People lie because they are taught to lie their whole lives. It would be great to feel outrage about lying because it happens so little instead of constantly. I don't think that environmentalists don't lie. I think that ultimately being an environmentalist you are accepting yourself as a human an animal a part of everything and that everything is a part of you and it is all magnificent. That means shedding the awful ingrained dimorphism of good verses evil as if their is such a thing.

The problem is that we can teach people new words to say but retraining a whole society won't happen but over generations. We need to train the kids and do our best to keep the old folks from burning down the school before we're done.

The Black Car Project Killing cars before they kill us!

People rebelled against a system where the 'experts' were inadequate, and riddled with contradictions -- and in many cases corrupted.

However, I think what we need is a New Expert Class and a reapproachment of the People with The System.

Take taxes.

Did people want to cut taxes because they wanted more money?...not so much as they felt their taxes were wasted, and misused...and stolen by corruption.

But if we could build a new system...of The Best and The Brightest...of the New Scientists who are struggling to create hydrogen technologies, web technologies, fusion technologies...honestly, and with the Best Principles in mind.

Then maybe...the People will respond.

Texeme.Construct(function(x)=Participation(x))

In a democracy you have taxes but hopefully you would know where the taxes are going. You would throw a huge stink if you found out that your taxes went 50% towards defense. But you wouldn't pull your taxes away from the programs that actually help people. Our current society is taught instead to think of government as useless and the poor are tricked into thinking they would benefit from lower taxes when they invariably are hurt. The rich are of course greedy and see no need to help with social welfare but are unwilling to pay for the healthcare or schools of their workers.

We are not wanted to participate and are not a democracy of any depth anymore. What I would be interested in more than experts is people who were intelligent but taught to learn across boundaries and make connections. I think that is what we need right now.

If we had those type of people working with the new scientists who are struggling to create hydrogen, and fusion technologies, we might convince them not to create them. Especialy if those people have some imaginary "Best Principles" in their mind. A well rounded intellect could point out to those scientists that the best principles are subjective and they usually stink!

The Black Car Project Killing cars before they kill us!

I wouldn't take this as another example of how mean and low the human spirit is. People do lie in order to reflect, and protect, their personal aspirations, even in anonymous surveys. People lie in polls asking how often they attend church services. We make many of our consumer choices based on this same poorly-fitting couplet of aspiration vs. expectation. (For example, we may buy clothes or cars in an attempt to realize the more intangible qualities we desire in ourselves: confidence, status, beauty, got-it-togetherness; or relaxed, inpretentious, down-to-earthiness... But an over-reliance on external attributes may betray a sense of internal inadequacy)

Anyway... what this study reveals is what we've always known: the spirit is strong, but the flesh is weak. But we need to remember that the eco-bandwagon is still in its cultural infancy. It is in no way surprising that, a mere 1.5 years after An Inconvenient Truth, people haven't yet managed to resolve their shallow but genuine eco-consciousness into their lifestyles in a more meaningful, consistent way.

Does your lifestyle completely reflect your eco-aspirations? No, it doesn't. You do what can be reasonably expected of you, given the economic and societal constraints. Your lifestyle is moulded by the reality on the ground, as you see it. So is "theirs". The difference is only one of degree, based on the fact that you obtained your spiritual enlightenment (or whatever) earlier than they did, or you had the benefit of better eco-mentoring.

Again, look at the eco-choices you've made. What do you do? Recycle? Not drive a car? Educate yourself? Post cathartic rants on the internet? Press for political change? All of these are worthy, in their measure, but none actually embody the change we want to see in the world. We all have a price which we will not pay, even if it means making the world a better place. The respondents to this survey are no different in that respect.

On a positive note, this survey demonstrates that there is a will. Of course there will always be a number of hard-nut ideological refuseniks who will rationalize that pollution is good and altruism is bad (note: this group does not include Adam Smith, the philosopher.) But this is clearly a distortion of human nature. If they felt they could, most people would freely choose to do "the right thing". What we need to do is to not lose hope, to not let the perfect be the enemy of the good, and to press on with the very difficult and tortuous task of reconciling our immediate human needs with the greater human need of planetary balance. All in all, I believe that if you reconcile it, they will come..

... I was only going to say "what a bunch of dirty monkeys we are!"

waiting for everyone else to change first

expecting someone else to do the heavy lifting

but being green is sooooooo hard

i didn't mean that i have to give up MY SUV

but YOU don't really need one

i have a good reason

i need it for important practical stuff

it is YOU who is wasting resources

"based on the fact that you obtained your spiritual enlightenment (or whatever) earlier than they did, or you had the benefit of better eco-mentoring."

That's ridiculous.  I know it's true for other people, but it isn't right.  I didn't receive any "eco-mentoring."  I live in the deep southern US and I'd say I probably don't know 10 people in a 100-mile radius who I feel genuinely care about the environment and related issues.

For me, it wasn't from someone else's example (not directly), it was more of reading the facts and the situation and being like, uh, what the hell?  We've gotta change this.  It's not like environmentalism is anything profound or revolutionary.  Environmentalism is simply giving a s*** about the Earth.  What's so hard about that?!  If you care, you won't have to worry about your choices.  Your choices will align themselves to your viewpoint automatically; it's not like anyone has to consciously think about every single choice they make-- it's pretty obvious once you are aware of what you used to do.  Sometimes I look back and think, "How did I ever NOT recycle?"  

The same is true with my veganism.  I don't mean preach or anything like that, simply as an example.  People often ask why I deprive myself or why I make such "radical" changes.  These descriptions are subjective (not objective) because to me, I am not sacrificing any thing, I am just making the right decision.  I don't ever just think, "Man, I want a steak!  Why am I in denial about loving meat?"  

Similarly, I never sit around and go, "Dadgum, I wish I had a gigantic SUV to drive around with no passengers!"  

This is long-winded and probably a little back-and-forth, but my point is that once you realize what's going on, the choices are 1) obvious and 2) not just easy to make, but you'd be appalled and NOT making them.