We need to start somewhere!

Professor Maniates has valid points - it's true that we are being lazy as a global community when it comes to the environment. But Americans seem to be lazy about everything these days. Look at the wars we are fighting in the middle east. If this were the 1960's or 70's you would see thousands of protesters with signs concerning the troops, economy, and gas prices. Today, though there is significant turmoil in our economy and we are facing one of the biggest financial crises in history, you barely hear a peep. Don't get me wrong, I truly believe that the environment is just as, if not more important than the economy, but if we can't even get an uprising over significant current events, how can we get people all excited to make large changes concerning the environment, a much slower disaster? While Professor Maniates is quick to criticize the "easy way out" when it comes to helping the environment, his solutions are hardly anything to write home about. Sure the general public being lazy environmentalists wouldn't be as effective than if everyone was a hardcore environmentalist, but we need to be realistic here - that would never happen. If everybody started somewhere, doing easy things to help out our planet, it would become second nature to recycle or turn off the water when brushing teeth. Once people realize that they actually can make a difference, perhaps there would be more public interest in the subject matter. And yes, a strong environmentalist leader (The MLK Jr of the environment?) would help as well. Americans are not willing to make big steps at this point, though it pains me to have to say this. I think that we should encourage everyone to do at least something, and then we can go from there!