Sorry for blowing up your comment section -- this is such an important topic and I'm so happy to see other people talking about it. I've been totally dissuaded by certain environmental groups who refuse to see how their personal actions contribute to climate change, but they're quick to blame the faceless fossil fuel industry. And vice versa -- there are people who take individual action, but they don't join collective efforts. As you mentioned, this reflects a larger trend in what we want our future to look like. I've noticed -- and this is entirely anecdotal -- that the camp of people who focus more on individual action are more in tune to the ways in which all living things are connected. They want to see more peaceful co-existence and less techno-sustainability which centres the human. Whereas I've noticed that the camp of people who focus on collective action see Nature as 'The Environment' -- less as something that they belong to, but more as something that is separate from them as a human. Also, I'm sick to death of hearing people say "now that I'm a mother/father, I realize I don't want my children living in this world" -- can't believe it takes someone to have a child to understand their impact. So selfish. Anyway -- excellent piece!