Go BIG or go home

I think Michael Maniates makes a terrific point, and to be quite honest, it makes me feel guilty myself. I have always emphasized the little ways in helping the environment, and while I feel very strongly that larger efforts are essential to actually make a dent in the grand problem, I've felt like it is hard to make huge changes myself if others around me aren't doing the same. So I have taken the attitude of basically, if you're not going to trash your car for a bike, at least recycle the newspaper every morning... And now I see that's a pathetic way to look at it.
It is my opinion that Americans get buy with trashing the Earth far too easily. Apparently this thing called "freedom," gives us an excuse to continue our merciless abuse of the environment. God forbid anyone should demand we change our lifestyle in order to have breathable air, to say the least. People act concerned, but should the government ever step in, suddenly we are restricted from living the way we want to live! How about we call it "helping" us out?
I completely agree with Maniates-- we must make huge, dramatic lifestyle changes. We must stop tip-toeing around the big issue which is that the Earth just WILL NOT be able to stand our consumption for too much longer. Maniates mentions that political leaders must step in, however I feel that these positions are so full of too empty rhetoric that people do not listen. And, unfortunately, politicians are too moderate on every issue. They uphold the political culture that says, don't upset anyone!
An uprising at a grassroots level is necessary. And I mean a serious uprising. One that involves everyone, not just the tree-hugging hippies environmental elites. People need to mobilize together, accepting that it won't be easy. And with this type of large-scale effort, I believe we will find that it's not as hard as we imagined. That's the best part of a free market society. If enough people commit to changing their lifestyles, markets will have to adjust to the trends. It is time for some big changes.