I've enacted a personal rule about personal behavior changes in the face of environmental concerns: I will make no change unless a) I get a immediate cost benefit without degrading my lifestyle, or b) I can point to a significant lifestyle change which affects environmentalists at least as as much as it affects me.

You make an interesting point. Even though governments and environmental groups often espouse the benefits of recycling and living in a more environmentally friendly manner the whole thing is made as difficult, complicated and downright user unfriendly as possible. The city where I live has a ~4% recycling rate (eg 4 lbs of every 100 lbs of garbage gets recycled). Their answer to this situation? Sent out a bunch of fliers indicating that every 1% increase in recycling gives the city an extra $75,000 a year in revenue. Of course there was no statement about passing the savings on to residents and as you can imagine, living in a highly taxed state this did almost nothing to encourage people to change their habits.

What's more, the city did not give out recycling bins at the curb and requires residents to pick theirs up from "Special Interest Community Groups" (located in what I would generously refer to as 'terrifying neighborhoods'). You had to go in during a very small time window when you would normally be at work. When we picked ours up we were also to fill out a contract stating that if our garbage now contained recyclable materials we could be fined. And if your tote is stolen [crackheads do this quite a bit for some reason] and your recycling materials dumped on the ground in front of your house or you try to put your cans out in a non-approved container? You bet your ass that's a fine. And a mandatory court appearance on a work day.

So, we finally got a recycling bin, and I can say our waste generated has dropped easily 75%. The rest gets recycled. But because of all the bureaucratic barriers even those people who don't have a "what's in it for me?" attitude are easily turned off. Almost nobody recycles.

Don't even get me started about "environmentalists" who are against all nuclear power.

Greenpeace can suck my balls

Hello?  Greenpeace...vegetarians?  Duh!

(And you're welcome, btw)

It's the end of the world as we know it, and I feel fine

You're an idiot for allowing Greenpeace to dictate your personal choices.

It is easy to buy small plaster models of what you think life is like.

I really think Greepeace wants us all to live as vegetarian Amish.  I flip back and forth on whether I consider myself an environmentlist depending on whether I've heard someone from Greenpeace and their allies or a Republican speaking about the environment last.

I can remember about a decade ago, they were simultaneously advocting power-hungry desalination to solve western watern shortages while fighting just about every source of energy except solar power.

I saw press release they put out once demanding the banning of "all chloride compounds".  No more table salt for you.

They seem to have cleaned up their website to indicate that they now support both solar and wind power and always have.

That bunny must be part cat.

Illegitimi non carborundum.

I hope the bunny doesn't also own stock in the company that makes the chain because that wouldn't be very smart threat distribution. Of course, I suppose it might as well go whole hog and put all its money there since if the chain breaks, it's done for anyway. Why am I writing about bunnies owning stock again?

It is easy to buy small plaster models of what you think life is like.