The only perspective I can speak from is my own, and I won't try to speak from another's. But to me, the biggest issue we have today is a lack of personal responsibility. Instead of owning up to our actions, we ask another to, or we ask the government to own up to them for us. It's childish and it doesn't work. An example:
Say we have a company that is a major polluter (we'll use Massey Energy since I'm not fond of them). So we have Massey Energy, a well known polluter and proponent of Mountain Top Removal. We buy our energy from Massey Energy, they receive money from us because we purchase our energy from them. Simple concept, yes? Massey energy pollutes because they have incentive to pollute, they are rewarded with multi-billion dollar revenues for polluting. The pollution then affects our health and we start to take notice. We rally, we sign petitions, we protest to get Massey Energy to stop and, low and behold, they don't. So what do we do? We ask the Government to step in. We ask them to solve our problems. They fine Massey, Massey pays, Massey keeps polluting. What's wrong with this picture?
There is a fundamental disconnect. Massey Energy profits = our payments. We pay them to pollute and then ask them to stop, but why would they? It's a great deal for them. Yes the government has a hand in this with the deep subsidies they offer to companies like Massey but we also forget that the government is elected by us for us. It is not an entity that exists without the general population. So why do we ask the government to do this? Because we don't want to have to make the hard choice. Rather than willfully electing to change companies, even if it costs a bit more, we ask Washington to do it for us. Truth is, it doesn't really work. Let's make an analogy. Say Massey Energy is that big popular 6th grader on the playground and we're average sized 6th graders. The EPA and the Government are the teachers and principals. Massey Energy is liked and/or tolerated because he's the biggest one around, he has some sort of power over us and when he asks for our sandwich, well we better damn well give it to him. Some of us get tired of this bullying, so we ask the teacher to tell him to stop. He/she contacts the principal and Mr. Massey is brought into the office. He gets his slap on the wrist and goes on his way. He still gets what he wants, he just has to deal with a bit more bullshit now that the principal has his eye on him. No big deal.
The converse to this is that the peers of the bully, the ones who provide him his power and influence, just stop putting up with it. Total social isolation. Sure, he can tolerate it for a bit based on the ego and self-confidence he has stored up, but even that wears thin after while. He now has two options, fade into the oblivion of being an outcast, or change. If he is reformed, he is reaccepted and things go along smoothly.
Business works the same way, if the consumer says "I don't like this, I won't be doing business with you anymore" the producer must change or fall under. This only occurs without the government saying "Errr... Well, here's some extra cash to keep you afloat until they change their mind". Environmentalism is directly inhibited by the government's unwillingness to let us, the consumer, sink what companies fail to meet our ecological standards. Products change because we want them to change. Cage free eggs, organic produce and meats, all of these products have become more prevalent because the consumer is more informed and willing to say "enough is enough" to the producer. The market fixes these issues. It's thus our personal responsibility to say "I'M DONE" when companies don't live up to the environmental and social standards we should demand.
This doesn't fix everything, but it does make sense here and there.
Be Well.
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