People prefer carrots to sticks.

I sometimes think those in the environmental movement have made a mistake with their messaging. It is too often "we need to suffer to save the planet". It could also be things like:

  "Why do you want to pay more to drive a giant expensive gas guzzling vehicle to work so that you can pay for a giant expensive gas guzzling vehicle to go to work in".

  "Why do you want to pay for extra electricity when conservation and efficiency will help save money for other things"

  "Single use items are thing you pay for time and  time again. Durable maintainable items you pay for once."

  "Throwing things in the garbage is like paying to store things forever (landfills are not free)"

It is true that there are, at times, good reason to do things that are not at the extreme of conservationism and environmentalism. If the messaging was a little more carrot than stick we might see more progress.