Without a deep spiritual or ethical commitment to recycling and energy saving, the average person soon loses interest, except as it affects him personally. By personally, I mean that many people are only temporarily motivated, methodically saving enough money to attain certain objectives. It is an economic given that a man s expenditures will rise to meet the level of his income.
Few people have the self-discipline to maintain responsible stewardship over increasing wealth.
Instead of saving, which few Americans do, new income is spent as soon as it is available. Advertising, big business, bankers, and money lenders who make their living from ever-increasing consumerism encourage unconscious spending. Spending everything we have is often equated with patriotism, and we absolutely have to keep the economic wheels of this country greased with an ever increasing cash flow. Facing embarrassment and credit loss, many decide that a lifestyle of simplicity and energy saving looks very good indeed . . . There are, however, many honest folks who have a deeper commitment to conscious resource stewardship based on concrete internal values.