Going Green

In Michael Maniates; opinion piece, he writes for environmentalist and politicians to ask for more from the American people when it comes to taking ‘green steps’ to improving our environment. The common pleas from politicians to just recycle and to change our light bulbs to conserve energy is something that he feels should be reconsidered, and that politicians and environmentalist should ask for the American people to make bigger adjustments in their lives. I agree with Michael Maniates to a point, that the American people should try to make more of an effort to preserve our environment, like trying to reduce their over all consumption. But that is easier said than done.
Take for example the DC bag law that went into effect last year. I do not know the political back and forth that went on, but I can imagine there was some opposition to the new law. An arguement could have been for the lower income families, who simply saw the new $0.05 price on bags as adding up in the future. Getting the bag law past, probably took a large amount lobbying. But according to Maniates a policy such as the bag law is simply not enough to make a change, but I would disagree with him and say that it puts in people’s mind to the idea to use reusable bags, because they do not want to spend the extra $0.05. It reduces the cities consumption of plastic bags, which in turn can possibly reduce the number of plastic bag manufactured. It is one small step that adds up in the bigger picture.
Yes, it would be great if Americans decided to drive small, efficient cars or instead of driving cars decided to use more public transportation. But for a politician to push for something like that, he or she would probably lose his office. With the way this country works sometimes it takes several small steps to make one big giant step. The American people first have to get comfortable with the idea of actually going green is more than reusable light bulbs and recycling, but bigger changes. But for now using those reusable light bulbs and recycling is a good step in the right direction. It’s better than nothing.