This is a treehugger site, so of course we don't think so. The fact is that sustainability is a movement that's been building since the industrial age began. It may wane at times, but there will always be a movement, and eventually sustainability will become a necessity. I hope we can behave ourselves before it comes to that, but mankind doesn't have the greatest track record when it comes to planning ahead and thinking things through.

I'm surprised at the responses to this survey. Perhaps all the respondents were children or teenagers from the late 80s through the 90s, and didn't see how that strong wave of environmental activism and progress simply disappeared from the vast majority of people's minds and concerns. It also happened after the 2nd oil crisis, as well as after the late 60s/early 70s.

Sure, it persists and keeps coming back as a topic of interest and concern for many, but that happens with a lot of things.

I for one think it's a little dangerous to believe that this latest wave of "green concsiousness" will somehow maintain itself, especially in the United States. If you premise your actions and thoughts based upon widespread consciousness and concern, you're probably going to be very disappointed when that disappears once again.

We need solutions that don't depend on whether people care or "get it". Then the health of the planet and our lives won't be dependent on the ebbs and flows of fashionability and hipness.

While I agree with Joseph that there does seem to be an ebb and flow to the environmental movement(s), in the long term it is not a fad as compared to the ipod and blogs.
Both of these are nice little fads (I own an iPod and love it), but environmentalism is a life style choice.
It is a cause that actually has some impact on the world, and more importantly, on an individuals life.

I could do without my iPod on my daily bike rides, but I wouldn't change my core beliefs. In much the same way that I cannot imagine eating meat again after all this time, I cannot imagine going back to a careless lifestyle.

Sure, we see a surge in interest from college kids or when peoples wallets are affected, and then a decline when people adjust to the prices or kids join the real world and find it not easy to be green.

Environmental thought will be here 50 years from now, i can't make the same assumption for the iPod.

"Sustainability" as a concept is inherently flawed in that we cannot spend energy at a rate faster than nautre can reproduce fuels, providing that our population is so great as to create an unbalanced proportion of consumtion to nature's production.

Even if we reverted back to a hunter/gatherer model, only burning wood as fuel, we would still overburden our global ecosystem.

In other words, it's a trendy, fashionable way to claim ethical conscientiousness. We're just hurting the planet a little bit less than everone else.

It's laughable to claim that there is a truly environmentally friendly means of life in a 1st world nation - especially while sitting behind a computer which inflicted untold burden and detriment upon the environment during its construction. ;)

I think that until we have serious problems that affect people in their everyday lives, it can come and go. But once we're passed a certain point and you just can't ignore it (which will be a sad day), it will become very mainstream.

It reminds me of what I was reading in a David Suzuki book about how some communities in certain parts of India or Mexico and other are extremely concerned about nature and the environment because it directly affects their quality of life. They just don't have a choice.

I am in my late 30s. In my 1970s childhood, my mother was very invested in healthfood, organics, yoga, homestead gardening (even going so far as to get her own goats for milk & chickens for eggs), but this was definitely not something that the food or health industries was picking up on. You really had to do it yourself.

In the 1980s, herbal supplements were an "underground," alternative purchase, and the only place you could buy organic ready-made foods was the local food co-op.

In the 1990s, electric cars came and went in a flourish of promise and disappointment, and business was still all about "greed is good" and getting your company's stock to blow up by any means necessary.

The fact is, things ARE changing, and a green tipping point HAS been reached.

And regarding this continuing thorn in your collective side, the iPod: all TreeHuggers should appreciate that digital entertainment systems are an important step to minimizing the environmental costs of production, shipping, and distribution of music, film, and etc. Think less plastic, less shipping costs, less driving by shipping trucks, less processing chemicals being dumped, etc etc. It's a good thing guys!!!

While I recognize this apparent ebb and flow of environmentalism, I think it is more our perception of current levels that have changed.

I am a child of the 1980s and sar the growth of recycling to the point that we would go the extra mile to haul our old newspapers, cans, and bottles to a recycling center. Now, both my parents and I are supplied garbage cans for recyclables and for compost, although we live in different counties. People that swore they wouldn't bother seperating their trash in the least bit now due so because society (driven by government mandated reduction in materials delvered to landfills) has changed in some areas to see this as a stanard way of life, instead of some enviro-hippy thing to do.

I only hope more common sense attitudes will be adopted as people see the real benefit, even to their pocket-book, of conserving and adopting other enviromentally friendly behaviours.

I don't know what you all are talking about - I live in NYC and I don't see a whole lot of people around here seeming to live their lives by any sort of "sustainability" or "environmentalism." Sure, you hear about a building project here and a park there from time to time, but from my own personal observations, for this city at least, I'd have to say that if you think sustainability or environmentalism are current fads, you've probably surrounded yourself with people and news who talk about nothing but those things. Because out here in the real world, no one seems to notice or care.

I couldn't vote in this poll because, not only are these things "not fads" - they're not even on the radar as far as I can tell.

I agree with Joseph when he says "We need solutions that don't depend on whether people care or 'get it'." Because, by and large, people here don't. And if they don't now, in the 21st C, when I would think such concepts should have been obvious back in the 19th, they never will.

"Sustainability" as a concept is inherently flawed in that we cannot spend energy at a rate faster than nature can reproduce it.

Sadly when it comes to energy this is true but only economic forces will cause most people to change. Sustainability is more than that, it's using less and renewable materials and using less and renewable energy sources.

