Easily Going Green

In his 2007 article Going Green? Easy Doesn't Do It, Micheal Maniates introduces the idea the the cost-effective, everyday habits that society is feeding to Americans, simply won't cut it in the long run. Maniates believes that the government has little faith in the American public to be able to handle any sort of environmental measure that could be construed as something other than "easy". Changing the time you take in a shower to a shorter one is one thing, but it would be ludicrous to ask for something more difficult. I agree with Maniates's assessment that these simple practices will not get us that far in the long run of the environmental movement, but I do not belive that demerits them by any measure. In fact, I would argue that these are th eonly measures which an average person can currently make and the buildup of environmental consciousness and personal action that these small changes of habit are making will only prove to be beneficial in the long run.
In his article, Maniates gives a list of historical movements which he claims did not come to rise due to "individualistic, consumer-centered actions". However true this may be, that does not mean that these movements did not start with small individual actions. Let's take the civil rights movement for example; it was the actions of certain individuals (Rosa Parks, various students) which lead to the famous "I have a dream speech". Sure these actions were preplanned but they were also actions that break habits (sitting in segregated areas for example). There are obviously differences in the situations, but either way, the individual is challenging themselves to break habits and that is the backbone of the movement.
What I find most troubling about this article is, if we shouldn't focus our attention of imporving our individualist consumer-actions then what should we do? Maniates doesn't even give suggestions of something more that Americans can do, he justs leaves it that we should do more. I personally can't think of anything more we can do without some sort of government leadersip which is just not present at this time. I don't think it's a case of the environmental elites or political leaders looking at their subordinates and simplifying things for them as much as it is that these simple actions are the only things feasible for a large mass of people to do.