Question 1 Response

It should not come as a surprise to Mr. Maniates that Americans today are lazy and that their consumption habits closely mirror the lifestyles they choose. American citizens are complacent with their effect on the environment in large part because of the minimal perceived consequences. The roads are clean, lawns are tidy (thanks in large part to migrant labor) and the air seems clean. Pollution occupies a place in short memory to be a thing of the 1960s and 1970s when Lady Bird Johnson and others enacted policies to clean up America. For whatever reason, Americans seem to be conscious of that era and do not want to return to it, while at the same time oblivious of the very real consequences in the near future.
Mr. Maniates is right when he states that American ingenuity is best matched when struggling. He is also correct when he asserts that a fundamental shift in our system needs to occur in order to make real change. But does he seem to suggest that a fundamental shift that makes Americans struggle is necessary to achieve progress? No doubt that would get Americans to rethink the way they view environmentalism. As Jared Diamond asserts in “The Last Americans” policies that are right, are not always popular and Bill McKibben also outlines this in his book “Maybe One”. Change is not easy in the face of societal norms but it does not help to be critical of baby steps towards changing the way Americans consume.