Running Before We Can Walk...

I understood Maniates’ main point to be that these green choices individuals make on a regular basis (recycling, shortening showers, driving less) are not enough. These changes may slow environmental change, but it’s not going to be drastically helpful. In contrast to these easy solutions given to the public by leaders and organizations, big changes need to be made to the tune of cutting emissions by 80%. Everyone turning off lights when they leave the room isn’t going to stop the environmental changes in their tracks. There is nothing easy about the changes we need to make.

Maniates ended with a hopeful message though. Far from believing it’s a lost cause, he says we have the potential to make tough choices and changes. We just need our leaders to tell us the truth about the dire situation we face. If those in charge can be straightforward and cut the easy solution rhetoric, then we could mobilize to make the needed changes. I would like to believe this is true, but I am unfortunately as skeptical as my fellow Ecodazed bloggers. He talks of the easy insufficient solutions, but honestly many Americans really haven’t even embraced these changes deeming them too inconvenient- many can’t even commit to the baby steps. Can we really expect people to make the big changes when many Americans can’t separate milk containers from their regular trash? Even if there were leaders willing to be frank with the American public, there would be many more touting the, “but it just snowed, so the environment is fine” argument. We’re not just in love with easy convenient fixes, we’re delusional. I’m not convinced that even if some leaders stepped up that they’d be able convince a large portion of the population that a radical change is the only way. If we haven't learned to walk with the baby steps presented to us by the easy green solutions, I doubt we are ready to start running a marathon. I don't know where that leaves us. I know that I will continue to turn lights off, use reusable water bottles, and pick my roommates plastic yogurt containers out of the garbage...