"People are starting to get a clue, I think."

Sigh. Moral suasion does not work and has never worked to promote environmental objectives. What works is a rebalanced system of incentives and disincentives in which consumers make decisions.

The median house size went down over the past couple of years because we've been in a sharp, deep recession triggered in part by the collapse of an overheated housing bubble, not because "people are starting to get a clue" that they don't need 4,000 square foot houses.