Like John, my conversation was not with someone who is against the belief that the environment is an issue that needs immediate action, but there were still many aspects that we disagreed on.
After establishing how important this issue was to him, I asked my friend what he thought would be the next best steps to work towards resolving the issue. He responded by saying that he thought that the steps taking by the Obama administration have been the right ones, because they not only enforce new regulation but also give economic incentives to move towards greener means of practice.
I then asked him how he would go about convincing the average American citizen that the environment is a matter that needs to be addressed, given that the economy is the number one issue on everyone's mind. His response was that economic incentives are the best way to get people on board with reforms, especially at this time of economic recession. Giving companies and individuals subsidies if they moved towards greener practices seems to be the best method to persuade people to make changes in the way they operate, according to him.
We both agreed on the fact that it is hard to make people see how urgent of an issue this is because of the lack of tangible evidence. People only choose to believe what they see and while there might have been ample of methods that scientists have utilised to show people the truth, most have a hard time conceptualising all of it. My thought are that it will take something drastic to happen, before we finally take the action we need to take, and by then it might be too late. He, on the other hand, is more positive and believes that we have the time and the potential to pull ourselves out of the ditch we have dug ourselves in to. I agree that we have the time and the potential to make changes, but that is only if we actively work towards them immediately. The problem is that, too often, we cannot be bothered to inconvenience ourselves to make changes if we are comfortable where we are, even if these changes mean that we will be more efficient and even, quite possibly, more comfortable.