Devilstower on the DailyKos site talking about environmentalism:

The solution lies in making choices as boring as picking up that fluorescent light bulb. The answer is conservation.

• Drive less.
• Take public transit.
• Walk.
• If it's too far to walk, use a bike.
• If it's too far to bike, and there no public transportation, car pool.
• If you can't car pool, use a smaller, more efficient vehicle.
• If you have a long commute, move closer to work.
• If you can't move closer, take a closer job.
• If you can't get a different job, see if you can telecommute.

It really is that simple. Which of course, doesn't mean it will be easy. We're accustomed to jumping in our personal battleships and cruising the highway at speeds just less than supersonic every time we get a craving for a Slurpee

This is one of the biggest failings of the environmental movement: linking massive environmental problems to the actions of individuals. The problems are systematic: the way our suburbs are designed, the failure to fund and develop mass transportation and alternative energy sources, weak regulations on car mileage and emissions, etc.. Do these people realize how out of touch they look, telling people to just get a new car, a new job, a new house? In this economy, do they really think people can just quit their jobs and find another one within walking distance? Or sell their house? Do they think it's acceptable to show up at your job with your business suit all sweaty from having biked three miles up hills, on roads with no bike lanes or sidewalks? Not only are these suggestions unhelpful, they are actually detrimental, reinforcing the belief that environmentalists are all elite trust fund college kids with no understanding of how the world works.

I've had this very discussion with Joshua before. It drives me nuts, and I fall firmly on your side of the argument. I hate hearing Europeans complain that we should STFU about our high gas prices because they pay so much more than us and always have. It's so much more complicated than that! We don't have a rail system that gets us 4 countries over in an hour, running every hour. Our entire country is built on an infrastructure of driving, and while we can make small choices to limit that driving, the infrastructure itself is the problem.

Graar.