As a result, the new environmentalism may accomplish nothing, and fade away as just one more American fad. It would be funny, were it not so like the dinosaurs who ate themselves into extinction 65 million years ago. This is not a matter of blame. No one is personally to blame just because he or she consumes too much. This society spent centuries getting here.
Any single generation is as much a victim as a culprit.
This is a matter of opportunity. The U.S. has led the world in economic growth by making individual consumers the driving force behind that growth. But reducing our dependency on packaging and automobiles will be far more difficult than switching brands of applesauce. People are afraid of giving this up. They have worked hard for what they have and they don't want to lose it.