How the individual plays into the Environmental Crisis

Lewis Moncrief does a great job of examining the reasons why cultural effects are the main issue behind the environmental crisis the world faces. His statements about the misallocation of resources and downright irresponsibility on the behalf of world powers (i.e. major governments) illustrates well a number of the major causes of the current environmental issues at hand. I believe however that he doesn’t adequately investigate the more intimate side of how these cultural affects are playing a substantial role in our current situation. What I mean by this is Moncrief focuses on the large-scale idea that government mistakes have caused widespread environmental crisis, yet fails to examine how this has had a “trickle down” effect on individuals living in that society.
Today we live in a fast paced, materialistic society where we think little about most of the consequences of our actions. This, while in itself being a consequence of the cultural issues Moncrief talks about, has pushed us as a society into a “bigger/more is better” style of living. We drive faster cars, build bigger houses, and buy more clothes all the while spending huge amounts of natural resources whilst never questioning the long-term consequences of such a lifestyle. It is a combination of irresponsibility, as well as downright obliviousness on the part of the average person living in America. In the past 100 years America has had access to huge amounts of natural resources, so much so that the general public has taken the existence of such resources as granted. While government, as Moncrief explains, has fumbled on the issue of responsibly managing natural resources (as well as educating the people how to do so on a smaller level), the general public is just as guilty in creating this environmental crisis through their own ignorance.