The Living Green Myth: The Promise and Limits of Lifestyle Environmentalism
with Dr. Michael Maniates
Sustainability Now! Sunday, May 11th, 2025, 5-6 PM
Many listeners are probably familiar with the tags found in hotel bathrooms that read: “Save Our Planet,” followed by instructions about reusing and replacing towels, and concluding “Thank you for helping us converse the Earth’s vital resources.” Reusing towels might help conserve the hotel’s financial resources but does that make any difference for the Planet? Such “lifestyle environmentalism” is widespread, providing a sense of doing something in a world in which collective action is so difficult. In two weeks, join host Ronnie Lipschutz for a conversation with Dr. Michael Maniates, for a conversation about his forthcoming book, The Living-Green Myth: The Promise and Limits of Lifestyle Environmentalism, which will be published in August. Maniates dismisses the notion that individual actions can make a significant impact on the state of the planet. But if not that, what are we to do?
