But people are in general divorced from the consequences of their actions.  It's very hard for anyone to think that his or her particular air conditioning unit is causing massive carbon emissions and threatening the environment as we know it.

And if there is a problem--blame big corporations, greed, shortsighted politicians, and other blameworthy targets.  But that's not the whole story.  Every American household is using more electricity than 20 years ago, whereas industry has actually been able to cut back on consumption.

I do not see any of the people I know driving less, consuming less energy, or practicing conservation apart from some longstanding, obligatory recycling of glass, newspapers, and plastics.   Even though gasoline costs more at the pump, you can pay with a credit card, so there's not pain associated with the moment of purchase--more like a shrugging regret at the cost and the idea of thinking about the problem later, when the bill comes.  But you only have to pay a small percentage of your credit card debt in order to keep floating.