We are by no means all, maybe no more than a few

“The time for easy is over. We're grown-ups who understand the necessity of hard work and difficult choices. We're ready for frank talk about how we best confront -- in ways rewarding, confusing, creative and hard -- the planetary emergency before us.”
—Professor Maniates

Personally, I share Professor Maniates’ enthusiasm to tackle the central issues of global warming instead of settling for limited individual choices of consumption. I don’t want to just change the lights in my lamps, I want to change the ways those lamps were made, transported, advertised, bought, and will be disposed of. Additionally, I would like to change the source of the electricity to power those lamps, and the mindset that requires more than one in each room.

Yet, though I know that he and I are not the only two Americans who feel this way, I think we are in a small minority. I get the feeling that most people go along with the idea that they can easily solve the problems that stem from climate change because they wouldn’t bother if it was any harder or if it subtracted from their perceived well-being. We have a culture that prides itself on being fast-paced, individualistic, mobile, and rich. This is not conducive to green-living.

I don’t know this for sure. The only proof I have is anecdotal, limited to my experience with a small number of people. Yet, from the interactions I’ve had, I would conclude that the majority of people, as of now, would reject the sweeping reforms that would have to be enacted in order to cease harming the environment further than what we’ve already done. Far from ready to spring up into the ranks of environmental stewards and activists, they are either skeptical, apathetic, or convinced that recycling plastic bottles and using CFLs is the answer. Before we have a frank talk about confronting the environmental crisis, I think we need to have a frank talk about the existence of the crisis, and the lengths that we will have to go if we are to meaningfully address it.