I come from a big fat Greek family, and let me tell you it was quite difficult to get a conversation going during Thanksgiving dinner. Everyone was loud and talking, but I managed to get everyone to quiet down for a few minutes to hear me out. I knew I wouldn't face much opposition from my family, everyone is pretty concerned about the environment and the impact we as Americans have on it. My aunt and uncle were especially passionate, and everyone expressed hope for the future with the Obama presidency.

One thing I found that did not work was using the argument "it might already be too late" to try and get people to act now. My mom's response to that was, "if it is too late what is the point?" Talking to people who haven't necessarily studied the subject is interesting, because they have certain assumptions that may or may not be true. But I found that being positive about the future while still condemning the current wastefulness of our society was the best way to bring up environmental issues with them.

Though I didn't face any opposition from my family and most were eager to learn ways that they could help, not everyone was actively interested in the subject. Apathy is just as bad as opposition in my opinion. My 90 year old grandmother and even older great aunt were not interested at all, and after ten minutes of them listening to us, they started having their own little conversation... "this family eats so fast", "i know we have always been fast eaters..." to which my apathetic cousin replied "now that's my kind of conversation!" I told him I would quote him on that.