Not because they are easy, but because they are hard.

In 1962 President Kennedy spoke on the United States's goal of reaching the moon before the decades end. He exhorted his fellow Americans that "we choose to go to the moon in this decade and do the other things, not because they are easy, but because they are hard, because that goal will serve to organize and measure the best of our energies and skills, because that challenge is one that we are willing to accept, one we are unwilling to postpone, and one which we intend to win."

As I read Maniates' piece I could not help but have his words echo in my mind. We are constantly being bombarded by messages telling us that we can acheive what we desire the easy way, if only we knew how. From plastic surgergy to carbon subsidies, consumer culture would have the world believe it can purchase its way out of any problem. That is the easy solution. The problem with these types of solutions Maniates presents is that they are predicated on zero sacrifice of modern luxurgy. Without sacrifice there can be no real change and, even to the individual, without sacrifice there is no self-satisfaction in achieving something. The United States did not succeed in the race to space because it could skate by without sacrifice, but precisely because doing those things was beyond our grasp, because they were hard.

And while consumer culture is based on the idea of rewards for sacrificing nothing, I think that all Americans need is a substantial leader to push them towards the greater challenge of actual environmental nuetrality. It is in the american spirit to push beyond what is knpown and what is easy and go beyond. From our earliest experiences on this continent we pushed beyond our boundries to settle hostile lands. When framed like this it seems that space is not humanities final frontier, but rather it is the earth and the way we live within it.

Maniates rightly points out that these types of easy solutions are patronizing to American adults. They infantalize them and it is offensive. The clearest way to change something, Maniates feels and I agree, is to lay out the problem, recognize it as a problem and make the necessary changes. The changes could be easy but more likely are hard-and that is why we must make them. Because without sacrfice, without confronting the harsh realities of the world there can be no meaningful and positive change.