You want to change that then you need to change the policies that make such behaviour rational for individuals. There is no contradiction between people on the one hand doing what's best for them under the current circumstances - e.g. buying a house way out in the exurbs because of the astronomical prices for family housing in the city and inner suburbs, or buying goods that have been shipped halfway around the world and back again - and supporting policies that will bring the individual good in line with the social good.  Teaching people about choices that make sense on both the individual and the social level is a good idea.  Berating middle and working class families for not spending more for less, as if they just had the luxury to choose otherwise, is counterproductive arrogance. So push for more money for public transport as opposed to roads, for changing zoning laws so that you can build new housing in urban and inner suburbs with commuter rail, to tax inefficient vehicles, for laws that encourage renewable energy.

The neolibs were able to do it for stuff that hurts both individual and society, surely progressives should be able to figure out how to do it for policies that help society.  At the same time convince upper middle class progressives that they have to make sacrifices too, and not just the old style progressive ones like taxation. When I listen to people in my neighbourhood complaining about the evils of exurban sprawl in one breath, while opposing building high-rise urban housing in the next, I feel like slamming my head on the wall.