These are all useful suggestions for motivating people to take action on behalf of our common future on behalf of the planet. But an even stronger motivation is short-term rewards—i.e. “What’s in it for me, now?” Most social activists of any sort are motivated by compassion for others or for living beings—that’s why they are rare. But the vast majority of people (like all other animals) are motivated by immediate benefit to themselves. As Bob Dylan once said, “Most people don’t do what they believe in; they just do what’s most convenient, and then they repent.”
So the question becomes, how can we best make environmentally responsible behavior more convenient that self-serving, more “convenient” choices (like plastics, private cars and SUVs, pesticides, and such)? The only general solution to this quandary I have come up with is embedded in my self-styled slogan, suitable for bumper stickers: GROW GARDENS, GROW COMMUNITY, GROW AWARENESS.