before everyone will be convinced. Unfortunately, that drastic event could also signify that we are too late and that we have reached the end of the road. This is indeed a predicament.

And who is to say that drastic event has not come already? With the occurrence of the Tsunamis as well as Hurricane Katherina, we have already received eminent signs that our planet is undergoing some major changes, in big part due to our actions. One would ask: how many more signs do we need before we take real action?

To conclude, I am not contradicting Mr. Maniates when he says that big steps need to be taken to solve this issue and simply screwing on twisty light bulbs is not going to save us all. In addition, he is indeed right in saying that politicians and activists need to put on their thinking hats and think of new and hopeful ways of reaching out to the public, without shying away from the truth of how dire a situation we are in now. The pessimist in me just thinks that it is going to take an incredible event to truly convince the non-believers, and then it might just be too late.