Some might not like this but tree farming is a sustainable thing. We must sustain the old growth forests we have left so IMHO if on already logged land if trees are planted and then years later harvested so that virgin forest lands are left alone this is OK. We can't undo what the clear cutters have done. The fast growing trees sequester carbon as well.

One more comment for Adam & Joseph:

While it may be hard to see the "greening effect" out on the street in your everyday lives, it is at this point become obvious that it is happening in business, industry, science, and commerce. Right now it is key for green inventors, manufacturers, et al to focus on the movers and shakers in industry, education, advertising, venture capitalism, etc, rather than the Common Man. There are some big paradigm shifts that are happening in that area.

Today's best example (albeit a loaded one), would be Wal-Mart announcing it will start using corn-based plastics:
http://www.treehugger.com/files/2005/10/walmart_to_use.php

Of course there's an element of greenwashing involved in this and all of Wal-Mart's recent green announcements. That is besides the point.

I think it will peak as a trend in the next 3-4 years and then settle down as a part of life for a few.

Along the way it will gather new recruits, but it won't be to the point we should have it at.

Here's a little anecdote I find instructive about this.

Once in a while, I'll walk from my house to downtown -- about 4 miles. A good little hike and on a hot day gets me pretty parched.

So, last month I did this and then stopped into a sandwich shop downtown for a beverage. Usually I just get the regular sized cup, as that's enough for me. But, when I'm making my order, I notice that they've replaced all the regular sized paper cups with plastic ones. I asked if they had paper ones and they said no. I asked why they switched to plastic and they said "for a promotion", which seems to be a permanent promotion, as they haven't changed it back. Some marketing dink at the company probably concluded "Ooh, plastic is better because maybe they'll take it home and see our name then come back in more often."

In any case, not only was I forced to buy a larger drink to avoid leaving a multi-century remnant of my momentary thirst, but I was also treated dismissively and snidely. It was a very negative experience.

I encounter the same thing when going to a coffee shop downtown that uses only styrofoam plates - no paper, no ceramic. They also default to using disposable cups with plastic lids, even some times when I specifically point at the ceramic mugs and say "in a ceramic mug for here". And because these cause so much struggle, even if someone has "green consciousness" (which for the average person usually means they recycle their pop cans and newspapers), they just give in to the default.

So those "default settings" coupled with examples of actual REGRESS lead me to conclude that fashionability and hipness are not to be relied upon. We've got to come at these things from a different angle altogether, one which involves embedding sustainability directly into design and out of the "marginal choice" metric, which will almost always favor the thing with the least marginal cost.

As someone with mostly conservative friends. I have found that the one thing that damages the environmentalism movement the most is the enviro-nazis. The ones that preach on how you are killing the planet because your goal in life is to own that sports car you have been dreaming about sense you where a child.

Screaming at someone about a belief they may not have even known exists is a good way to make them anti that belief.

I was, and am still in the process, of moved towards the environmentalism movement though thoughtful one on one conversation. I help to create Libertarians the same way.

You can be a Libertarian and an environmentalist at the same time. You simply need to believe that your impact on the environment is due to what you do, not due to what the government does not force you to do.

Love these surveys. They bring out an incredible volume of content. So much has already been said, I won't rehash. I'll simply add that I would like to see a greater focus (among these movements, not this site per se) on the economic rationale for going green and striving for sustainability. This is what seems to move the "conservative thinkers" among us.

Off topic, however I would echo prior posts I've seen here that TreeHugger should evolve it's discussion threads into forum boards. After the subject pops off my RSS feed, I never seem to get back to the discussion again.

When talking about a change that effects every facet and detail of our civilisation I think multi-faceted solutions are the way to go + whether you like it or not, this is how it is going. Pragmatically looking at it, of course changes will and are coming about from government,industry and the individual.
We also need the extreme "hippy" who spends their life exploring options + the eco-product curious consumer and also the people who don't give a damn, but who recycle or they get fined. Yes there are a million other examples in the "grey".
But there does seem to be something happening. Maybe it is growing from the school system? There seems to be a lot of people with a desire for change but who just don't know exactly how to. The mainstream wants change, this is the only reason why companys either make a decent change or at the very least "greenwash".
Change is like anything, you have your connosiuers and your mainstream. One filters into the other.
********One point I would love to make, and maybe hear a response from, is the idea of those in the know cutting to the chase. How about a section of Treehugger or another site (no matter how basic) that presents the "best of the best" as far as personal/consumer solutions go. Some products make a slight detour into "sustainable", but seem to be a bit of a waist of time.(organic cotton?) For example, if hemp is the best clothing product, then tell me that and also list the best suppliers or clothing manufacturers. Really pull apart what they do and find me the best, the most sustainable. I have the savvy I hope to wonder through the net and find all the best facets myself (treehugger helps a lot though), but why not have a best of the best section that is based around my possible green-consumer choices. (green-consumer an oxymoron? I hope not, not if we are innovative enough). (Consuming a little less while using the best products = of course).

Further to MGR's comment: Sustainability may be flawed as a concept (the way our economy works sort of sabotages any attempt at reduced consumption) but it will definitely stay in the public consciousness now that energy is getting more expensive again. Coal is dirty to burn, and it'll be the last fossil fuel left.

Environmentalism is just people doing what needs to be done. It's people adapting to a situation.

I'm sure that being thifty during the great depression was not a fad, just as being more environmentaly conscious isn't now.

As we slide down the other side of peak oil people will see that environmentalism isn't just about being cool, it's about survival.