I noticed something one day. I had recently built a home gym and gave some friends a tour of it.
The next week I hear that they're now working out and going to their local gym.
That moment made me realize the positive effect our actions can have on others.
It'll be the same with living green. Just by doing it, you are convincing other people that it's possible and that they should give it a try.
My home is now 100% powered by solar (just got the Tesla batteries installed a few days ago). It cost less than a kitchen remodel, will be paid off in 10 years, is 100% off-grid 100% of the year, and we've sacrificed no amenities (still got the A/C going comfortably :) ).
I'm one small fish in the pond, but my house is now a blaring advertisement for a greener future.
And in general, the theory of "social proof" suggests people like to follow the crowd in lots of ways.
Would be expensive to run, sure, but very quickly cheaper to have it on standby than stay connected to the grid.
(And the grid is vital to a future of country-wide renewable power IMO, so I'm not personally eager to undermine it)
"We've started timing our showers." "We do Meat-Free Mondays. It's easy and cheaper." "I've got into xeriscaping recently."
There are a number of things that are generally cheaper, not much effort and probably interesting to undertake.
We know from statistics and economics that the rest of the world will want the same standard of living as the west, and that they will reach there at somepoint. There for it's very important to deprioritize things that are inherently not green in our culture and make green living a status thing.
Transportation, food, clothing, communication and work are all things that has to be reconsidered to be green.
A strong sign that there exist too many people on earth. Better strongly decrease the birth rate.
But this is not going to start with public schools, because that would mean convincing policymakers and we established that doesn't work well; so if its starts somewhere its going to be private schools; funded by people interested in making the world greener.
It's disturbing to me that anybody thinks fear mongering and brain washing is an acceptable solution if they think the end goal is a worthy cause.
Do a little bit of soul searching and research before you decide to attack the minds of an entire generation because you read an activist pamphlet that affected you.
About the brain washing thing; I also think such school should dedicate some hours to produce a more skeptic/rational society, skeptic of authority (religion/goverment et all) and of course skeptic of the schooling itself.
"attack the minds of an entire generation"... as oppose to what? The free minds that we have now that voted for Trump? The free minds that pledge loyalty to a flag every morning but none to humanity? A free mind is the one who understands its world better, even the "fearsome" parts.
By the way asking me to do "inner soul searching" is the lowest kind of ad hominem, because its not even a rational one (e.g you belong to X political party so your opinion doesn't count) but an emotional one (e.g your soul is rotten and therefore you have rotten opinions).