Sagoff

I had to laugh when Sagoff made his confession on p.621 about how he "supports any political cause that he thinks will defeat his consumer interests" because I often say the same things about myself. I have to face myself in the fact that I frequently don't practice what I preach. Most of us don't, in at least a few aspects. We are all guilty of this. Sagoff hits the nail on the head in saying that we have this contempt for the the interests we act upon daily. Our consumer lifestyle is not consistent with our judgements as a citizen. We are products of our society and this living contradiction we practice is the result. Im not holding society responsible for individual actions, as individuals are responsible for themselves, but society did influence this lifestyle that people use to cop out of their internal desire to change. They say "Thats the world we live in. We are just doing what we have to in order to survive" and they allow that defense to excuse from the knowledge that living solely in consumer senses is a guilty lifestyle.

I agree with him that a big problem is the fact that individuals don't realize the influence they have. They are not lost in the multitude. I remember I confronted a friend of mine recently for not recycling some bottles and such and she said something along the lines of "It's not like it makes a difference. I'm just one person". She didnt understand that it is individuals who lead to a multitude. It has to start with someone before it can become many. People need to face the fact that they can't be lazy and say they don't matter because they are only one person. It will take this recognition on people's part before the proper changes can be met.

He reminds us that we prevent significant deterioration of air quality as a matter of self interest and as a matter of collective self respect for everyone and our planet. This is the compromise, the balance that is needed between the two types of interests. The answer involves, in part, a recognition of responsiblities both from us and from the government. As humans, we must address our contempt for the contradictional lifestyle we embrace, we must step out of our habitual tendencies and up to the plate that has a time limit, which people are just starting to understand.